Posts Tagged ‘Asian Food’

Stir and Fry

Posted: August 7, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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Yeah I know I said this post was coming right away but I forgot some of the recipe and took some time to remember exactly how I made the Iftar meal. Oh and then in the middle of it all I got distracted by the delivery of my new office furniture and started putting that together. ADD at its best.

If there is a recipe of mine you decide to try, I would say this is the one to do! It’s a little complicated and time consuming but it’s worth it. Enjoy!

For Sahoor

I hate myself for it but I went back to eggs. I’m out of egg whites so I fried up 2 eggs sunny side up in olive oil. I ate them with a fork. I had a protein shake and some pure orange juice. I had a few glasses of water after that.

For Iftar

For Iftar I made an Asian Stir Fry dish centered around zucchini. It takes some time to prepare and requires some room but it’s worth it. The recipe below is for 2-3 servings. Here is how it’s done:

  • 1 lb of bonless skinned chicken, diced
  • 1 large zucchini, sliced
  • 1 cup of broccoli
  • 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tsp of curry paste, Mae Ploy brand
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp of chaat masala
  • 1/2 of a lemon juiced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 3 scallions, diced
  • coconut oil
  1. Heat up 2 large skillets with 2 tsp of coconut oil in each. Add the chicken to one and zucchini to the other.
  2. Add in the salt, chaat masala, lemon juice and curry paste to the chicken. Mix it all up until the curry paste spreads to all of the chicken pieces.
  3. Continue to stir the zucchini as well and flip so it doesn’t burn.
  4. Once the zucchini is done, remove it from the skillet and set aside.
  5. Add the broccoli and mushrooms to the skillet and stir around.
  6. Once they are tender, add the zucchini, broccoli, and mushrooms to the chicken mix.
  7. Add in the scallions and red pepper.
  8. Stir it all up and then lower the heat. Let it simmer with a top over it until the chicken is done.

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If you want, you can make some “fried rice” like I did a couple of weeks ago with cauliflower to eat with this. Otherwise, grab a fork and dig in!

Workout of the Day

Day 5 of the ab challenge. Yeah lazy day.

2 days left in the month of Ramadan, have you accomplished all of your goals that you set out to do??

Expectations

Posted: August 3, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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Alhumdulillah almost all of the recipes I’ve done this month have turned out as expected. However, not everything always goes to plan. Today’s stuff turned out fine but it just wasn’t perfect. I had craved sweet potatoes the night before and wanted to have a full meal out of it in the morning but that didn’t happen. Then I had orange chicken planned for the evening. It ended up tasting ok but no where near how I had imagined it. It could be possible that I had craved it for a few days now so my expectations were too high from the get go. Oh well, something too work on. If you are looking through my recipes to make something, I say go back a few days because this one won’t make the highlight reel of my dishes. Am I bothered? A little bit but I can’t lose focus of what this month really means. Here I am with an abundance of food annoyed that one dish didn’t turn out the way I had expected it to. What about those who are just looking for a way to find anything to call a meal? This month is about sacrifice so I’m reminding myself not to get carried away about these details but to focus on the big picture.

For Sahoor

Since sweet potatoes are working for me, I planned to stick with them. However, turns out I only had one left. Oops. So I skinned it and boiled it on hot water. If you cut it into smaller pieces, it cooks faster. I mashed them up, added some chaat masala and lemon juice to it. Since this wasn’t going to be enough food, I made a protein shake as well.

Workout of the Day

I did some random CrossFit stuff in the morning while we filmed a demo video. It wasn’t really a full workout but it did make me break a sweat. In the evening I did day 2 of the ab challenge. If you are interested in doing it, here it is:

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It starts off real slow but I’m looking at the higher 20s on the calendar. Should be interesting. Let me know if you decide to do it. I wish I had found this before Ramadan started!

