#thisweekihavemostlybeeneating….porridge

I am still doing the diet thing. Ayurvedic cleansing.

It is going ok.

Breakfast always consists of porridge with a few stewed fruits – linseed and pumpkin seed.

It is actually quite tasty. At first I was sticking to the letter of the law and having quinoa porridge which tasted like arse. Grey wet arse. It was rank.

I decided that this was my diet and I was going to own it. No grain was going to beat me.

So I went traditional. Oats. Just Oats nowt else. Made with water of course, no dairy for me.

I love the Daily Oats from Rude Health – they are the best. Plain and Simple FACT.

Here is a picture of them in my cupboard, just in case you wanted to see how pretty the 1kg bag is.

Carrot Pickle – A Recipe

As is to be expected I am craving a ton of different foodstuffs. It has only been two weeks since the start of the Ayurvedic Diet, but today was definitely the day that I started to miss things. For some reason today I was craving Carrot Pickle.

This was one of my favourite things growing up. Crunchy carrots in a bath of mustard (oil/seed) and garlic and chillies. I have not made it for a while and today it popped into my head.

I am off to India for work and play at the end of Feb for most of March, the Ayurvedic diet should be easy enough to do out there, what with it being the home of Ayurveda. This means that when I get back the diet will be just about done. I can make a batch of this and watch it pickle and when it is done, I will be allowed to munch it.

I have also been planning a whole day of eating out once I have completed the cleanse. At the moment it looks like this…

• Breakfast at The Providores – Fry Up and Coffee
• Lunch at Polpo
• Dinner at Nobu (the Original not Berkeley, I hate the Berkeley)

This day will no doubt change a number of times over the next 6 weeks, but that is the plan at the moment.

Anyway, back to the pickle. The shape that you cut the carrots in makes a difference, I always do good solid batons and not rounds like my aunts used to do. They end up getting a tad soggy over time. Always sterilise the jars and lids, you know the score.

Carrot Pickle

600g Carrot Batons

1 Tbs Sea Salt

1 Tsp Heaped Turmeric Powder

2 Tbs Yellow Mustard Seeds

2 Tbs Black Mustard Seeds

2-4 Tsp Chilli Flakes

3 Tbs Garlic Crushed

8 Tbs Mustard Oil

100ml Water

Method

Crush the mustard seed roughly and place with all dry ingredients  into a bowl – Mix well.

In a pan warm the oil gently for a minute or so. Place the carrots in a tightly fitting jar. Cover with the oil and top up with the water.

Shake and leave in a cool dark spot for a week, turn occasionally. The carrots will have a good crunch and be spicy and tangy.

Ayurvedic Diet – Day 4

So. I have started to do this diet thingy. It is for a good reason, I suppose – healthiness.

There is a school of thought that says what I am doing will help my ulceration, after two years of pills I have decided to jump on the very old Vedic wagon.

There is a big list of stuff that I am not allowed. Obvious things like Dairy, Wheat etc. Where I am struggling is the little stuff Garlic, Chilli, Salt, Tomatoes…all irritants to the gut – well, to the VATA which is what I am trying to balance. The options are not that limited and I am having fun experimenting with ideas – when you can’t fry things or use your fave cuts of meat everything gets interesting.

I am allowed ‘good’ oils olive and sesame – cold of course. All spices that appear on the list are to be heated through. This means that I am already getting lots of bottles ready to make herb oils that I can use on alll my steamed/grilled/poached food.

• The morning consists of Quinoa Porridge made with water – A spoonful of stewed fruits – no sugar – Pumpkin seeds and Linseeds. It is not bad actually and I have grown quite fond of it.
• There is a cup of nettle tea and a banana or an apple at about 11am.
• A lunch of Steamed/poached/grilled fish with some steamed veg.
• Dinner is soup or a stew.

It is a simple life that I now lead. Pure and clean.

Ok, it is not going to be that easy. I still have to Judge Pork Off and the Croque Police just can’t go on without me. There will be a day or two where I am not perfect. I am worried that I will not be able to go on much longer / to last the 3 months…but I think that willpower and the ulcer pain will make me do it.

I have started to dream about food more than I used to (it has only been 4 days) but all I have to do is close my eyes and images flash past – macaroni cheese, steak, chips…my tongue has phantom tastes passing over it….smoky, then salty then intensely sweet. In some ways it is a nice way to spend the day, constantly re-living meals I have eaten…I suppose this is what it must be for people who are constantly ‘on a diet’ always watching what they eat and counting calories…what a way to live. I never fully appreciated the time and the effort that goes into this, well, madness.

