Healthy Cauliflower and Potato Gratin Recipe

When I just realised that we have a week old cauliflower and potatoes in the pantry I wanted to cook curry. But what to do when my children do not take spicy food? That calls for aloo gobi for the adults but gratin for the children using the same core ingredients. 

Ingredients

1 (3-pound) head cauliflower, cut into large florets

4 potatoes, cut into slices

salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk/evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Mozarella

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup macaroni

Methods

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, cauliflower florets and potatoes and cook on a medium heat for 7 minutes. Drain.

Blanch macaroni until al dente. Drain.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, add flour, milk and whisk to combine until no lumps remain.

Remove pan from the heat. Whisk in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, pepper, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

Transfer cooked macaroni, cauliflower and potatoes into the 8 by 11 inches baking dish. Cover with a white sauce and carefully mix to combine the ingredients.

Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle mozarella on top.

Air fry at 180C for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Serve warm!

Healthy Aloo Gobi Recipe

When I just realised that we have a week old cauliflower and potatoes in the pantry I wanted to cook curry. But what to do when my children do not take spicy food? That calls for aloo gobi for the adults but gratin for the children using the same core ingredients. 

Ingredients

3 potatoes

1/2 cauliflower

2 tomatoes, sliced

2 tsp salt

1 brown onion

Sunflower oil

1 tbsp Garam Masala

1 tbsp curry powder

500g chicken chunks 

1/2 cup evaporated milk

4 tbsp Honey Hub honey with curcumin

Methods

Marinate chicken in Honey Hub and 1 tsp salt for at least 30mins.

Cut cauliflower into florets. Cut potatoes into small cubes about the same size.

Blanch both in boiling water for 5 minutes until cooked. Strain and set aside.

Slice brown onion then sautee in wok until caramelized.

Add garam masala and curry powder. Fry until fragrant.

Caramelize chicken. 

Add milk.

Add cauliflower, tomatoes. Simmer 10-15minutes over low heat.

Serve with Mission Wrap or Basmathi Rice and plain yogurt!

Salted Egg Prawns Recipe

I love prawns! But I can't get my children to love them enough. So this is a recipe that my boys will definitely disprove because they hate chillies. How do you make your children take spicy food?

Ingredients

7 medium prawns shelled and deveined

2 tbsp Ginger juice

a dash of Salt

a dash of White pepper

1 Egg yolk 

2 tbsp All Purpose Flour

1 tbsp Rice flour

150 ml Oil (for deep-frying)

Sauce:

1 salted egg yolks 

2 tbsp Knorr Salted Egg Powder

4 tbsp Oil

2 tbsp Garlic

1 tbsp Sugar

1 Red Chilli (chopped)

¼ cup Curry Leaves

Methods

Steam salted egg yolk for 5mins.

Marinate prawns with ginger juice, salt, pepper and egg yolk for 15 mins. Coat with flour evenly.

Deep fry until prawn is about 80% cooked. Remove from oil and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté garlic and sugar until sugar is lightly caramelized. 

Add red chilli and curry leaves. 

When curry leaves are slightly crisp, lower heat and add Salted Egg Powder. 

Keep frying until fragrant.

Toss prawns into salted egg mixture until evenly coated.

Serve hot.

Healthy Pan Fry Purple Sweet Potato Mochi Recipe

Thank you for reading our homemade recipes! My children and I really enjoy preparing for food together. Not only is it delicious freshly cooked, but we definitely know what goes inside- there's very minimal sugar, full of nutritious ingredients with no artificial coloring and flavouring. 

Ingredients

450 gr mashed purple sweet potato

120 gr glutinous rice flour or more as needed

Hot water as needed

Cooking oil

150 gr peanuts

90 gr honey for drizzling

Peel about 450 gr of sweet potato. Cut into 1-inch slices and steam for 15 minutes until soft and mashable. 

Use the back of the fork to mash the sweet potato while it's hot, until smooth.

Add glutinous rice flour and use a spoon to mix. While the sweet potato is cool enough to handle, use your clean hands to mix the flour and the sweet potato to form a smooth dough. 

Purple sweet potato is usually quite dry.

So add hot water teaspoon by teaspoon until the dough is no longer crumbly. 

 

Cover with a plastic wrap and rest the dough for 15 minutes.

Lightly dust your both hands with some glutinous flour. 

Shape 2-inch ball shaped dough. 

Flatten the dough with palm of the hand and then gently stretch it into about 4-inch diameter. 

Scoop about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of the sweet peanut fillings and place on the middle of the dough and then wrap. 

Roll again to smooth into a ball and then slightly flatten with your palm.

Preheat about 1 Tbsp of oil.

Pan fry mochi for about 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. 

Leftover can be chilled up to 3 days. They can be reheated in the microwave, air fryer (180C for 5 minutes), or in the oven at 180C for 5-8 minutes.

Safe Remedy for Aches and Pains | Perozin cream review

Aches and Pains are parts of our lives. As we age, we are only going to get more of it as body parts undergo wear and tear. This is especially true for joints, particularly the knees and backbone. No one should suffer in pain because it's just not humane. However, consuming long term painkillers can have deleterious effects to the kidneys. Therefore, applying creams with pain relief properties remain the main stay and the safest way.

