Gluten Free Chocolate Brownies

Makes about 20 brownies
Cooking time: 1 hour

• 150g butter
• 100g walnuts, coarsely chopped (you could use any type of nuts really)
• 150g dark chocolate buds
• 150g white chocolate buds
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1/3 cup rice flour
• 1/3 cup gluten free plain flour
• 4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the base and sides of a square 23cm (base measurement) cake pan with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang. Spread the nuts over a baking tray and bake in oven for 5 minutes or until toasted. Set aside to cool.
2. Combine margarine, dark chocolate, cocoa and water in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 secs at a time, stirring in between (it only needs about 1.5 mins in the microwave total). When all melted and combined move on to next step. 
3. Add the nuts, white chocolate, sugar, almond meal and combined flours, and stir until well combined.
4. Use an electric beater to beat the eggs in a bowl for 5 minutes or until thick and pale. Use a metal spoon to gently fold half the egg into the chocolate mixture until just combined. Repeat with the remaining egg. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack.

This recipe is a modified version of one by Nadia French in Good Taste, Feb, 2006, p. 80 available here.

Spaghetti Bolognese

This is a very rich meat sauce for pasta. Yes, it does have a fairly large amount of wine and tomatoes in it but, given the amount being made, each individual serve is still be fructose friendly (less than 30ml of wine, 100g tomatoes, 1/8 garlic clove per serve). Must be served with gluten free pasta to be fructose friendly.

Cooking Time - 2.5 hours

Serves - 8-10

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 sticks of celery, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• liberal pinch asafoetida powder
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (this could be omitted and/or replaced with garlic oil if you are sensitive to garlic)
• 500g lamb mince
• 500g veal mince
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 eggplant, diced fairly small (I like to salt mine and then rinse and dry it before cooking but this is optional)
• 2 x 400g tinned tomatoes, blended so there are no lumps
• 1L, half chicken stock/half water
• 1 bunch of chives finely chopped
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves shredded

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add carrot, garlic and celery. Cook on medium to low until soft and browning.
2. Put eggplant on a lined, greased cooking tray (I used olive oil spray). Spray with oil. Place in a 180C oven for 15-20 minutes (until brown), turning once or twice. Set aside.
3. Add meat and dried herbs. Break up the meat as best you can using a fork, spatula or whisk. Brown off. Keep cooking on low to medium heat until all the liquid has dried from the meat.
4. Add the wine. Cook at simmer until reduced.
5. Add the tomatoes and eggplant. Bring to boil and cook at simmer for 2 hours. Add a little of the stock if it gets dry. Do not stir too much.
6. Just before serving stir in chives and basil. Serve on gluten free pasta with parmesan cheese.

This sauce is suitable for freezing.

Alternatives - would taste very good with polenta instead of pasta.

Fructose Friendly Indian

Indian cuisine can be a real struggle with fructose malabsorption. Most Indian restaurants in Australia are Punjabi and thus use onion in the base of the gravy for all their sauces. The commercial curry pastes available in the supermarkets also often contain onion and garlic. While I have basically given up being able to eat anything but "plain dahl" and tandoori chicken in my local indian takeout, I have found a couple of things that help me to satisfy my curry cravings.

• The local indian grocery - Because it is common for many hindu and jain families to refrain from eating onion or garlic, many indian stores carry curry pastes that do not have them included. Indian groceries also carry many FF flours in bulk (besan (chickpea) flour, rice flour) as well as other herbs and spices.
• Manjula's Kitchen - This website is a treasure trove of Indian recipes without onion or garlic. Most of the recipes are suitable for those with fructose malabsorption and range from basic curries to more complicated recipes like these puda dosa. Manjula helpfully includes a video of herself making each recipe (very helpful for more complicated dishes).

Crust Pizza

Most fast food places either don't have any fructose friendly options (other than hot chips!). Crust Pizza is one take away outlet that I have found to be an exception to this rule. Their pizzas are delicious and I can be sure what I am eating isn't going to make me sick (unless I eat too much!!!). 

They used to have a full ingredient listing online but unfortunately this appears to have been taken down when they upgraded the site. While this is a pain, you can still enjoy Crust! The key things to avoid are the sausage/meatball type toppings and their tomato base (they have three other tasty base options). I usually use the "build your own" pizza option on their website so I can make sure everything is okay for me.

Minestrone Soup

Serves 6-8


Cooking Time: 45 minutes

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup pumpkin, diced
• 100g smoked bacon, finely diced (omit for vegetarian version)
• 1 bunch basil, stalks finely chopped, leaves torn
• 1/2 cup red wine 
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 small courgettes, diced
• 400g can of borlotti beans
• 1 medium bunch, silverbeet, stalks diced, leaves chopped roughly
• 1 cup of GF pasta (I used Orgran Animal Shapes)
• 750ml FF chicken or vegetable stock
• Parmesan cheese/basil pesto to serve

1. Heat oil in large saucepan. Add celery, carrot, pumpkin, basil stalks and bacon. Reduce heat, cover pan with lid just ajar and sweat vegetables for 10-15 minutes or until just soft.
2. Add courgettes, tomatoes and wine. Simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add silverbeet, beans, stock and pasta. Simmer until pasta is cooked (10 minutes). If at any point the soup is too thick for your liking, add a little water.
4. Serve with fresh basil leaves on top and some grated parmesan or a tablespoon of basil pesto.

(Modified version of recipe in Jamie Oliver, Jamie's Italy, Penguin, 2010)

This recipe is suitable for freezing but beware the gluten free pasta will not hold up well to this. It may be worth omitting it and adding it when reheating. I usually blend the soup for freezing anyway as the veggies loose a bit of their texture in freezing. 

Kedgeree

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 100g smoked salmon or trout (hot smoked fillet style) finely shredded and deboned
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1.5 cups FF chicken stock
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp FF curry paste (you could substitute this for 1 tbsp of FF curry powder mixed in water to a paste)
• 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 eggs

1. Boil the eggs for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and sit in cold water to cool.
2. Heat ghee in a medium saucepan. Fry curry paste until fragrant.
3. Add capsicum and rice to paste. Stir. Add stock. Stir.
4. Leave to simmer on a very low heat until rice is cooked and stock largely absorbed.
5. Remove from heat. Add the fish. Add lemon juice and parsley to taste. Season.
6. Peel the boiled eggs and slice into quarters.
7. Serve the kedgeree with sliced egg on top and garnished with parsley.