For Iftar

I decided to make a challenging dish for Iftar. Making it does require some effort and time. Getting the ingredients right so it gets to be the right color and taste while keeping it Paleo is the hard part. I made a little extra for the next morning. Here is how I did it:

  • 1 lb of chicken
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of almond flour
  • coconut oil

For the Sauce:

  • 3/4 cup of pure orange juice
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 2 Tbsp of Paleo Starch
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp of ginger, minced
  • 1/4 tsp of crushed peppers
  • 1 tsp of organic soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp of sriracha sauce
  • 1/4 of a lime juice
  • 1 tsp of vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp of honey
  • 2 scallions, diced
  • coconut oil
  1. First make the sauce by preheating a couple of tsp of coconut oil in a pan and adding in the garlic, ginger, crushed red peppers, and half of the orange zest. Stir it around for a minute
  2. Once it’s golden, add in the honey, vinegar, lime juice, sriracha and soy sauce. Stir for a few seconds.
  3. Mix the orange juice and starch in a bowl. Whisk it until the starch dissolves and add the mixture to the pan.
  4. Keep stirring it for about a minute and then lower the heat. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes and move it to the back of the stove.
  5. Preheat another pan with about 2 Tbsps of coconut oil.
  6. Add the eggs to a bowl. Dunk each piece of chicken into it and then coat with the almond flour. Place the chicken into the pan.
  7. Cook each side until the chicken browns
  8. Add the sauce to the chicken and stir it up. Lower the heat and let it simmer with a top over the pan.
  9. Serve on a plate and garnish with the remaining zest and diced scallions

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Definitely didn’t look as appealing as I wanted it to but it actually tasted ok. I’ll have to go back and figure out how I can improve this recipe. It could be a lot better.

Next up will be Laylatul Qadr, aka Night of Power. I’ll talk more about that in the next post.

Hey Want a Date?

Posted: August 1, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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I realized I have left out one of the most important things I eat for Iftar. Well maybe not important but traditional? I open every fast with a date or two… or three. They are delicious, naturally grown in Saudi, and despite being a little on the higher end of sugar content, carry tons of great vitamins. They are a great source of fiber, vitamin A, and magnesium. Some studies have linked them to health benefits for your brain and heart while reducing risk of stroke and high blood pressure. If you haven’t had some before, I encourage you to try them. Like I said though, they are high in sugar so just don’t go overboard (even though it’s natural).

For some comic relief, a video I ran across a couple of weeks ago by some goofy kids in NYC:

For Sahoor

I had chicken leftovers from the night before that I had intentionally made extra of. I keep forgetting how much of a challenge eating chicken is in the morning. It tastes good but requires effort for me. Any how I finished that up and then had a protein shake.

Workout of the Day

3 rounds
15 Ring dips*
Kettlebell swings 53lb – As many reps as possible without stopping
Rest 2 minutes
15 Sumo-deadlift high pulls with KB – 53lb*
Wall balls 20lb – As many reps as possible without stopping
Rest 2 minutes

Your score is the lowest amount of reps you were able to complete for each movement
*this must be done unbroken. If you stop/pause, you must start your reps from 0

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I think I might be done with metabolic conditioning workouts for the remainder of Ramadan. I don’t remember feeling like this last year but I definetly require a lot more rest after finishing the workout. I don’t think I’m going any harder than I was last year. Maybe the workouts are more challenging? Maybe I’m just that out of shape? I enjoy the workouts very much but I hate that feeling afterwards of not wanting to move. I think I will stick to strength training for the remainder and maybe throw in some short met-cons.

For Iftar

Thai spiced chicken

  • 1/2 lb of boneless chicken
  • sea salt
  • chili powder
  • about two fist-fulls of lettuce
  • 1 scallion
  • 2 tsp of thai curry paste, Mae Ploy brand
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 cup of broccoli, cut into pieces
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 Tbsp of coconut oil
  1. Heat up a skillet and add in coconut oil.
  2. Marinate the chicken with the desired amount of salt and chili powder.
  3. Place the chicken into the pan and let it brown. When it starts to brown, flip it.
  4. Cook both sides of the chicken on high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add in the curry paste and mix it around a little bit.
  6. Cut up the lettuce, carrot, broccoli, scallion and add it to the skillet. Squeeze the lime onto it as well.
  7. Stir everything up and then lower the heat to low-medium. Continue to stir until the vegetables are soft and the curry paste has mixed in with everything.

