How To Make Perfect Pork Crackling rind scratchings recipe-min

Recipe: How To Make Perfect Pork Crackling

February 5, 2013/5 Comments/in Cooking, Fat, Food, Pork, Recipe /by Suz

I love Pork Crackling (which you may know as Pork Rinds or Pork Scratchings, depending on where you’re from). But it’s often a disappointment, either soft and underdone, or burn and completely wasted! But when it’s crunch and crackly, it is so good.

Pork crackling is obviously mainly fat, which makes it the perfect Paleo snack. Just a small amount is extremely satiating, so you can easily cook enough to last for many servings. Whilst you can buy them, one look at the ingredients (not to mention the uncertainty about the quality of the pork used) will probably tell you to get in the kitchen and make your own!

I’ve been trying to work out the best way to get perfect Pork crackling, which I’ll share with you below.
Firstly with Pork, perhaps more so than any other meat, quality really counts. I always go for Pasture Raised* pork and am careful to buy the best quality I can. If I could only buy one type of meat organic and pasture raised, without doubt I would choose pork.

You can use a few different cuts, blade or a roasting joint work well, but my favourite is Pork belly.

How To Make Perfect Pork Crackling:

Dry the skin thoroughly (use a paper towel).

With a sharp knife, score the skin, leaving the cuts about a finger width apart. Go for either diagonal stripes, or make a diamond pattern. Make sure you score through the skin, but not through to the meat.

This might sound odd, but pour boiling water over the skin – and don’t panic about the fact it doesn’t make it look good.

Dry the skin thoroughly once more, then rub sea salt into it (I tend to use Himalayan or Celtic sea salt). Make sure the salt gets right through, into the cracks. Some people add oil here, but I’ve had great results without, so don’t.

If you can, leave the salted pork in the fridge overnight.

When ready to cook, add more salt to the skin and cook in a very hot oven for about 15 minutes per kilo. I start at 180C, the in the last 15 minutes of cooking, turn the oven up to about 240C.

Please share your tips below, I know almost everyone seems to have a slightly technique.

*Pigs will tend to eat lots of different foods – not just grass, which is why grass-fed isn’t a term used to refer to pork and other pig related products. “Pasture raised” means they’ve been raised to eat their natural diet, which may include whatever they find as they roam about the pasture – grass, bugs, corn, fruit, veggies, weeds etc.

13 Paleo Uses For Coconut Aminos

February 1, 2013/8 Comments/in Blog Posts, Cooking, Food /by Suz

Long before I went Paleo, I used Soy Sauce in almost all of my cooking, thinking that not only did it taste good – but that I was adding a super health food to my diet. Now, I've replaced Soy Sauce with Coconut Aminos in all of my cooking.

What’s So Wrong With Soy?

As I researched I formed the opinion that rather than being healthy, Soy is actually quite the opposite. As a legume, Soy contains Lectins, which turn your Leptin sensitivity haywire, confusing your hunger and energy signals. The high levels of Phytates in soy are also undesirable, since they bind to minerals, ensuring that they are unavailable for your body to absorb.

Soy has a high Goitrogen content. Goitrogen interfers with the Thyroid, so can lead to Hypothyroidism. My biggest concern with Soy however, is the plant estrogens it contains (isoflavones) – which have the effect of raising estrogen and decreasing testosterone. Think man boobs and all sorts of undesirable effects through unbalanced hormone levels.

Avoiding Soy…

Fortunately, it is easy to avoid Soy products. Firstly, I find that by using so many different ingredients in my cooking, it is so much tastier that I don’t need to add any extra flavour. Just by changing the herbs and spices I use, I can completely change the taste of a recipe anyway.

But – for those occasions when nothing else will do, I have found Coconut Aminos to be a great alternative to Soy.

What Is Coconut Aminos?

