“A nostalgic home cooked dish, my grandma used to cook it so often during my childhood. And now, I cook this with healthy hacks and turn it into my weigh loss recipe! Weight loss? Read on and you will know why.”
This has to be one of my regular dishes during my dieting period. Cabbage, somewhat contains substances which aid in slimming, whilst glass noodle is flavorful, yet, counting lower in calorie as compared to other types of noodle.
Since I said my cooking was a dish meant to be incorporated into my dieting program, I have to adapt Grandma’s cooking into my own recipe, in a healthier way.
VCO (virgin coconut oil)
Using VCO was one of my “hacks”. Coconut oil provides numerous health benefits, and am going to focus on the weigh loss portion here. As it contains short and medium-chain triglycerides which these fatty acids are easier to break down in human body and to be used as energy instead of storing in the body as fat, it helps in taking off excessive weight, especially to reduce abdominal obesity in women. It also helps in increasing metabolic rate, and thus, faster in burning fat.
I understand that many people might just find it weird to have the coconut taste in the regular dishes, or simply dislike its flavor. What I did to reduce or even diminish the coconut flavor in the dish was to mix in olive oil. This is the way I found to have the coconut oil flavor diminished! Another hack is to add turmeric powder.
Turmeric Powder:
Rich in antioxidant and contains anti-inflammatory properties, making weight loss more effective by speeding up fat burning process.
It subtly yields a pleasant Asian flavor as well as a mild earthy colour to my Cabbage dish, too.
Some variations to the dish: Tofu and NON-MSG fish balls are those sides added to make the dish more interesting, and feeling fuller for the tummy in a healthier way. Not forgetting the power food, wolfberries.
Yes, you don’t need to eat plain boiled vegetables to lose weight now. :)
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
1/2 head of Cabbage, cut
1 piece of dried tang hoon (also called cellophane noodles or glass noodle 冬粉/ 粉絲)
1 piece of firm tofu, sliced
Handful of small fish balls
1 tablespoon of dried anchovy fish
1 teaspoon of wolfberries
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of virgin coconut oil
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of Thai fish sauce
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
Pinch of ground white pepper
Pinch of sugar
1/2 bowl of water
Method
(1) Heat wok with oil over medium fire. Brown garlic and anchovies until fragrant. Add firm tofu and sauté till slightly browned.
(2) Increase heat. Add cabbage and stir fry. Drizzle light soy sauce around the edges. Add fish sauce, oyster sauce and pepper. Stir fry to combine.
(3) Add fish balls, dried tang hoon and water. Reduce heat to low, cover wok with lid and simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until tang hoon is soften. Add sugar and turmeric powder, stir fry to combine. Add in wolfberries and stir fry a little bit more before heat off. Dish up and serve immediately.
A serving of my stir fried cabbage counts less than 150kcal.
Tips: Tang hoon absorbs water and flavors real quick. Make sure to serve the dish immediately.
* For more gravy in the dish, increase the amount of water. In this case, you may also want to add more oyster sauce to balance the flavor.
* Cut halves of the fish balls, if too big.
* Healthy fishballs without MSG is available in the supermarket. Sakura brand.
