Don’t you feel at times researchers are over-researching things? Initially we were told to cook with olive oil due to it’s immerse benefits. A few years down the road, they “found” out that olive oil, when heated gets altered. It is said that high frying temperatures isn’t suitable for olive oil as when it is heated,it gets toxic.
Then you had an “aha” moment and stopped cooking with olive oil. But guess what? More recent research have found out that “when heated, olive oil is the most stable fat, which means it stands up well to high frying temperatures. Its high smoke point (410ºF or 210ºC) is well above the ideal temperature for frying food (356ºF or 180ºC). WOW. Thank you health “experts”.Thank you for confusing us.. Oh by the way, please don’t start being all impressed with my general knowledge. I asked Google uncle for those numbers. Me and numbers, we can never be good friends. My best friend is good with numbers though. I always have someone to do those dirty calculations.
So back to the olive oil. I did so many research and I still can’t find a definite answer. Since they keep changing this mind and I can’t keep up with them. I keep things simple. I am not doing more research on olive oils. I don’t want to end up like them. Shoo shoo you confused people.
Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies i guess. Whenever I dress my salad, I dress them up with a good drizzle of olive oil. I stir fry with olive oil too but I don’t deep fry with olive oil. And no,it is not because I am afraid of what those people have to say. It’s because olive oil cost $15 for a small bottle. If warren buffet was my grandfather. I would soak myself in an olive oil bath daily while munching on potato wedges deep fried in olive oil.
So now they are saying coconut is really really good. (It’s a matter of time before they are gonna change their mind again. Kindly take note of the date of this post (), I hope 6 months down the road, no one leaves a comment and call me dumb cause it is no longer healthy. I’m sorry folks, but I can’t keep up with these researchers/nutritionist. It’s just so easy to say “after conducting a research over the past 12 months, we have found out that (insert name of food) can cause a blah blah.
But while it is still a super-food for now, let’s just consume it until further notice. Oh have you heard that when Miranda Kerr said that the coconut oil is her favorite beauty product, it came flying off the shelves? In fact sales in Australia was said to have increased by 50 per cent.
The power of a lingerie model.
So yes, we have been gradually adding coconut oil in our daily diet. No, it’s not that we want to look like Miranda Kerr. That is beyond the superfoods. We would need magic for that. Or maybe surgery. We are consuming it just cause its good and that too in little portions though. Anything in access is bad.
Ice.cream.not.included.
Ice cream is heavenly. And heaven is the best place to be at, so how can ice cream be bad?
Come to think of it, the coconut is such an amazing fruit isn’t it? All the parts of coconut tree are all useful. The roots can be use for medicinal purposes.The trunk are mostly use in construction. The leaves can be used to make bags. The husk when separated would produce coir. My favorite would have the be the water inside the fruit! Delicious, sweet and so refreshing. Apparently it is a natural cleanser for the kidneys and it provides proper hydration of the body. And finally, it’s meat. A good source of protein, it is widely use in Asia. From rendang, to laksa, to chendol,we Asians love our coconut milk dishes and coconut milk desserts.
That brings me to a popular dessert.
Bubur Cha Cha is a popular Dessert in Asia especially in Singapore, Malaysian and Indonesia. It is a medley of sweet potatoes, yam and sago in a rich coconut sauce that is often sweeten with gula melaka (palm sugar).
There are countless of variations for this recipe. You can use just 1 type of sweet potato or a mix of different types. I would usually use the yellow and orange ones. Some people would also use some tapioca pearls that can be bought ready made or made from scratch. My recipe is a fairly simple one. For those who are not able to lay their hands on palm sugar. Feel free to use brown sugar. You can also use a mix of palm sugar and white sugar.
There are 2 ways of cooking it. You can firstly either steam the sweet potatoes and yam till 3/4 cooked. This method makes prettier bubur chacha as the sweet potatoes would mostly maintain their shape. The 2nd method is to boil the sweet potatoes and yam. Whichever method you choose, it would still be delicious.
- 200 g yellow sweet potato - cut into 1cm cubes
- 200 g yellow sweet potato - cut into 1cm cubes
- 200g yam - Cut into 1 cm cubes
- 2 tbsp sago pearls
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ¾ cup chopped gula melaka or brown sugar.
- 3 pandan leaves (screwpine)
- Steaming method: Place sweet potatoes in a steamer, sprinkle with some sugar on top and steam for about 8 to 10 minutes until cooked.
- Boiling method: Fill a saucepan with water, add 1 screwpine leaf and bring to the boil. Add yam and sweet potato. Simmer till cooked, but not mushy. Remove the yam and sweet potato with a slotted spoon, leave to cool.
- In a pot, boil water along with the remaining pandan leaves. Add sago and cook till translucent. Once cooked, strain the sago.
- In a large pot, melt gula melaka with 1 cup of the water. If there are impurities in your syrup, strain it. Add the sweet potatoes, yam and gula melaka. Boil for 5 minutes.
- Finally add the coconut milk, cooked sago and salt.
- If you desire a sweeter soup, add some white or brown sugar. Let all the ingredients simmer for about 5 more minutes and it is ready to be served hot. If you prefer it to be cool, let it cool to room temperature and chill it for a couple of hours.
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