Having grown up on asian food our whole lives, those cravings have stayed with us even during this transition to a low-sodium cardiac diet. Training your tastebuds to kick the habit takes some time but the results are worth the sacrifice. The recommended maximum level of sodium and goal for 2016 is 2300 mg a day. Health Canada says that the average Canadian consumes 3400 mg which is "more than double of what we actually need." There is sodium found naturally in the meat and vegetables that we must also take into consideration. My opinion is that if I can control the sodium intake of those foods I consume, then it allows me more leeway on those daily intakes via external sources such as pre-packaged products we buy at the grocery or dining out.
So how do you eat the comfort foods you love but without the heavy sodium? Roll up your sleeves and get creative!
Here are a three easy DIY low sodium options to please your tastebuds:
1. 15 minute DIY wonton soup
2. Lanzhou Beef Noodle in fast forward
3. Asian-greek fusion flap steak feast
1. 15 minute DIY wonton soup
Here is what you need:
Sunland frozen wontons - available in chicken, pork and combination with shrimp ($6.99)
Fresh Chinese brocoli - 3-4 stems ($1.49)
Radish ($1.99)
Green onion ($1.99)
Here are the steps:
1. Boil water for the wontons. Open package and remove frozen wontons as per desired portion, no defrosting required. The Sunfood wontons have enough to make near to 6 servings. Drain after 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside.
* Note that each set of 5 wontons (50g) have 220mg of sodium.
2. Cut fresh vegetables. Chop Chinese brocoli into 1 inch bite size pieces starting from the steam and leaving the leaves fuller. Chop green onion and radish. Set aside.
3. Heat water and broth and add all together. Fill pot with 100 ml of water and 450-500ml of the low sodium vegetable broth, place over high heat. Once boiling add cut veggies to flash boil but keep fresh and crisp. Add wontons and turn off heat.
* Note that each 150ml of broth has 20mg of sodium
If you to make a more elaborate wonton soup, add mushrooms, baby corn, baby bok choy water chestnuts whatever you really like as veggies. You can also swap the vegetable for chicken or beef broth.
2. Lanzhou Beef Noodle in fast forward
"Lanzhou beef noodle is the most famous local dish in Lanzhou. It was first created during the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1875 - 1908), Qing Dynasty (1616 - 1911) This quick and inexpensive food is undoubtedly the first choice among the locals. There are one or two beef noodles eateries on every street in Lanzhou." - www.cultural-china.com
Upon my usual pinterest past time, I stumbled upon this intriguing recipe: http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/10/lanzhou-beef-noodle-soup/ due to its complex flavours and diverse use of ingredients: cardamom, star-anise, fennel, cinnamon, peppercorns, bay leaves, orange peel. I said to myself, it is beyond my usual scope of ingredients since Filipino cuisine consists mostly of the four major ingredients: salt, pepper, garlic and onion but I wanted to try something new and break from my comfort zone.
But due to limited resources and tools, I decided to improvise and make this express version.
Here are the steps:
1. Make the stock base. Boil the beef and pork soup bones and chicken carcass with a whole yellow onion. (I boiled pork ribs and also added a treat for my dogs, some very inexpensive chicken necks to kill two birds with one stone). Boil on high for a minimum of 45 mins to 1 hour to have the best results removing any scum to have a clear broth. Determine what you think is an appropriate amount of salt to your stock depending on your needs
2. Prepare your bouquet garnis. I made two bouquets: the first is shown in the photo above with the cinnamon, black licorice, orange peel, fennel, cardamom, peppercorns and bay leaves; the second was a basic soup stock bouquet consisting of carrot and celery to give added flavour. Add these to your stock pot with the boiling meat.
3. Cut your fresh vegetables and prep ingredients for the next steps. Cut radish, green onion, coriander, and unwrap your udon noodles (I used udon as it was what we had) and set aside. Add radish to the hot stock pot as a last step before serving.
4. Toast chili oil and sambal. In a small pan, I removed my bouquet from the stock and added to the oil the star anise (I substituted black licorice since I didn't have star anise), cinnamon, and peppercorns. I cooked these on a very low heat and let everything toast together slowly for 15 minutes. Take care not to burn the spices. Stir in the salt and sugar.
5. Boil your noodles. You could technically boil the noodles in the stock, but, I always like to separate the noodles from my dishes to remove excess starch and to have as clear of a broth as possible. These udon noodles boil in a quick 2 mins.
6. Prep your soup bowls. Top with green onion and coriander.
3. Asian-greek fusion flap steak feast
So in my last blog post I mentioned that there would be a recipe for flank or flap steak. Well this is my all-time favourite cut of meat. It is super easy to prepare. Costco sells wholesale large flank steaks for about $20 and if you cut them up and store them in freezer bags (you can check out my pinterest pin for marinating flap steaks to do that before freezing). If you do not have a membership or the money to burn, Metro usually almost always carries this cut for $8.
The piece I had was frozen. The advantage of cooking a frozen piece of flap steak is the ability to control the temperature of the inside to avoid it becoming overdone.
Here is what you need:
Flap steak
Arctic gardens mixed vegetables for soup (omit the green bean)
1-2 whole potatoes
Steamed rice
Attitude fraiche pre-washed mixed salads (Caesar or Greek mix)
Renee's Greek yogourt salad dressing & Oikos plain greek yogourt
Curry powder
Margarine or butter
Olive Oil
Mrs. Dash
Ground Oregano
Here are the steps:
1. Steam rice. Set aside.
2. Sauté diced yellow onions, add mixed vegetables. In a pan add margarine and olive oil or butter. I say this is asian-fusion as I add curry which is the magic ingredient in this rice. Add ground oregano. Once cooked set aside. Add rice to mix upon serving and stir all together.
3. Sauté or bake diced potatoes. Season with Mrs. Dash or other seasonings like Rosemary or dill. Set aside.
4. Cook flap steak. Sear whole steak on all sides until a nice caramelized grill colour. Once almost cooked through, remove off of heat and slice. If inside is rare and you are content then leave as is. If you cannot bear the pink or redness then take the sliced meats and quickly sear on high heat, flash frying only to sear the outside to remove any undesired excess blood. Sprinkle sea salt as desired, however, the dip disguises any lacking sodium.
5. Make a low sodium alternative to tzatziki. If you have time to make a homemade one you can go ahead, but, as a quick fix you can use 1 part Renee's Cucumber and dill greek yogourt salad dressing to 2 parts plain greek yogourt and create a quick and tasty dip for your potatoes and steak. (mix 1 tbsp dressing to 2 tbsp yogourt for 2 servings)
*Note that for every 173ml of yogourt you consume 60mg of sodium and every tbsp of yogourt salad dressing contains 100mg of sodium.
Enjoy!