Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Breaking Fast

After 8 hours of not eating anything, breaking the fast in the morning with something delicious always makes getting out of bed worthwhile.

Start with a glass of water followed by a teaspoon of Manuka honey.



Make sure it has a UMF of more than 10.

Let it work its anti-bacterial magic on the empty stomach for half an hour before eating anything.

Take that time to exercise and work up a bigger appetite.

Then have a scrumptious sandwich of avocado and bread homemade with wholemeal flour, wheat germ and a ground organic seed mix.



Let caffeine be the only vice.

Better yet, drink to the good life with a healthful cup of tea.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Belly Good Soup

Sometimes, the most expensive cuts of meat or fish may not be the best.

Take salmon.

The fillet and steak cuts look good and cost nearly $20 a kilo.

A whole salmon is cheaper by the kilo in comparison.

That's because quite a bit of the salmon has to be trimmed off to give the fillets and steaks their nice, neat shapes.

And you pay for that "value-add" put in by the supermarket.

But most of the trimmed off bits which you have partially paid for is not thrown away.

The supermarket re-packages that for sale.

Those bits would include the head which comes with part of the flesh next to it, and the tender bits around the gills.

They are delicious in curry (see recipe in "Fit for (A) Rajah", March 2006) or steamed.

But the treasure is the belly.

Strips of it are cut off so that the fillets would not have floppy bits attached to them.

Look for these belly strips which come with loads of smooth, yummy, omega-3 fat.

They are cheaper than the fillets and steaks and regarded by some as cat food.

But don't feed them to your cat.

Make soup for yourself instead.




Put some wolfberries and kelp in a pot of water. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Cut the strips of salmon belly into chunks and add them to the soup.

When the salmon is just cooked, lower the heat, add some romaine lettuce and let it wilt in the soup for about 30 seconds.

Turn off the heat. Do not over-cook the fish and lettuce.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve hot with a slice of buttered, wholemeal bread for a belly-warming meal.