I love Thai food. My wife is Thai, and the plan is/was for me to relocate my job to Thailand, and eventually retire there (I'm lucky that I have an employer agreeing to that in principle).
For the last 6 weeks since my T2D diagnosis, I have been having a rather reaction diet; meal replacements, to reduce the carbs, and get the weight down, shedding 10kg while on about 1000kcal a day. I've not felt hungry; the meals are mostly very tasty, particularly when supplemented with some fresh vegetables.
But potatoes has been limited to a small pot of potato salad, bread a furtive slice of toasted wholegrain dourdough that has been previously frozen.
Now the rice. I tried the cauliflower rice. I found it revolting. Today was an experiment; how badly will rice spike my blood glucose. il cooked rice promotes the formation of resistant starch, and the yield is increased through freezing, according to the literature. Resistant starch is essentially crystalised starch, in that cross links are formed preventing the body's maltase and amylase enzymes, found in your mouth and small intestine, from being converted to glucose. Instead, the resitant starch is either expelled or fermented by bacteria in the large intesitine to Acetyl CoA.
I prepared some small batches of Thai AAA-grade rice, pre-washed, in my rice cooker (not the stuff you find in a Tilda bag in Tescos, but sold in big sacks in a Chinese supermarket, which are amazing places), and froze them for today (so 24 hour frozen).
Pad kra pao moo is basically "basil stir fry with pork". There are chicken and beef variation, all made with minced meat. The Laotian dish, Laab, is similar, but with mint instead of Holy Basil.
I've cooked this previously, but my wife told me the Isaan way is to not cook the pork in oil, but in water.
So cooked up a fistful of 5% pork mince, marinated in 2 table spoon oyster sauce, 2 table spoon dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoon light soy sauce, a splash of rice vinegar and Squid brand fish sauce..
Reduce a little, throw in 2 finely chopped shallots, 2 cloves garlic and 1 green birdseye chillie. Let it cook down.
As a side, stir fried red pepper, about a third of a courgette, with a couple of spring onions.
The rice; about 3-4 tablespoons of cooked rice. After freezing the being reheated, the Thai rice became like sticky rice. In Thailand "sticky rice" is wellknown, but is basically an Isaan dish. Thailand consists of 4 nations, each with their own culture and language (a bit like the UK home nations). Isaan is the largest, and borders Laos and Cambodia, and is basically a farming nation, well known for its elephants. Isaan people are closely related to Laotians (they understand each other, but the written script is different). Sticky rice is used like white bread; you use it to sup up the juices in a salad.
No Thai/Holy Basil, so used some regular Sweet Basil. I mixed this into the meat, along with fresh coriander, just to wilt. Then served up with a runny fried egg (Kai dao). Not the best photo.
Now the experiment.
All day my BG levels have been pretty good. Woke up at 5.5mmol/l. Chocolate protein shake, with 500mg Metformin. Walked 4km into town to do some shopping at Tesco. Today was a special day, so more BG measures than normal. After a walk, before lunch, BG was 5.3. Lunch was a couple of Walls Vegan Sausage Rolls, with another 500mg Metformin/ I'm impressed, the vegan rolls tasted like well seasoned sausage. A couple of hours later, BG was 5.5.
5 hours later, immediately before dinner, BG was 4.7.
40 mins after dinner, 5.3
2 hours after dinner, 5.2
3 hours after dinner, 5.2
4 hours after dinner, 5.3
What the Deuce? I was not expecting that. Obviously well beyond my self-imposed 400kcal limit for an evening meal, but this was a one off, maybe once a week.
Now I have confidence with rice. Although a small amount, I was actually perfectly satisfied with it. At least I have something to go with the Green Curry.
For the last 6 weeks since my T2D diagnosis, I have been having a rather reaction diet; meal replacements, to reduce the carbs, and get the weight down, shedding 10kg while on about 1000kcal a day. I've not felt hungry; the meals are mostly very tasty, particularly when supplemented with some fresh vegetables.
But potatoes has been limited to a small pot of potato salad, bread a furtive slice of toasted wholegrain dourdough that has been previously frozen.
Now the rice. I tried the cauliflower rice. I found it revolting. Today was an experiment; how badly will rice spike my blood glucose. il cooked rice promotes the formation of resistant starch, and the yield is increased through freezing, according to the literature. Resistant starch is essentially crystalised starch, in that cross links are formed preventing the body's maltase and amylase enzymes, found in your mouth and small intestine, from being converted to glucose. Instead, the resitant starch is either expelled or fermented by bacteria in the large intesitine to Acetyl CoA.
I prepared some small batches of Thai AAA-grade rice, pre-washed, in my rice cooker (not the stuff you find in a Tilda bag in Tescos, but sold in big sacks in a Chinese supermarket, which are amazing places), and froze them for today (so 24 hour frozen).
Pad kra pao moo is basically "basil stir fry with pork". There are chicken and beef variation, all made with minced meat. The Laotian dish, Laab, is similar, but with mint instead of Holy Basil.
I've cooked this previously, but my wife told me the Isaan way is to not cook the pork in oil, but in water.
So cooked up a fistful of 5% pork mince, marinated in 2 table spoon oyster sauce, 2 table spoon dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoon light soy sauce, a splash of rice vinegar and Squid brand fish sauce..
Reduce a little, throw in 2 finely chopped shallots, 2 cloves garlic and 1 green birdseye chillie. Let it cook down.
As a side, stir fried red pepper, about a third of a courgette, with a couple of spring onions.
The rice; about 3-4 tablespoons of cooked rice. After freezing the being reheated, the Thai rice became like sticky rice. In Thailand "sticky rice" is wellknown, but is basically an Isaan dish. Thailand consists of 4 nations, each with their own culture and language (a bit like the UK home nations). Isaan is the largest, and borders Laos and Cambodia, and is basically a farming nation, well known for its elephants. Isaan people are closely related to Laotians (they understand each other, but the written script is different). Sticky rice is used like white bread; you use it to sup up the juices in a salad.
No Thai/Holy Basil, so used some regular Sweet Basil. I mixed this into the meat, along with fresh coriander, just to wilt. Then served up with a runny fried egg (Kai dao). Not the best photo.
Now the experiment.
All day my BG levels have been pretty good. Woke up at 5.5mmol/l. Chocolate protein shake, with 500mg Metformin. Walked 4km into town to do some shopping at Tesco. Today was a special day, so more BG measures than normal. After a walk, before lunch, BG was 5.3. Lunch was a couple of Walls Vegan Sausage Rolls, with another 500mg Metformin/ I'm impressed, the vegan rolls tasted like well seasoned sausage. A couple of hours later, BG was 5.5.
5 hours later, immediately before dinner, BG was 4.7.
40 mins after dinner, 5.3
2 hours after dinner, 5.2
3 hours after dinner, 5.2
4 hours after dinner, 5.3
What the Deuce? I was not expecting that. Obviously well beyond my self-imposed 400kcal limit for an evening meal, but this was a one off, maybe once a week.
Now I have confidence with rice. Although a small amount, I was actually perfectly satisfied with it. At least I have something to go with the Green Curry.
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