Simplied illustration of a normal joint
(Photo courtesy of lumenlearning.com)

Osteoarthritis is the medical term to describe ageing joints. A joint links bones together. The end of the bones have a layer of cushion called articular cartilage. Synovial fluid is the lubricating oil to make joint movements smooth and painfree.

As we age, especially if we overuse the joints, the joint space becomes narrowed. The cushion becomes exhausted. There's also less production of the lubricating fluid in the joint. Small spiky parts formed on the ends of bones called osteophytes. This makes movement difficult and painful. Read more about osteoarthritis at Mayo Clinic.

I am a specialist in internal medicine. My interest is in caring for the elderly. With the silver hair tsunami, it's all the more important to ensure our ageing population have a good quality of life and remain as productive as possible. Managing joint pain is a very common issue yet often neglected due to the many other medical problems that we have to deal with. But it cripples many older people. Once people stop moving, their muscles become wasted. And this becomes a vicious cycle of what we call deconditioning, resulting in poor mobility and inability to care for one self independently.

Therefore, I always recommend my patients to get an effective topical preparation such as Perozin which is an effective cream to relieve muscle and joint aches. Sometimes we need to combine that with pain killer tablets and/or even surgery to replace the joint using artificial metal implants.

The main ingredients in Perozin are:

Menthol, cetearyl alcohol, glycerin, Mentha arvensis (wild mint), cetyl palmitate, glyceryl stearate, citrate caprylic/capric triglyceride, Rosemarinus officinalis (rosemary), Arnica montana, Zingiber officinalis (ginger), tocopheryl acetate, octyldodecanol, carbomer, Na gluconate, Na hydroxide, phenoxyethanol, Na dehydroacetate, limonene, linalool, citral

Arnica is an herb that grows mainly in areas with temperate climates. It has anti-inflammatory, analgesic (pain killing) and antiseptic properties. With the addition of menthol, mint and ginger, Perozin cream contains natural ingredients that gives a long-lasting cooling effect to the skin.

The beauty of using analgesic cream is the ability to reapply whenever the pain recurs without having to worry about overdose and side effects. Pain can be very subjective to assess so I really rely on my patients' pain threshold to guide my recommendation with treatments.

Quote PERO5ANGEL to get 100ml Perozin with a minimum purchase. Until 31 July 2020 only.

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Perozin is also available at many major pharmacies like Watson's and Guardian. It's available over the counter which means that it doesn't need a prescription. Get yours now!

Disclaimer: the opinion given is merely a personal experience and does not constitute formal medical advice. Please seek your medical professional's advice before any complementary therapy. Always ask for certified professionals before proceeding with treatment and stop if discomfort or side effect ensues.

Nasi Kerabu with Sambal Fish& Eggplant Recipe

My boys are obessed with blue. That's why we planted butterfly pea flowers in the garden! Not only do they give everything an attractive and natural blue hue, they are also packed with antioxidants! Nasi Kerabu is a famous Malay dish that I have adapted to the common Malaysian palate. 

Butterfly Pea Flower Rice

1 cup Basmathi rice

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup hot water

15 dried butterfly pea flowers

1 stick of lemongrass

2 screwpine leaves

1 tbsp coconut oil

Pinch of salt

Steep the flowers in 1 cup hot water for 5 mins until the water turns blue.

Smash and roughly chop the lemongrass stick.

Add rice, salt, oil and top up water

Kerisik Ikan

Ingredients

50g dessicated coconut

250g mackerel

2 red onions 

2 sticks lemon grass

1 tbsp sugar

Pan fry mackerel pieces.

Smash and roughly chop the lemongrass stick.

Roughly chop onions.

Saute onions and lemongrass until brown.

Stir fry coconut in sugar until caramelized.

Add the mashed fish to the mixture.

Sambal:

Ingredients

 170g fresh red chilies, seeded and cut into small pieces

 1 tablespoon toasted belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)

 120g shallots, peeled

 1/4  teaspoon  salt

 2 1/2  teaspoons  sugar

 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Blend all ingredients with a food processor.

Heat up a wok with oil. 

Add sambal paste and stir fry continuously until the oil separates from the Sambal.  

Set aside.

Sambal eggplant

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

 1 1/2 tablespoons dried shrimp, soaked in warm water and drained

 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons Sambal

 1 eggplant, cut into rounds

 1/4 teaspoon sugar or to taste

 3/4 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste

At medium to high heat, heat up a wok with the oil.

Add the dried shrimp until aromatic.

Add the Sambal and eggplant. 

Stir to combine well. 

Add sugar and fish sauce to taste. 

Serve with hard boiled eggs/salted eggs if desired.

Enjoy!

Healthy Burnt Cheesecake

I have always wanted to enjoy that creamy slice of burnt cheesecake without having to think about the amount of calories I'm taking in. So we improvise and replace the cream with homemade plain yogurt. The result is amazing!