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I honestly was a little unsure how this would turn out, especially since I’ve never used curry paste without using coconut milk. It took a lot of mixing and some lemon juice but it spread out real well across all of the ingredients. I love Thai food so anything with that type of kick to it I will enjoy. Needless to say I finished it pretty quick. Feel free to add as much green to it; it will fill you up better and of course the nutrients don’t hurt.

With that said, less than a week left! Wow..

Asian Invasion

Posted: July 15, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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I can’t believe we are 1/4 of the ways done already! I’ve now gotten to the point where I don’t even feel hungry or thirsty anymore. Rest is normalizing as much as it can as my body gets used to being able to sleep at certain times and with a certain amount of food in my stomach. Eating clean is a huge part of how good I’m feeling. With fun dishes like this past weekend and the one tonight, the time is just flying by!

For Sahoor

Alright so there isn’t much of a recipe here. I had left overs from the weekend so I had enchiladas and meatza. I then had some watermelon to fill any remaining spaces and aid with hydration. Food still tasted great and got me through the day just fine.

For Iftaar

Today I made one of my favorite Asian dishes, Thai Red Curry. It’s a really straight forward recipe and I’ll show you how to make “fried rice” for it too. Of course rice isn’t paleo so I will be using cauliflower in its place. This recipes serves about 4 people.

For the Curry

  • 1 lb chicken thigh, sliced or diced
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp of chili powder
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1-2 Tbsp of Thai Curry paste. Look for the brand Aroy-D or Mae Ploy.
  • 1 cup of coconut milk, full fat
  • 1/4 cup of basil leaves, shredded
  • 1 bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • Other optional vegetables – Mushrooms, squash, broccoli, etc
  • Coconut Oil

For the “Fried Rice”

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 2 eggs
  • small ginger root, minced
  • 2 scallions, diced
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • small handful of chopped cilantro

For the Curry

  1. Heat up a pan and add in coconut oil
  2. Add in the chicken and let it brown, stirring occasionally. Once it browns, take it out and set it aside.
  3. Add the scallions to the pan and saute until they are soft.
  4. Bring the chicken back into the pan and add in the curry paste. FYI, the more curry paste you add, the spicier it will be. Start with less if you aren’t a fan of spices
  5. Stir-fry it for a couple of minutes until the smell of spices is pungent.
  6. Pour in the coconut milk, bell peppers, carrots, and any other vegetables
  7. Raise the heat to High and stir it up. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat back to medium-low and let it simmer.
  8. Leave it for about 10 minutes (or until veggies are soft) stirring occasionally.
  9. Add in the basil leaves

For the Rice

  1. Place the cauliflower into a food processor and hit go.
  2. Add eggs to a pan with coconut oil and whisk. Make it an omelette and remove it from the pan
  3. Add in the scallions and salt to the pan.
  4. Saute until they are browning and then add in the ginger. Stir for about 1/2 a minute and then add cauliflower.
  5. Put a lid on it and turn the heat to low. Leave it that way for about 10-15 minutes.
  6. Slice the omelette and add it and the cilantro into the mix. Stir it all up again and leave on the stove for another couple minutes until the cauliflower is soft.
  7. Remove it from the pan and into a dish.

Serve the curry with the rice. Keep it separate until you are ready to eat other wise everything gets soggy.20130715_205619 20130715_20563620130715_205936

It turned out to be great. The cauliflower obviously has a little more pungent taste than regular rice but when mixed with the curry, you could barely tell that you were eating a paleo meal. It tasted great, wasn’t super complicated to make, and most importantly, it’s healthy.

I’m craving some right now. Luckily there were leftovers so it will probably make an appearance tomorrow morning. Can’t wait!

No WOD today. I had a busy personal day and wasn’t able to cook early enough to go work out. Tomorrow for sure though! If not, someone yell at me to keep me accountable. Thanks.