Coconut Aminos is essentially the sap of a coconut tree, or the juice from coconut blossoms. The tree is tapped to collect the aminos, which is then dried in the sun to evaporate, or can be fermented. The sap from the tapped tree will continue to produce sap for years to come.

The aminos is loaded with amino acids (apparently 14 times more than soy sauce) and packed with minerals and vitamins.

13 Things You Can Do With Coconut Aminos

Marinate a steak in coconut aminos, garlic, coconut oil, salt and pepper for a few hours before cooking
Make Paleo Sushi using nori wraps, cauliflower rice and fish, and serve with coconut aminos as a dipping sauce
Use for making beef jerky
Add to Paleo chilli for a deep flavour
In fact, try it in any tomato based dishes to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, make the dish a darker colour and replace the need to add salt
Marinate chicken in it before adding to a stir fry
Use in fermented foods like Kimchi
Perfect for Asian inspired dishes like Nasi Goreng
Use in soups and stews instead of adding salt
Add to the baking tray when roasting a chicken to brown the skin when basting the bird.
Mix coconut aminos, balsamic vinegar, mustard, oive oil and a squeeze of lemon to make a delicious salad dressing
Add to sweet potato chips with olive oil and coriander before baking in the oven.
Slice and de-seed and avocado, pierce with a fork, then pour on balsamic vinegar and allow to soak in. Then fill the hole up with coconut aminos and eat with a spoon.

Where Can You Get Coconut Aminos?

If you’ve not tried it before, you can often find Coconut Aminos at your local health food shop. Alternatively, a few places online stock it. I get mine from iherb (who offer $10 discount for first time customers), as I order most of my herbs, spices and supplements from there in bulk.

What do you use Coconut Aminos for? Share your suggestions below.

Recipe The Paleo Diet Kimchi Korean fermented-min

Recipe: Paleo Kimchi

January 22, 2013/7 Comments/in Cooking, Food, Recipe, Sides, Vegetables /by Suz

I hadn’t had Kimchi until I moved to Australia and ventured to some Korean barbeque restaurants. Not only does it taste amazing, as a fermented food, Kimchi is really good for gut health – a great inclusion in a Paleo diet.

One of my New Years resolutions this year was to eat more fermented food, so after coming up with a good Kombucha recipe – it was time to get experimenting with Kimchi.

This is how I made my batch of Kimchi. I’d love to hear how you make yours – and what other fermented food you include in your diet. Let me know in the comments below!

Kimchi Ingredients

1 large Chinese cabbage
4 litres (1 gallon) of water
100g (1/2 cup) of Celtic sea salt (though any salt would be fine)
One clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
One 6cm (2 inch) strip of ginger, peeled and grated
100ml (1/2 cup) Korean chilli powder (I found this in an Asian supermarket)
Dash of coconut aminos
Small bunch of spring onions, cut into strips
1 radish, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon of honey (this is needed to get the fermentation going – and the duration of the fermentation determines how much sugar remains in the end product)

How To Make Kimchi

Chop the cabbage into rough pieces, discarding the tough stem.

In a large bowl or stock pot, fully dissolve the salt in the water. Once dissolved, immerse the cabbage pieces in the water, using a plate to keep them submerged. Keep the cabbage underwater for two hours.

In another mixing bowl, mix together all of the other ingredients.

Once the cabbage has been underwater for two hours, remove it, drain it, rinse the salt water off and dry it thoroughly.

Now, mix all of the ingredients together.

Spoon the Kimchi into a clean glass jar and cover it firmly. Keeping the jar in a cool dry place, leave it alone for two days.

After a day or two, check the Kimchi. If it is bubbling, it is ready and can be eaten – or stored in the fridge. If not, it’s not quite ready, so leave it for another day and check again.

When it’s ready make sure you store it in the fridge. I’m sure there won’t be any left after a few days – but it’s best to eat it within two or three weeks before it becomes “too” fermented!

Enjoy!

