Chinese Porridge - LF Go To Foods in IBS crisis

For over a year now I’ve been following the low-fodmap diet.  I prefer to call it a regimen, because I've found that people generally assume that a diet is often faddy.  And as all of us know who are living the Low-Fodmap regimen, it's not a fad, it is a necessity, a way of eating means we don't spend our lives in pain and or sitting on the loo a lot!

Here in leafy outer London, we are a multi-cuisine household.  My other half is Chinese-Malaysian, so for the past god knows how many years I have been attempting to reproduce Chinese and South-East Asian food, whilst we also like Italian, Indian and French food. I am a big fan of Rachel Khoo’s -  Little Paris Kitchen, but have not gotten around to attempting to adapt any of the recipes.  Possibly because one of my favourites is Tarte Tatin and I really cannot face the disappointment I feel at not being able to eat that wonderful dish of apple soaked pastry!

So for a while, food chez nous, post my IBS diagnosis, was a little bland. You know that feeling don't you? The aroma is amazing, but you risk a day or more of bloating, cramps and pain if you dip into that dish which probably has onions, garlic, etc etc, whatever your particular triggers are.  And as to taking the easy way and getting a ready-made meal to stick in the microwave, so you can put your feet up, well forget it, ready-mades’ are full of no-no additives hidden in there.

So I began reading up as much as I could about the ways in which meals can be adapted, and flavourful, and still be Low-FODMAP eating.

The first stage of my LF journey was mostly about finding recipes I could use, cooking in batches and freezing if possible, so that I had my own LF ready-mades prepared and ready to cook or reheat.  Especially as by this time in my life I had a fairly wide repertoire of recipes I could prepare really without thinking.  Now I had to think and at first it was really frustrating.

So to begin, here are the most important recipes in my recipe book, what every LFodmapper needs, the go to foods when the digestive system is in crisis.

There are three recipes I have for times of digestive crisis.  1 - Chinese Rice Porridge a la Ken Hom and adapted by me.  2 - Chicken Soup Homemade and 3 - Mashed Potatoes with Spinach and Ground Almonds. (I can tolerate Almonds, caution if you cannot)

So here's the first one: 

Chinese Rice Porridge:

1 1/4 pints/ 700ml Water

5fl oz./ 150ml short grain Rice/Basmati Rice/Jasmine Rice

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Spring Onion Greens finely chopped

Chicken -pre-cooked, finely shredded

The following are my additions for taste:

½  teaspoon ground Coriander

½ teaspoon ground Cumin

1 teaspoon finely grated Ginger

1 tablespoon Coriander and/or Chives finely chopped

1. Wash Rice in sieve, pour 1 1/4 pints/ 700ml cold water into pot and bring to the boil, add Rice and Salt.  

2. Add all the other ingredients except Coriander/Chives finely chopped , bring water back to boil and stir well. Then turn the heat down as low as possible and let simmer for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the rice is not sticking to the pot.  Gradually the rice will break down and begin to thicken.

3. When cooked, add pre-cooked shredded chicken. Whilst the Rice is cooking I usually steam Carrots and or Pak-choi to add when the porridge is ready, you can add a drop of Garlic-Infused Oil, and or Sesame Oil if you can tolerate it.  Freshly chopped Coriander or Chives, depending on what you prefer.

4. If you would like to add some colour to the porridge, a ¼ teaspoon Ground Tumeric at Stage 2, or if you can find it Grated Tumeric root as well as Ginger, both are good for the digestive system.

ORIGINAL : Ken Homs Recipe for Rice Congee

Sorry I forgot to take photos.

So hope this is helpful.  I hope to write not only about my successes, also the failures, after all I will learn from those, and share my ups and downs as I navigate my way through Low-Fodmap and living with IBS.

On the right of the blog is a list of all the blogs (so far) that I have found helpful.