Ginger, apricot and apple pork roast

I've been enjoying looking for recipes with low GI possibilities and then playing with them to make them ok for a low GI diet. This one was adapted from a Hairy Bikers recipe, making it lower GI. I've found that one of the problems when I eat out or at friends' houses is that, whilst the meat is generally fine (very occasionally it's been served somewhere covered in a sweet sauce, but in the main it's great), so often the sides aren't great which leaves me with meat and not much else. I've found myself eating plates of green veg at home to get my fibre up after such meals. This has a wonderful stuffing that makes the pork even tastier, and I'd be happy to eat it without veg, if necessary, though, of course, served with some green beans and asparagus even better.

Small joint, cut thickly, with bacon

Bigger joint, cut thinly, and without bacon

Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
18 rashers of bacon
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced to approx 1cm cubes
2 limes, juiced
5 dried apricots chopped into approx 1 cm cubes
a handful of almond slices, toasted
a knob of ginger peeled and diced into approx 1 cm cubes
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar (or honey)
1 teaspoon ginger powder
5 shallots, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, pressed or chopped
2 spoons of butter
pinch salt and a grind of pepper
a little water

You'll also need a roasting pan, some cling film and space in the fridge.

Melt half the butter and add the sugar. When melted, add the ginger and some water if necessary. Allow to boil for around 15 minutes until the ginger is soft and sweet.

Melt the rest of the butter and fry the onions and garlic. When these start to caramalise, add the apples, apricots, lime juice, almonds, ginger and ginger powder and cook for around 10 minutes on a low heat. Allow to cool.

Slice the tenderloin in half, from the side and lengthwise and open it up like a book. Put some cling film over it and bash it until as flat as possible. Lay a further piece of cling film down and lay the bacon down, so that they overlap and intertwine. They should be bigger than the opened up pork.Lay the pork over and spoon the apple mix into the centre. Using the clingfilm, roll it tightly and wrap in the clingfilm and  put it in the fridge, ideally overnight, but for at least thrity minutes, open side down.

Heat the oven to around 220 C and put the pork in the oven for around 45 minutes to an hour, until the bacon is crispy.

Great eaten hot or cold.

Fish with lemon and dill lentils and carrot and orange salad

This is packed with protein and flavours. The salad works really well with the lemon and dill lentils too.

First cook the lentils.They don't take too long - a cupful of lentils, some chopped onions, maybe some celery, again finely chopped, boiled up in some simple vegetable stock. Bring it to the boil then simmer for around 25 - 30 minutes until the lentils are tender.

Meanwhile line a steamer with thinly sliced ginger. Place fish fillets on top and squeeze some lime over them. Throw in the squeezed lime and cover and cook over boiling water for around 15 - 20 minutes.

In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of yoghurt with one of cream. Squeeze in a lime, a little at a time, mixing well and quickly to make sure it doesn't curdle. Chop some dill and stir this in. Add the lentils and pour the mixture on to a plate. Use a fish slice to put the fish on top.

For the carrot salad, grate some carrot and squeeze over half an orange. Stir in a generous pinch of cinnamon, some black pepper and some chopped coriander. Peel some oranges, removing as much of the skin as possible. Toss these in and serve with the fish.

Capers also work very well added to either the lentils or the salad.

Simple vegetable stock

Of course you can use a packet stock, or another ready made option, but as what you really want is simply nicely flavoured liquid, this simple stock means that you can have it fresh, and without added ingredients you might not choose. I find most ready made stocks too salty, so always use a variation on this.
Add a chopped onion, some celery if you have some, some bay leaves, peppercorns, dried mushrooms, to some water and boil until the flavours are absorbed by the water. This doesn't take long and means that stock you can control is always nearby.

Bacon and Mushroom Frittata

 One of the reason I think I'm losing so much weight on this diet is that I'm full, most of the time. I eat a protein rich breakfast and have to remind myself to eat lunch, which is a new experience of me. Most days I have a just ripe banana (they get sweeter and higher GI the riper they are) with yoghurt and almonds and it really fills me up. Eggs are another great breakfast option, and this frittata is filling and delicious. It can be eaten hot or cold and you can play around with the ingredients. Many recipes call for a cup of milk to six eggs, but I prefer it without the milk. You can either make this in an ovenproof frying pan and finish it off in the oven, or, as we did, in a small frying pan and flip it into another frying pan for the last few minutes of cooking.

Snip and then fry some bacon in two pans. When done (I like it crispy but as you prefer) use the oil to cook some sliced mushrooms and spring onions. Add the bacon to this and then the egg which has been whisked until it was light and fluffy (for a very fluffy option, you can whisk the whites, then fold in the yolks). Leave it cooking for a couple of minutes without touching the pan, then reduce the heat. Run a spatula round the pan and then flip it into a hot, oiled pan of the same size to finish the cooking.

Lettuce wraps

I miss bread. I don't really miss it for itself but as the base for other food. Same with rice, pastry and potato. One of the joys of this diet, though, has been exploring other options for wrapping, covering, a base, etc. Cauliflower, lettuce, aubergine and a few other bits and pieces are proving to be more than adequate substitutes. I always found wraps a bit too bready at the base, and they go soggy. Spring roll wrappers can have a bit too much of a rubbery thing going on - no one wants to feel like they are chewing on a condom at dinner. These lettuce wraps need delicate handling, and not over filling, but they don't go soggy, aren't rubbery, and you don't feel like you are getting just too much lettuce in a bit. So they are perfect.

