331 – On Cruciferous Rice Fillers

Let’s face it: The rice-heavy Asian diet is often responsible for high blood sugar levels, given that rice is a form of carbohydrate. Thus, many individuals trying to lose weight often look to rice replacements that fill up the stomach just the same – but without the excess calories.

Alternatives include other grains such as adlai or Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). Others, meanwhile, look to vegetables such as broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) and cabbage (B. oleracea var. capitata) to get their filling fix minus the carbs.

The two recipes I’ll be featuring in this entry feature broccoli and cabbage, which are both cruciferous vegetables. While the cooking process may have destroyed several of the important compounds in these, their fiber content nevertheless remains.

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First up is my take on Broccoli Rice. I manually chopped the heads into small pieces to make cooking easier. For the stalks, I first peeled and then grated them. I then mixed the grated stalks with the rest of the broccoli.

Afterwards, I cooked the broccoli into a pan with water and a bit of salt to soften it. When the water has evaporated, I then added a liberal drizzle of olive oil. The antioxidant-rich olive oil replaces whatever compounds in the broccoli that disappeared during the cooking process.

A few minutes of boiling, and the Broccoli Rice is ready. My younger brother and I paired this with the Shrimp Curry I posted earlier as an early lunch, and it was definitely filling. We ate at around 10:30 in the morning, and we were still full around four or five hours later.

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My second take here is that of Egg-Fried Cabbage. Interestingly, I was supposed to turn half a head of cabbage into a frittata. But unfortunately, laziness set in – so I decided at the last minute to cook it in the style of egg-fried rice.

I started by shredding the cabbage and heating some cooking oil in a pan. I then added the cabbage in the pan with a bit of salt, stir-frying it until wilted. Some leftover curry powder and pepper went in to add a hint of spice to the dish.

Afterwards, I then made a well in the middle of the cabbage and cracked two eggs in it. I seasoned the eggs and incorporated them into the cabbage. The finished Egg-Fried Cabbage lasted me about two servings and definitely filled me up – whether I paired it with protein or not.

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That ends my rather short post. I was originally aiming for this to be two separate entries, but a closer look warranted that the two entries be combined into one.

Until the next post, enjoy cooking!

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