Nasi Goreng recipe Indonesian Fried Rice Bali Java Primal Diet-min

Recipe: Nasi Goreng

January 15, 2013/8 Comments/in Cooking, Dinner, Eggs, Paleo, Recipe, Vegetables, Vegetarian/ Vegan /by Suz

In Indonesia Nasi Goreng is the national dish, appearing in every restaurant and food stall. Nasi means rice and Goreng is fried, so it is literally Fried Rice. Whilst everyone has their own take on Nasi Goreng, the flavours are fantastic, so I was keen to recreate a Paleo version of this dish when I got home from my trip. Obviously the first thing to change is the rice!

Nasi Goreng Ingredients
Sauce:

• Pinch of black peppercorns
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 8 macadamia nuts
• 1 small onion, peeled, roughly chopped
• 3cm (1 inch) fresh ginger, peeled, chopped
• Pinch of ground turmeric
• lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, core chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 chilli peppers, seeds removed, roughly chopped
• Pinch sea salt (I’m using Celtic sea salt)
• Spoonful of coconut oil (virgin, unrefined)
• ¼ lime, juice only

Rice (Nasi):

• Spoonful of coconut oil
• 4 onions, diced
• Sea salt, to taste
• 300g (11oz) pre cooked cauliflower rice
• ½ litre (20oz) water
• 1 bulb garlic, peeled, finely chopped
• 3 chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 250g (10oz) leftover diced chicken (cooked)
• Splash of coconut aminos
• 6 spring onions, trimmed, thinly sliced

Serve With:

• Dash of coconut oil
• 4 large free-range eggs
• ¼ cucumber, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, sliced

How To

In a pestle and mortar (or food processor if you have one), grind the peppercorns, nutmeg and macadamias until they form a powder. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and blend until they form a smooth paste.

Heat the coconut oil in a medium pan and fry the onions until they turn golden. Season, then remove from the pan.

Make the cauliflower rice and transfer onto a baking tray to cool.

Heat some more coconut oil in the pan and add the remaining onions, garlic, chillis and carrots. Stir fry until the carrot starts to become tender.

Add the sauce into the pan and stir for a minute. Add in the tomato paste and heat through for a final minute.

Into the pan, add the cooked chicken and cauliflower rice, and stir until it is thoroughly heated through. Finally, add in the coconut aminos and spring onions and mix in well. Take off the heat and keep warm.

Fry the eggs in coconut oil.

Dish the Nasi Goreng and top with the fried eggs. Finish with a side of tomatoes and cucumbers.

Enjoy!

Paleo tomato ketchup sauce red recipe primal diet

Recipe: Paleo Tomato Ketchup

December 27, 2012/6 Comments/in Cooking, Food, Recipe, Sauces & Condiments, Under 30 Minutes, Vegetables, Vegetarian/ Vegan /by Suz

It is so hard to find a tomato ketchup recipe that doesn't add in lots of sugar! Finally with a lot of tweaking, I’ve come up with my favourite Paleo tomato sauce recipe. A home made burger just isn't the same without tomato ketchup.

Paleo Tomato Ketchup Ingredients:

15 Medium Tomatoes
2 Onions, Chopped and Fried in Coconut Oil
4 Garlic Cloves, Crushed and Fried in Coconut Oil
1 Red Capsicum (Bell Pepper)
100ml (4floz) Red Wine Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
1 Teaspoon Paprkia
Pinch Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
1 Teaspoon Black Peppercorns
6 Cloves
3cm (1 inch) Peeled & Chopped Ginger

Paleo Tomato Ketchup How To:

Chop up the tomatoes and capsicum and along with the onion and garlic, bring to the boil in a pan of the red wine vinegar.

Stir occasionally, allow the mixture to reduce to a thicker consitancy.

Remove from the heat and puree in a blender to your desired level of smoothness, before returning to the pan over the heat.

In some muslin or a tea strainer, add the seeds, peppercorns, cloves and ginger and add to the pan.