I’m not gonna put anyone through anymore pain of listening to me…and from now on the posts will  be about food and not my ‘journey’ through a diet, which is intensely boring. I will bring you delicious diet food. mmmmm.

My Last Supper…

Ok.  So I am not on Death Row and I have no affiliation with Jesus.

I am going on a kinda diet tho.  Purely medical. As we all know there is NO good reason to restrict ones intake of tasty things.

This morning everything began – Quinoa Porridge with Stewed Fruits, Pumpkin Seeds and Linseed. It was not half bad actually. I made it with Rice Dream and water…surprisingly creamy and tasty.

Anyhoo. Back to last night. The Last Supper…for about three months or so anyway. I decided that my last day was going to contain chorizo and lots of it. Brunch was a leisurely affair a poached egg or two, some muffins some chorizo, spinach and coriander mushrooms…

One meal down, I ate lots of Mini Millionaires Shortbreads from SOBO chocolate to keep me going through the day. Damn Fine. Damn Fine.

I was unsure what was going to make an appearance in the evening meal, there was obviously going to be some Chorizo as a bit of spicy pork would always be in my last supper. I also had some chicken legs and Jerusalem artichokes in the fridge so they had to used up.

I started out thinking a beany stew…then moved onto…a Rosti topped with shredded smoked meat and a nice cramy sauce…but ended up with roast chicken and a Jerusalem artichoke kinda hash with sliced chorizo. Keep it simple. I deglazed the pan with Sake and had a few mache leaves on the plate for balance.

That’ll be me for a while then., no more real food. I will try and create lots of recipes from my strange list of acceptable ingredients…..

#dégustationcroque – A Journey

Jeffrey Steingarten does it the best. The French made him a Chevalier FFS.

Total dedication to food.

I reckon that if he were to appear on an episode of ‘Just A Minute’ should the subject on the cards be about food there would be no hesitation, deviation or repetition.

As you may have read previously I am, just a bit, slightly obsessed with Croque Monsieurs.

@MathildeCuisine and @Aforkful are popping down to the Draft House soon to try out the Croque Monsieur there.

I have had an average run of Croque Monsieurs in the UK and occasionally a below par one in France. I think more people should have it on the menu and I think that I need some sort of weekly respite from this big bad NO DAIRY and lots of other stuff diet I am about to embark upon.

So. Mainly for my sanity and also for bettering the pursuit of Croque perfection in the UK I am going on a search. Anyone is welcome to join me, I am assuming that @MathildeCuisine is up for it (she is French you know)…

Dégustation Croque

This is a call to all restaurateurs, café owners, pubs and even clubs…if you serve or are thinking of serving a Croque on your menu – please go to the above site  sign-up and let us know – we will be over to test, taste and critique.

The Croque Police are coming.

The ‘D’ Word

Debacle?

Diligent?

Dependable?

Nope. Diet.

Having reached the halfway house for 3 score years and ten, I have never attempted to restrict, reduce or change my eating habits in any way, let alone deprive my self of things I love.

Alas the time has come.

This ain’t no 1980′s Beverly Hills Maize Diet, I ain’t gonna go Atkins or Ketogenic on my ass. This is Ayurvedic stuff people.

I have a failing valve which in turn with a bit of reflux is causing Oesophageal Ulceration. I have been to quacks and been given pills and have been taking those pills for over two years. I’m bored of taking pills, having to remember to take pills and no matter what all the scientific studies say, I am sure it can’t be that good for me.

The problems in the gut are probably due to the vast amounts of narcotics I consumed as a teenager, the tons of anti-biotics I downed as a poorly young child (heart problems dontcha know *violins*) and the industrial amounts of foie gras, pork belly, vodka, champagne and curry – basically striping it of good bacteria (remember the ads?).

With people bandying around words like mucus, pro-biotic and digestive tract I decided to actually try and stick to a regimen. After a chunk of research and a little thought I have decided to try and restart my stomach – old skool stylee. The plan is to be nice to my stomach lining and not annoy it and balance my Vata all at the same time.

It involves me having – NO DAIRY (erm!), Virtually no Red Meat, No Chilli or Garlic and lots of flakes, seeds and oils. I reckon that it should be manageable. I am sure that I will come up with a ton of recipes that I had not thought of previously and I may even lose some weight in the process.

All will be documented here of course.

There will be exceptions made for Croque Tastings and Pork Competitions however. (Seriously I can’t be perfect, can I?)