More Brown Rice Condiments

Patak's Garlic Relish

Serving size: 1T on 1/2 cup (dry measured) brown rice
Cals

C: 304 P:28 F:48, Total - 380

Grams

C:76 P:7 F:6

Ratio C/P/F

80/7/13

Garlic relish has changed my life at 40 calories per T.  If there is something I haven't put it on it's simply because I just haven't made it yet.  There was a disturbing absence of it at Kroger for the last two weeks.  I was hoping that I was the only person in Houston that ate it and it wouldn't surprise me.  I love this city but there is a depressing lack of people with sophisticated palettes.  I gave my coworker a taste of Daifuku the other day and from the get-go I could tell it was going to be eventful. 

There are foodies here, but they are rare.  We found some at the Asian market (of course) and stocked up for any emergency.  I don't care about hurricanes, zombies or H1N1.  I have my AR-15, 40 gallons of gas, 20 lbs of brown rice and 5 jars of garlic relish.  No gas mask yet, but I think that's when people start talking about you and I'm not trying to out-red the rednecks, I just want to be ready.  

If anything fixes brown rice up enough to make me actually crave it, and be low calorie, it is this.

Mixing a teaspoon of this with a quarter cup of yogurt makes a great marinade or sauce.  Last night I did exactly this with a rotisserie chicken breast.  The tart vinegar taste really makes the saliva glands work in overdrive and for all the extra flavor a little yogurt won't blow up my diet for the day. 

I am interested in hearing other uses for this stuff.  I have been a big fan of relish and chutneys for years.  Most of them are really sweet though and I don't want to dump 20 grams of extra sugar on my bowl of rice so the garlic relish is a great find.

There are some honorable mentions that I use less frequently.  Kim chee is great as a side to brown rice, plenty of spice and flavor and depending on where you get it, minimal caloric impact.  Seaweed itself can be used in a few ways.  I will get into a post on how to make spicy chicken hand rolls in the near future.

Pho Beef Noodle Soup!

Pho, pronounced “fa”, is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup. So far I have had about a 95% success rate with changing peoples lives when introducing them to it. I had one coworker who wanted to get it for lunch almost everyday for several weeks after I first convinced him to try it! 

It makes a great pre or post workout meal, as well as a good carb-up meal at the end of a week of low carb or ketogenic dieting. This is a very high (simple) carb meal, but it is very low in fat and customizable. Usually I can get the restaurant to give extra meat for another dollar.


Pho Beef Noodle Soup (with extra meat)
Cals
C: 288 P:184 F:48, Total -520

Grams
C:72 P:46 F:6

Ratio C/P/F

55/35/10

At its simplest this is a lean beef soup, and you can always ask to have the waiter bring the beef slices on the side for inspection before you add them to the soup. The quality is quite high, and you will see the beef is very lean. Most pho restaurants have the same menu, so you can expect to see the soup served with several different styles of beef including fattier cuts or meatballs. 

For the adventurous, try the beef tendon. It looks like a big lump of fat, but is actually protein! It has a very subtle flavor almost like marrow. It is scary to look at though but this is a time to be adventurous if there ever is one.


Find it all over Chinatown, or anywhere you see a restaurant name that starts "Pho ______" is pretty typical.

Whats your favorite pho?


Mine is N24. Eye round steak with tendon.


Try www.Yelp.com to help you find a local pho spot in the USA or UK.