Reduce the heat to simmer and cover until it thickens up to your liking.

Once ready, remove the muslin or strainer and bottle the ketchup and store in the fridge.

I’d love to hear how you make ketchup? What do you do differently?

Paleo Breakfast Recipe Book

November 13, 2012/12 Comments/in Blog Posts, Books, Breakfast, Cooking /by Suz

After months in the kitchen, I've finally finished my first recipe book all about Paleo Breakfast Recipes. I'm thrilled with the result, an ebook of well over 100 pages of Paleo breakfast recipes to suit every situation and taste, with beautiful photos to tempt you into the kitchen.

I know how hard it is to find time to make a good breakfast, so there is a chapter on grab and go breakfasts, quick (but still delicious) breakfast recipes and also drinkable Paleo breakfast recipes.

I've also included chapters covering alternatives to your former favourite SAD breakfasts, child friendly breakfasts, lots of egg free recipes, meat-free recipes (a lot of people can’t face meat for breakfast) as well as fancy breakfast recipes, for when you have a bit more time and want to impress.

Recipes are easy to follow and clearly laid out, with both imperial and metric measurements. If you buy this book in conjunction with one of my other ebooks, I offer big discounts – click here to find out more

I though I’d share one of the breakfast recipes from the book here…

If you’re interested in the book, you can buy it here

Buy Two or more Paleo Recipe Ebooks and Save

The book is $17, but I offer big discounts if you buy more than one of my recipe books in one transaction – you can find the bulk prices here.

Breakfast Mushroom Saucers

Ingredients:

• 4 large portobello mushrooms
• 4 rashers bacon
• coconut oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 200g (7oz) spinach
• 75g (2.5oz) grated cheese (optional, if primal or lacto-paleo)
• 30g (2 tablespoons) pine nut kernels
• fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 avocado

How To:

Wash the mushrooms and set aside the stalks to use in another dish.

Cut the bacon to match the size of the mushrooms, and fry in the coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat, until your desired level of crispness has been reached.

Coat the mushrooms in the left over bacon fat (or more coconut oil) & season with salt & pepper, to taste.

Grill the mushrooms for a few minutes, under a medium heat, making sure they don't burn.

Meanwhile, steam the spinach in a saucepan for a couple of minutes.

Top each mushroom with the bacon, then spinach. If using cheese, top with grated cheese and grill until the cheese melts. Top with pine kernels and chopped parsley.

Serve with sliced avocado and enjoy.

Paleo Mayonnaise Recipe

October 24, 2012/19 Comments/in Cooking, Eggs, Food, Recipe, Sauces & Condiments /by Suz

Have you looked at the ingredients on a bottle of shop-bought mayonnaise? It’s not pleasant. This is fairly typical…

SAD Mayonnaise Ingredients:

Sunflower oil (antioxidant [320], water, cane sugar, whole egg, white vinegar, malt vinegar (barley & wheat), salt, vegetable gums (405, 415), food acid (citric), natural colour (carrot extract), flavour.

But did you know how easy it is to make your own?

Paleo Mayonnaise Recipe

Ingredients

3 egg yolks (at room temperature)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
200ml extra light olive oil
Pinch sea salt

Method

In a blender combine the egg yolks, vinegar and mustard and blend until the mixture begins to thicken.

Slowly add in the oil, until the mixture is light and creamy. Don’t rush this step; if the mixture separates you’ll have to start again!

Add in the salt, and season to your liking.

Which are your favourite sauces? I’d love to hear which sauces you make regularly.

Paleo indulgences tammy credicott review recipe book cookbook primal diet

Review: Paleo Indulgences

October 13, 2012/6 Comments/in Blog Posts, Books, Cooking, Ex /by Suz

I was excited to receive my copy of the new Paleo recipe book “Paleo Indulgences” by Tammy Credicott”.

