Author: Daisy

Nut Butter Brownies

A friend visiting from India recently introduced me to a wonderful recipe site — www.pecanbread.com. It is for children who are being introduced to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). However, the recipes within it are a treasure trove for anyone who wants to ideas for healthful, gluten-free, dairy-free, and (yes!) grain-free meals.

The cooks who contribute use a lot of nut butter in the recipes. That’s hard and expensive to obtain here in Malaysia. However, organic food stores such as BMS and Country Farm, as well as more developed grocers such as Jaya or Village will tend to have them. Any kind will do, though peanut, hazelnut, almond, and cashew seem to be the most common in these parts. Cocoa butter is an amazing kind to use, but sadly, very hard to obtain here in Malaysia.

The recipe is super simple. Credit to “Bev,” the contributing cook for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup nut butter (any kind)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (note: not baking powder)
1 egg

Steps:

1. Mix all. I do this by hand, though you could certainly use a mixer. No need to blend too much.

2. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes

Use your own nut! :)
Use your own nut! 🙂

Peace,

Daisy

 

Gluten Free in Laos!

I’ve been to Laos twice now and have not yet had a reaction to gluten in the food I ate there. There are very few fancy restaurants where people speak English and can understand words like “allergy.” However, most food is obtained from stalls where you can *actually watch* them do what they do, and ask “what’s that?” till you are sure your food is safe.

One super delicious dish that was served everyone was Mekong fish. It is basically coated in rock salt (to preserve freshness) and stuffed with herbs before being grilled on hot charcoal. Totally safe when you can see how it was done. Just make sure they don’t use the same grill for marinated meats.

Available at road side restaurants in downtown Vientiane.
Available at road side restaurants in downtown Vientiane.

 

Also, the papaya salads were safe 99% of the time. Just check that they don’t use soy sauce in the marinade. It’s usually just rice vinegar (ask to see bottle) and lime juice, and chilli powder!

Finally, the mango and sticky rice were my go-to comfort food when travelling. The only thing to watch for with this dish is that they use *fresh* coconut milk (not powdered).

Tons of local salads and fruit abound, so there will always be raw, vegan, whole food options in markets and at stalls.

The soup dishes are good too, but you have to watch for MSG and the use of soy sauce and other non-gf preservatives in the soup base.

Peace,

Daisy