Firstly make some houmous
Then peel and julien carrots and cucumber and spring onions.
Cook some thin strips of chicken in a light stock Plunge into ice water to cool.
Take a large (or two small) lettuce leaves. Add some cucumber and some carrot sticks, some spring onions, some chicken, and some houmous.
Wrap it together, sprinkle with paprika, and tie with a spring onion.

Chicken Laap

After initial great strides on the low GI front, my blood sugar has been slowly rising. It's still in the safe range, but at the upper, rather than lower end. Most likely culprits are currently assumed to be dark chocolate or full fat milk, both of which should be alright, but both of which have featured on the days it has risen, so I'm currently cutting them out whilst I establish the problem. I really want to be able to have both, but, obviously not at the expense of my health. I've also been reading that, much like how, in a diet, the weight comes off, then your body goes into fight mode, the metabolism slows down and it becomes harder to get the weight off, something similar happens to liver function regarding sugar levels. I've not quite sussed it yet, but broadly, this might be the reason. I'll keep investigating, and in the meantime, continue with lots of variety of low GI food.

Lao food is generally very low fat, high in veggies and spicy. It is normally eaten with sticky rice which is not a low GI food, but this dish, served in lettuce leaves, and with a small tweak, is great low GI food. The tweak is that this should have dry fried rice powder in, but with rice being a high GI ingredient, I tried this one without. I also substituted the rice powder for almond powder which I dry roasted and this worked out best.

Laap is the national dish of Laos, a spicy chopped meat and mint dish, without which no Lao repertoire is complete. It is traditionally made with chicken, pork or fish, but one of the joys of cooking it is to try alternatives. Tofu and mushrooms both work well for a vegetarian version. Nam pha (Thai fish sauce) is a traditional substitute for baa dek, the fermented fish ubiquitous to Lao cooking, but if this doesn’t work for you, substitute soy sauce which will give you the same saltiness without the fishiness. Add the chillies slowly, tasting as you go to get the perfect balance of spiciness for your palate. Most Lao folks will enjoy it served with far more spice than the average westerner. Of course, if you are making this in the west, it may be difficult to put your hands on a banana flower. In this case, a savoy cabbage will work fine. Laap does normally contain mono-sodium glutamate but you may skip it, if you prefer. I do.
We made chicken laap, (laap gai) the traditional Lao way.
For this, you’ll need:
a whole chicken,
a couple of cloves of garlic,
an optional teaspoon of mono sodium glutamate,
some fermented fish (baa dek) or soy sauce, or nam pa, or Vietnamese fish sauce,
a generous handful of mint leaves, separated from the stems,
ten chillies and a spoonful of dried red chilli powder, though I use a lot less
a small handful of coriander, attached to the stems, and chopped
a banana flower, sliced finely
ten spring onions,5 finely chopped, 5 left uncut
two large limes
a cucumber,
some baby aubergines (eggplants)

Cut open the chicken and slice the kidneys, heart and liver into strips, around 5mm wide. Remove the skin from the chicken and cut this into similar strips. Fry this. You won’t need oil as the chicken fat will provide plenty. Add the garlic and a teaspoon of MSG. Cook for around five minutes until the chicken is cooked and the garlic is soft, then take off the heat.
Put about a litre of drinking water in a bowl and add a dozen mint leaves, the juice of half a lemon (and the squeezed fruit), and the banana flower (preferably the yellow one as this has a delicious nutty flavour whilst the red one is more bitter). Leave this to soak while you prepare the rest of the laap.
Next, put a cup of baa dek (fermented fish) into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for around 3 – 5 minutes to increase the flavour. (If you are using a substitute, you can miss out this step).
Squeeze the banana flower mix, chop and add to the meat, together with the juice of one more lemon
Traditionally you can now add a heaped tablespoon of dry fried rice powder to the mix, but as I've mentioned, I substitute this for dry fried almond powder for a low GI version.
Add a couple of spoons of your chosen fish sauce, the chilli powder, the chopped up birds eye chillis, a handful of unchopped mint, the spring onions and the coriander. Stir this and serve with raw baby aubergine, peeled and sliced cucumber, the rest of the spring onions, the chilli peppers and,eat in little lettuce leaf cups, replacing the more normal, but high GI, sticky rice.

Walnut and aubergine dip

My appetite seems to be getting less and less each day. I guess the high protein and the eating breakfast every day almost without fail makes this happen.

I love having a selection of dips in the fridge for lunch. This, tsaksiki, houmous, a tomato salsa and a load of crudites - raw carrots, cucumber, cauliflower florets to eat it with. The walnuts in this dip give it a great texture as well as flavour.

Thread a few cloves of garlic on to a skewer and put these on a barbecue along with some aubergine. You can cook them in the oven if you prefer, but I like the additional smoky taste that the barbecue imparts. Once blackened, remove the skin. Put the walnuts in a hot oven for 5 minutes or dry roast them in a pan.
In a large pestle and mortar, bash the garlic till it's a paste. Bash the walnuts till there are some small and some larger pieces for texture. Bash the aubergine till it's a paste. Mix all three together and add the juice from a couple of limes, a couple of handfuls of chopped mint and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Serve with crudites.