Get Your Food On Issue 17
Tofu Larb Gai + Beetroot Hummus + Advanced "3-Day" Meal Prep
Welcome to Week 17 of "Get Your Food On" - my weekly Meal Prep Newsletter! A big hello to all new subscribers. Thank you for your continued support and all your wonderful emails/messages telling me how adventurous you are getting with meal prepping. Delightful! Yayyy! In 17 weeks, we have graduated to spending just under 2 hours to cook and prep 10 WHOLE RECIPES that contribute to at least 4-6 meals for 4 people/ That is incredible! I am working on fresh new recipes every week for your cooking pleasure so you can keep things interesting in the kitchen and have a wide variety of nourishing foods to feed yourselves and your families.
And finally, if my meal prep sessions are helping you, I would LOVE to hear your experiences! Please keep the feedback coming, it really helps me plan more content for you! And don't forget to SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER with your friends. Now let's begin ..
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NEW THIS WEEK
Beetroot hummus is a delicious way to mix up your hummus game. But you can’t just add beetroot to a regular hummus recipe. You need a few extra ingredients and my easy recipe is not only delicious but really draws out the earthy beetroot flavour and is ready in 25 minutes!
Beetroot Hummus – Why Boiling Beetroot Is Best
Every other week I make hummus for my family to snack on. Often I will mix it up with variations like Red Capsicum, Cauliflower, Green Carrot Top, Sweet Potato and this gorgeous Pink Beetroot version. I think the cauliflower and this beetroot variation are my absolute favourites. And it is so easy to make. All you need is a cooked beetroot, a few extra ingredients and a great base hummus recipe.
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You can either roast the beetroot or boil it. I prefer boiling it as it keeps the beetroot nice and juicy without drying it out. It is also quicker. A medium-sized beetroot will boil perfectly in just 20 minutes in a saucepan of boiling water on medium-high heat. Once it cools a bit, a sharp knife easily takes off the skin and top.
For this hummus, I chop the beetroot into little pieces rather than add big chunks. This helps in ....
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TOFU LARB (Thai Minced Tofu Salad With Lemongrass And Chilli)
Lovers of cauliflower rejoice! Your favourite Indian curry Aloo Gobi has been transformed into an easy, one-tray, oven-baked wonder! Aloo Gobi Traybake is such a fabulous way of cooking this famous cauliflower and potato dish. Just mix veggies and spices in a bowl, spread out on a large baking tray and bake to golden roasted perfection.
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Making A Tofu Version Of The Famous Thai Street Food
I love Larb! That time we went to Bangkok years ago before our boys were born, we tried all kinds of Thai street food being hawked by vendors. And we ate a lot of larb gai. Larb is essentially a meat salad of ground meat, herbs, chillies, fish sauce and toasted rice. Larb Gai is a chicken version of it (gai means chicken in Thai). The dish originated in Laos and is traditionally made with either beef, pork, chicken or duck. But I wanted to make a meat-free version, so I could cook and eat it more frequently.
Converting a larb recipe into a tofu version is not very straightforward and there is some science involved in creating a cohesive plant-based dish that tastes as fabulous if not better than its meat counterpart. My recipe is meat-free, but it isn’t vegetarian as it uses fish sauce and oyster sauce. This Tofu Larb would classify as a pescatarian dish. But if you would like to make a vegetarian/vegan version, please see my notes for substitutions. I have made this version too and it is utterly delicious.
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The Anatomy Of A Larb
Drawing upon the sights and tastes of the larb gai we sampled everywhere in Bangkok, I realized a couple of things.
The salad dish is barely warm.
It doesn’t use any oil/fats, but rather utilizes the fat in the meat itself to cook it to juicy tenderness.
Some elements are cooked and some are added raw to retain the crunch and freshness.
It is spicy. Fiery, even. And the spice ....
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Today's Meal Prep is continuing last week's new format and will make you feel like a seasoned meal prepper (no pun intended!). We will be cooking/making 10 complete recipes in just about 1 hour 40 minutes. And this will give you at least 2 dinners, 2 lunches, 3 breakfasts and desserts. That is 2-3 whole days of no cooking and plenty of time to Netflix or read a book or do whatever it is that you never find time for. All the dishes go really well together especially in line with the "This And That Bowl" philosophy of filling your meal bowl with a variety of colourful, nutritious items to make a complete meal. See my extras & serving suggestions for quick ways to boost this already great list of 10 recipes. Let's start!
RECIPES PREPPED (10)Â
TROPICAL GREEN JUICE
BERRY CREAM SMOOTHIE
COCONUT CARAMEL CHIA PUDDING
legend / the above meal prep yields the following for four people - 2 DINNERS + 2 LUNCHES + 2 DESSERTS + 3 BREAKFASTS
extras & serving suggestions /
Add extra protein to your carrot muffins and smoothies with boiled eggs or a rye toast with fresh ricotta/guacamole.