Ingredients

500 grams of cream cheese softened

80 g erythritol

3 eggs

60 grams of salted butter melted

300 grams of plain natural yogurt unsweetened

50ml milk

1.5 tbsp of corn starch

Preheat your oven to 210 C

Beat softened cream cheese and honey until combined.

I microwaved the cream cheese for about 10-20sec until soft before mixing.

Crack in egg, one at a time.

Add yogurt and melted butter.

Fold in corn starch. 

Grease the pan.

Transfer to a baking pan.

Place the pan at the uppermost rack.

Bake it in the oven for 30mins (without fan). 

It's done when the top is still jiggly but not soupy.

P.s. I didn't broil the cake as I use glass pans which may melt so only the center is burnt as the cake rose in the middle during the baking process.

Let it cool to room temperature for about an hour then remove from the pan and slice. You can also leave it in the pan and then chill it in the fridge overnight before serving.

Tips:

I love using my Pyrex glass pans for baking because I can directly refrigerate or store the baked goods with the plastic lid after they cool to room temperature. 

The standard advice for baking in glass is to lower the oven temperature by 25°F (or 4C) and bake up to 10 minutes longer.

Lazy Keto Date Chocolate Mille Crepe Cake

My eldest is a huge fan of chocolate. How can I make sure he doesn't take in too much sugar with his chocolate intake? Only when mommy makes his birthday cake!

Ingredients for Chocolate Crepes

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup Milo powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
4 large eggs
2tbsp sunflower oil and more to coat the skillet

Method

Make chocolate crepes following my previous recipe.

Ingredients for date chocolate ganache

140g pure almond butter
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder/Milo powder
12 dates
2/3 cups water

Methods

Make almond butter using my old recipe.

Soak dates in hot water for 5-15 minutes.

Add cocoa powder and the soaked dates to the food processor. Blend for about a minute.

Gradually add water to reach the desired consistency.

Blend for 2 minutes or so until the mixture is smooth.

Stack the crepes.

In between the crepes, apply a generous amount of date chocolate ganache.

Surround the crepes with Zess chocolate wafer rolls and sprinkle some roast ground peanuts on top.

Top with blueberries and orange slices.

Happy birthday Bing boy!

Healthy Puppy Yee Shang

Healthy bodies stem from nutritious food. Besides having less salt, oil and sugar, it's very important to load ourselves with lots of vegetables and fruits. However, due to the relatively hard texture even after being cooked, it's hard to make children take them let alone salad made of raw vegetables and fruits. 

That's why we decorated our healthy Yee Shang with the kids. They had so much fun making the dish and had a plate each. We are proud parents making them eat the rainbow! 1-0

Ingredients

1 carrot

A handful of Roman lettuce

1/5 radish, peeled and julienned

1/2 box cherry tomatoes halved

1 mango

A handful of purple cabbage

1 sliced of salmon

4 hard boiled eggs

Salt

Black sesame seeds

Pumpkin Seed Butter Honey Dressing

2 tbsp pumpkin seed butter

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp sunflower oil

Kewpie Sesame Dressing

Basically just peel and julienne all veges.

Pan fry salmon and shred.

Slice the hard boiled eggs.

Make a green bed of lettuce.

Assemble the ingredients as shown in the picture.

Serve it with Pumpkin Seed Butter Honey Dressing and Kewpie Sesame Dressing! Read my previous post here about how to make nut butter.

Who says vegetables are boring?

Enjoy!

Shop more and Earn more at PG Mall Malaysia

Even though the shopping malls are already open during CMCO, as doctors, Mr husband and I still see many bad cases with covid 19 everyday at work. Besides good hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, we still avoid going out and practise social distancing as much as possible. So online shopping is definitely a great way to avoid the crowd.

If you shop online frequently, you would have come across iPrice. The iPrice site lists many major online shopping platforms such as PG Mall on its site so shoppers can search for their desired products via one site instead of browsing through many apps. This saves me so much time trying to compare between sites! PG Mall is the none other than the third leading e-commerce platform on iPrice.

We have been shopping on PG Mall www.pgmall.my since its launch in 2017. PG mall is Malaysia's top e-commerce platform. It is proudly Malaysian owned by the Public Gold group. Whenever possible, we try to support local business. Afterall, Malaysians should back each other up!

Besides the convenience of buying using a few mouse clicks, PG Mall has also partnered with MayBank to launch its MayBank QRpay cash back promotion. Do you know that you can get 20% off capped at RM20 with only a minimum spend of RM30? From 4 May 2020 until 26 June 2020, shoppers can get twice cashbacks within the campaign period. In other words, shoppers are given RM20x2 for each MayBank account to spend in PG Mall. Speaking about Raya shopping spree!

In addition, PG Mall uses the ConsumerChant concept. It's a method used to allow profit sharing between shoppers and businesses. Each shopper has a unique referral link. Once a new shopper signs up and makes purchase, the referee will get cashback rewards besides cashback from the referee's own  personal purchase.

I just got my parcel delivered today.. Yum, my favorite Tao Kae Noi Seaweed sheets!

So what are you waiting for? Let's shop at PG Mall now! Click this link to register or scan the QR code to register. Spend money and get rewarded today!

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