Unlike many of the Paleo cookbooks in existence, this is most definitely not an every day book. This book is for those occasions when you might otherwise be tempted to go non-Paleo. Birthdays, celebrations and all of those special occasions marked by food.

There’s a great introduction about Paleo, what should and shouldn't be eaten and where to find the ingredients used for the recipes in the book.

The book has a great thumbnail contents pages – making it easy to find exactly which recipe you want to cook.

Paleo Indulgences has lots of baked recipes, such as cookies, scones, bread and cakes; sweet treats; ice cream and restaurant recreations.

The sweet treats contain Paleo friendly ingredients such as almond and coconut flour. Whilst you wouldn't want to eat these everyday, they are clearly far better alternatives to their SAD equivalents.

I tried out the meatball recipe and the tomato sauce to go with them, both from the “Restaurant Recreations” chapter.

The recipe was easy to follow and tasted great. I made up a large batch to take care of several meals in advance.

There were quite a few ingredients I didn’t have, such as Coconut Nectar, Coconut Crystals and Arrow Root Powder which I have now ordered – I’m looking forward to trying out more of the recipes when the rest of the ingredients arrive!

This book would be great for families trying to feed their children Paleo nutrition – but without feeling like they were missing out on SAD treats.

Which is your favourite recipe book? Have you got Paleo Indulgences yet?

Recipe: Quick & Easy Chicken Curry

October 6, 2012/1 Comment/in Cooking, Dinner, Food, Poultry, Recipe /by Suz

This is one of my favourite dishes to make, some chicken, a few veggies and some coconut cream are all that's needed to make this dish. I always make a big batch to give leftovers for a few days – and another lunch option to take into work. This curry is great served with a side of Paleo cauliflower rice.

I used to make this with coconut milk, but I now use coconut cream as it's exactly the same – just not watered down. There are lots of different brands of coconut cream, but my favourite is Ayam. This brand contains just coconut and not guar gum and the other additives which many brands have.

Ingredients:

Coconut oil
2 onions
Two free range chicken breasts (organic if possible)
2 cans of coconut cream
6 mushrooms
Zucchini
Carrot
Raisins
1.5 teaspoons of ginger
1.5 teaspoons of curry powder
Sea salt to taste

Method:

Dice the onions and fry in a pan in some coconut oil over a medium heat.

Meanwhile slice the chicken into strips and add to the pan once the onions turn soft.

Dice the mushrooms, zucchini, carrot and raisins.

Once the chicken is cooked thoroughly add in the coconut cream and water as necessary

Add in the vegetables, spices and season to taste.

Allow the curry to simmer for 20 minutes or so, until cooked, then serve with a side of cauliflower rice.

Must Read Paleo Books

October 1, 2012/1 Comment/in Blog Posts, Books, Cooking /by Suz

I’m often asked which Paleo books I’d recommend. It’s great to have a few introductory books to hand to explain everything you need to know about what Paleo is – and how to start. If you’ve got friends interested in learning more about Paleo, these are the books I’d recommend.

Introduction to Paleo Books

The Primal Blueprint. Mark Sisson’s book is a great introduction as to why we should eat a Primal Diet and how to start. He also covers lifestyle factors like sleep and stress and how to exercise – primal style.

The Paleo Solution. Robb Wolf's book is another good introduction to the Paleo Diet and is written in a very engaging way. As a bio chemist, Robb Wolf is able to talk about the science, but in a very easy to understand way.

The Paleo Answer Loren Cordain’s latest book is more on the science side than the practical application side, but a great book for anyone dubious about giving up those deathly whole grains!

Starting Paleo Books

Once you’ve decided to give Paleo a try, these book are a great way to take you through your transition into Paleo, step by step.

Recipe Books

It’s great to have some recipe books on hand, to demonstrate the huge wealth of menu ideas that are possible on the Paleo diet. These are some great recipe books that I use regularly.

Which Paleo books are on your book shelf? Which one book would you recommend as a “must have” to someone new to the Paleo diet?