Steam a piece of white fish or salmon along with the sweet potato and chickpea salad.
Mix a fresh green leaf salad with chopped toasted nuts, chilli, coriander, lemon juice and olive oil to serve with the Tofu Larb. You can also serve this with some steamed brown rice. The Tofu Larb also goes well with some chopped cucumber and steamed prawn dumplings.
Elevate your Sweet Potato & Harissa Chickpea Salad for a light lunch by adding a generous smear of Beetroot Hummus on a plate, topping the salad over that and adding a poached egg or piece of grilled chicken/fish.
Top your Coconut Caramel Chia Pudding with fresh berries and chopped nuts for an extra boost for either breakfast or dessert. Â
Things To Do This Week (Friday)
1. Print out all the recipes you plan to cookÂ
2. Make a shopping list of things you don't already have and buy them before the weekend.
WEEKEND MEAL PREP SESSION (1 hour 50 minutes)
>> Before you begin, get a large plastic/enamel tub to catch all your scraps and rubbish (multiples if you are saving scraps for chooks/compost). I cannot stress how much time you will save and keep the bench tidy if you are not going to the rubbish bin every few minutes.
>> For Part II of the meal prep, I make sure the kitchen sink is clean and empty. This allows me to quickly wash my Vitamix and Breville Juicer which is easiest to clean right after making the smoothies and juices. I also have 6-8 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.
>> Some essential oils bubbling away in a diffuser where you are prepping is a great mood booster.Â
 Part IÂ
1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and pop in a beetroot to cook. Pop on a frying pan on low-medium heat and toast rice for the Tofu Larb. (5 minutes)
2. Chop sweet potatoes, season them and spread them on a tray and put them in the oven to roast. Place Tofu between two paper towels and press to absorb liquid. Crumble tofu into tiny clumps into a bowl. (10 minutes)
3. Mix and make Coconut Caramel Chia Pudding. (5 minutes)
4. Grind toasted rice for the Tofu Larb and set aside. (5 minutes)
5. Chop onion, parsley and coriander for the Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad. Cook onion and chickpeas along with the Harissa. (10 minutes)
6. Bring sweet potato out of the oven. Peel beetroot, gather all ingredients and Make Beetroot Hummus Pots (5 minutes)
7. Put together Roasted Sweet Potato & Harissa Chickpea Salad. Reduce oven to 190°C. (5 minutes)
Pack away chia pudding, beetroot hummus pots and Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad.
Active Time -Â 45 minutes
 BREAK 10 minutes - Time for a break. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee or pour a glass of wine. I like to load the dishwasher, put away ingredient containers and wipe down the counter at this point to reduce my work later.Â
 Part IIÂ
8. Gather and prep ingredients for Wholesome Carrot Muffins. Put the muffins in oven to bake (10 minutes)
9. Gather and prep ingredients for Pina Colada Smoothie, Tropical Green Juice, Sun Juice, Berry Cream Smoothie (10 minutes)
10. Make Pina Colada Smoothie (5 minutes)
11. Make Berry Cream Smoothie (5 minutes)
12. Make Tropical Green Juice (5 minutes)
13. Make Sun Juice (5 minutes)
14. Chop all ingredients for Tofu Larb and Chinese Chilli Eggplant (10 minutes)
Pack away juices, smoothies and muffins. The actual juice and smoothies only take a couple of minutes to make but I am allowing time for clean-up and washing of the appliances. I use my Breville Juicer to make the juices and my Vitamix to make the smoothies.
Active Time -Â Â 50 minutes
 BREAK 5 minutes - Time for a break. Refill your cuppa or glass. Stretch, close your eyes and get some sunshine or do some deep breaths.
 Part IIIÂ
15. Make Sticky Chinese Chilli Eggplant (10 minutes)
16. Make Tofu Larb (5 minutes)
17. Feeling Extra? - Pop on a pot of brown rice to cook. Spend 5 minutes chopping salad/prep veggies like leek, spring onion, cabbage, snow peas. Boil some eggs. Make this Miso Dressing for your fish/chicken later. Â (10 minutes)
Pack away Eggplant and Rice
Active Time -Â Â 15-25 minutes
FINAL CLEANUP - Wash and wipe the last bit of the prep. Make a list of all the RECIPES you have cooked and allocate days to when you will use them up.Â
Well done guys!! You are now set for the next 3 days!
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The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy will remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating.
~Â Wendell Berry, The Pleasures Of EatingÂ
I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!
