Courgette and Bacon Risotto

Preparation Time:

Less than 30 min

Cooking Time:

30 - 40 min 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

500 g courgettes

1 pack rindless back bacon

60 g butter

1 Ts Olive Oil

1.2 l Chicken Stock

1 diced red onion

6 thin slices parmesan cheese

225 g risotto rice

150ml white wine

2 Ts chopped parsley

pepper to taste

Recipe:

Start by washing, topping and tailing the courgettes. Set about 1/3 aside to be grated and dice the remaining 2/3.

Start with half the butter in the pan as well as the olive oil to fry the diced courgettes. Be sure to cook on a high heat until they are tender and dotted with brown.

While you are frying the courgettes you can start getting the stock ready. I find the best way to prepare this amount of stock is to place all the stock powder into a measuring jug and then add a small amount of cold water, this will allow you to mix it into a paste so as not to get any lumps. Once you have got your paste add the remaining 1.2 l of boiling water. Once you have your stock, place it into a separate pot and bring to the boil. Once it is boiling, turn down the plate and allow it to bubble away at a moderate simmer.

Once the courgettes are ready you can place them to one side and in the remaining pan fry the bacon. I personally prefer to cook until crispy as i feel it gives off more flavour as well as adds a bit of texture to such a "soft" dish. About half way through this process you can add the remaining butter, chopped onion and parmesan shavings. Onion should be cooked until glassy.

The next step is to add all the rice. Fry for about a min and then add the wine and parsley, continue frying until the wine has evaporated. Then you can begin the process of adding the stock.

When adding the stock, only add one ladle at a time. Once the stock has seemed to evaporated, add another. Repeat this process until the rice is al dente. If you run out of stock before such time then simply add water. 

Now that the rice is cooked add the grated courgette and fry for a further 2 min. 

Serve Immediately.

Chick Pea Curry

• 

  Preparation Time

  Less than 30 min
  
  

  Cooking Time

  10 to 30 min
  
  

  Serves 2 - 4

  
  
  
  

  Ingredients

  1 Table spoon Olive oil
• 1 to 2 onions (preferably red), chopped
  1 Red Pepper, Chopped
  1 garlic clove, crushed
  ¼ Table spoon salt
• 1 Teas spoon of butter
• ½ Tea Spoon cumin powder
• ¼ Tea Spoon coriander powder
• ¼ Tea Spoon turmeric powder
• 1 -  2 Fresh chillies depending on the strength of them, chopped
  1 Table Spoon of chutney
• 5 Table Spoons of plain yoghurt
• 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• pinch of garam masala
• Pita breads or plain basmati rice, to serve
  Coriander to serve
  
  

  Recipe

  Start by frying the chopped red pepper and the onion on a medium heat.
  
  
  Once the onions appear glassy add the Garlic (If you are a fan of garlic you can get away with adding a extra clove)
  
  
  I like to add a small amount of butter at this point to create a moisture to fry the spices in but you can get away with not. Now add all the spices. Stir for one minute to release the flavours.
  
  
  Now add the yoghurt to create the sauce. I use about 5 table spoons but you can use more or less depending on how thick and how strong you like you sauce.
  
  
  Now that you have your sauce you can add you chickpeas. I quite like to mash a few of the chick peas to thicken the sauce. Cover and allow to simmer for 5 min.
  
  
  Add the Garam masala for colour.
  
  
  Serve with Basmati Rice and Coriander or in a Pita if you prefer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Satay Chicken

Preparation time:

Less than 20 min

Cooking time:

Less than 20 min

SERVES 2 - 4

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breast

1 Red onion

1 Red Pepper 

1 Green Pepper

2 Cloves of Garlic

1/2 a cup of Rice (Basmati is best)

1 Table spoon Peanut butter

5 Table spoons of Soy Sauce (I love the Vital one)

1 Teaspoon of sugar

1 Chilli

1 Teaspoon Curry paste (I love Pataks)

1 Teaspoon of lemon juice

4 Table spoons of plain yoghurt/ 1/2 a cup of milk.

Recipe:

Cut the Peppers and onion into small cubes and fry in a tea spoon of olive oil until glassy and tender (5-6 min)

Add the chopped garlic and a cube of butter and flash fry. 

*Be very careful not to burn the garlic as it turns bitter when burnt. 

This should take about a minute.

Then add the chicken, diced. 

*Now most people tend to over cook chicken. If you are someone who wonders how restaurants get there chicken so tender and moist then you are one of those people. Chicken does not need to be cooked all for nearly as long as we think. Try flash frying it for 1 - 2 min, when you can stick you wooden spoon through it then it is done. You will notice that it is barely browned. Once you get the feel of this down you will begin to enjoy how juicy chicken breast can actually be.

While Frying the above you can start getting your sauce ready which literally entails throwing all the remaining ingredients together (baring the rice)

Once the chicken and pepper mix is ready add your satay sauce.

When everything is nice and stirred in you can add more yoghurt or milk as you choose, depending on how thick you like it or how much sauce you want.

Now all thats left to do is cook the rice and serve.

I like to serve mine with a few cucumber slices on the side or coriander if you prefer.

The Symptoms...

How do you know if you have a Histamine Intolerance?


Well... firstly you get diagnosed by your doctor or dietician but before you know to go there you will experience some or all of the following symptoms.


.Irregular or rapid heart beat
.Bloated or cramping stomach
.Headaches or Migraines
.Asma or breathing problems
.Low blood pressure
.Dizziness
.nausea
.fatigue (my worst!)


Pretty nasty i know, but dont worry its not all bad, it is surprising simple to keep high histamine foods to a low and i am going to show you how.

The Culprits...

OK, so before i set to posting all the recipes i have come up with that are low in Histamine, i thought it important to post WHAT ARE THE CULPRITS? 


SEA FOOD: 

There doesnt seem to be a consensus as to what fish one can and cant eat but according to my dietician we should stay away from anything that has been out of the sea for more than 20 min... i dont know about you but that pretty much rules out everything for me.


DAIRY:

Once again there seems to be no definitive answer to which dairies we can eat but according to my Dietician i should stay away from anything that is processed so that leaves full cream milk.


VEGETABLES:

Here the list is a little simpler to narrow down.
Spinach, Avocado, Eggplant, TOMATOES (I find this a tricky one to cut out)and anything pickled.


FRUIT:

There are a few more of these than i would like.
All Citrus (this includes fruit juices) Pineapple, 


ALCOHOL: 

OK so i know for a lot of you this one is kinda a toughie but the good news is if you stick to a low histamine diet (which i will try my best to help you do) then your body should be able to handle the odd glass of wine with your meal, good incentive to be careful about your food intake i know :)
The list includes: Wine ( Red in particular )Ciders & Beer.


PROCESSED MEATS:

Sausages, cold meats & Bacon.
(It is also a good idea to avoid pork all together.




OTHER:

Spices and anything with vinegar.


-------------------------------------------------------------


So now that you know what to avoid, we can get cooking!

Joining the team...

About 2 months ago i was diagnosed with being Histamine intolerant. At first i was just relieved to know why i had been feeling so terrible for the past 9 months but once i got to reading through all the foods that now had to disappear from my life i began to fret. 

I am a keen cook and love nothing more than to experiment with new dishes in order to maintain a balanced and healthy diet. Now things were going to get MUCH tricker. 

I started looking around for low histamine recipes on the internet only to discover that there really wasn't that much and so it is that Low Histamine Cuisine came to being. 

As i mentioned earlier i am a keen cook and hope that through my experiments in the kitchen you will find some comfort in knowing that actually this diagnosis is not the end to good food but only the beginning.

Enjoy <3