Eating right: substitute ingredients to suit needs

I have joined our company’s July’s activity, the road to wellness just timely with my deteriorating health. I prepare food every day more cautiously now than before. Like I used to think eggs were harmless but ever since last June’s incident, I no longer make such unreliable presumptions.

Healthy options: frugal to my pocket and nutritious. Some ingredients are immediately available from my garden that my pantry can’t provide. Fresh and potassium-rich ingredients that are good for my heart. Oh! Sharing it here the same!

The local stew (utan bisaya) is the easiest and healthiest menu for many who suffer from highblood pressure because of the ingredients it has. However, my case is simply not highblood but my heart. So, I replaced most of the ingredients suited to my needs. I also consider the health benefits and food grade in making a recipe, such that there are people who could have allergic reactions to the ingredients I prepare. Like in the case of eggplant, it is known to trigger allergies so I decided not to include it on the menu. As I am known to have asthma, I wouldn’t take the risk this time. Squash is good but stew with squash only last short, some doesn’t last overnight, -it easily spoiled which is not good for my budget. Lolz. I substitute them with sayote, tuna, and spinach – all packed up with potassium good for my heart.

Next is Kinilaw drenched in radish/cucumber salad. It’s raw fish that I allowed my sons to eat on a daily basis. It’s dangerous because eating raw meat encourages parasites so I have to make sure that I have prepared fish meat, that is clean and safe enough to be eaten by my kids. Risking Anisakiasis (herring worm disease) an equivalent to tapeworm disease when eating raw beef, is something I cannot afford. I would like to enjoy a meal without worrying about side effects. This menu is already addictive, I might as well serve it right to their satisfaction. Especially mixed it with radish and now cucumber added to the mixture, it's surprisingly good with sweet-pungent-crunchy flavor that’s just perfect to our taste! As already mentioned, tuna is potassium rich good for my ailing heart with radish and cucumber that are highly nutritious in fiber and vitamins.

Another recipe I had in mind is a bit tricky because, it’s the same almost raw, a side dish too that we all enjoy. Easily done because we have them in our garden. Bitter gourd salad. Slice the bitter gourd and just blanch it for minutes. Dried fish, cook it the usual, and remove. Mix the two, and pour in a small amount of vinegar with salt. And whola! Nice, tasty, crunchy bitter-gourd/dried fish salad.

Hmmm… other things I have in mind but still the garden is very young and the ingredients are still growing. Hopefully next time a wide array of ingredients are available for a substitute! I want to learn and know my kitchen, especially at these difficult times, I really want to enjoy and savor a good meal without worrying so much about ingredients' costs. Substituting them with what is available is really something we can do and still be nutritious and delicious. Radish is a natural meat tenderizer, without a meat tenderizer, I can always substitute it with radish. Along with garlic, sayote and many really depends on your concept of cooking. The more array I will have in my garden, the better substitute I will have in the future. This is one of my healthy options covering frugality. What’s yours? If you might share, perhaps I can have another article like this to share with. Thank u for the read.

July 28, 2022
Images: mine