UPDATED: Dukan Korean Style Bean Sprouts

Photo from Wikipedia.  We forgot to take a pic of our bean
sprouts, but we didn't add carrots or green onions.

We both loved this...well, we've always had bean sprouts at Korean restaurants and loved them, but we never made them at home until last night.  Super easy, very healthy...we'll be making this as a side dish often!

Walk into any Korean restaurant, whether it's a sit down or takeout restaurant, you'll always be served banchan.  At some sit down restaurants, banchan is all you can eat, all you have to do is ask for a refill.

Last night we made some bean sprouts which fall under the namul category.  If you're in the Cruise Phase, omit the sesame oil although we really just used a tiny splash and our bean sprouts were very flavorful.  We amending this post - since bean sprouts are technically a seed, those on Cruise may want to wait until Consolidation to consume bean sprouts.  We ate it regularly during Cruise without any weight gain, but if you're sticking to Dukan strictly, wait until Consolidation.  Thanks flamidwyfe for catching that!

RECIPE:
The bean sprouts from this recipe can be used as a side dish or as part of a bibimbap dish.  We'll post our Dukan Bibimbap recipe soon...although we can't really call it Bibimbap since bap means rice and we replaced the rice with quinoa.   Bibimquinoa?  ;-)

Serves 2-4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

1 1/2  c. bean sprouts, cleaned
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. water
1 t. soy sauce (we used tamari)
1 clove garlic, minced
a pinch of kosher salt
a splash of sesame oil

Clean bean sprouts (we usually remove all the brown parts) and soak for 5 minutes in cold tap water.  Drain.  In a pot, add water, 1 t. kosher salt and bean sprout.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  In the meantime, combine the soy sauce, garlic and pinch of kosher salt in a bowl.  After bean sprouts are cooked, drain and add to the soy sauce mixture.  Add a splash of sesame oil (omit if you're in the Cruise Phase) and mix.  Serve hot or cold (most Korean restaurants serve this cold).  If you like spicy food, add some chili paste or chili flakes.

Enjoy!

Under the weather

The flu bag attacked again!  The flu and the stomach flu have been making it's rounds in both our offices as well as many other offices in Hawaii.  We spent the last week or so having mostly soups and comfort foods.  Plus we've been trying to keep up with the holiday gift making/sending.   Whew!

We've been trying to eat healthy here and there, but this coming week will be another non-cooking week. We've got two birthday dinners and family coming over from neighbor islands for the holidays...yay!  We can't believe Christmas is less than a week away.  Is everyone ready?!  

Last night we finally had enough energy to cook dinner and it was great.  We made a healthier version of bibimbap, a Korean dish usually made with rice, seasoned veggies and meat.  We made ours with quinoa, ground turkey and seasoned veggies.  We'll post the recipe soon!    The seasoned veggies are referred to as banchan.  Very simple to make.  Will post a bean sprout banchan recipe too.  It calls for sesame oil, but we just used a tiny splash and it was enough to flavor the bean sprouts. 

We're looking forward to catching up with everyone's Dukan blogs!  Being on Consolidation has been working out great for us.  The male half of this couple is feeling healthy and the female half of this couple is almost back to her pre-vacation weight!  It has been tough with tons of cookies, cakes, and other sweets being delivered to our offices and given to us by family members.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Dukan Pollo Guisada

Pollo Guisada

We loved this recipe.

This dish was very tasty.  It originally was a "Carne Guisada" recipe from skinnytaste.com, but since we planned on having beef the following night, we made this dish with chicken.  The recipe is very, very similar to the Chicken Sofrito Stew recipe we posted (which also came from skinnytaste) - we probably should have tried this with beef instead.

We intended to make the aji picante mentioned in skinnytaste's recipe but habanero peppers are $10.99 per pound at our local Safeway and they looked a bit wrinkled.  Next time, if they go on sale.  The other adjustment we made the recipe (besides the type of meat) is replacing the 2 small tomatoes with crushed tomatoes to accomodate the male half of this couple's dislike for tomatoes.  We did make this recipe with red potatoes for the male half of this couple, which he loved.

RECIPE:
Serves 2-3
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 2 + hours

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (fat removed, then cut in half)
1 c. green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes (or 2 small tomatoes, chopped)
2 T. cilantro, minced
1/3 c. light beer
1/3 c. water
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 tsp. adobo seasoning (or salt)
1/2 t. sazon (or achiote, if you can't get either, leave it out)
1 bay leaf
kosher salt to taste
2 small baby red potatoes, quartered (optional, but not allowed during the beginning phases of the diet)

In a large pot, turn stove to medium heat.  Spray pot with a little bit of olive oil spray.  Add green onions and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add tomatoes, cilantro and a pinch of salt.  Cook another 2 minutes, stirring.  Add chicken (patted dry) to pot along with beer, water, cumin, adobo, sazon, bay leaf and a couple pinches of salt.  Cover and simmer on low heat for 1 1/2 hours.  Add potatoes and cook until soft, 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy...we sure did!

The Brunch

Oh boy, Sunday Brunch was great!  We went in with the mindset that it would be a Celebration meal, but if the female half of this couple didn't have dessert and asparagus, it could have been a PP day!   There were actually enough great tasting low fat choices on the buffet line to keep it Dukan.

Very fresh sashimi (raw fish)

The brunch was at the Halekulani Hotel - $57 per person, a bit pricey since they no longer include champagne nor did they have any shrimp cocktail.  The quality however is excellent.   To get our money's worth (and to eat just enough and not stuff ourselves), we decided to plate up some of the more expensive items like the sashimi or raw fish which was very good, poke, and salmon.  Threw on a few veggies then saw the Eggs and Crab Benedict and decided we needed to split one!  Wow, it was so good!  The 1/4 English muffin (from the eggs benedict) was actually the only carb we ate that day!

Desserts available

There was a roasted pig and prime rib available.  We decided to avoid those items - too fatty.

There were popoever muffins, banana muffins, cheeses, breads, strawberry butter, etc. available but we didn't crave it one bit.  There was also an omelet station which we decided to forego (since the line was always so long).

Ice cream/sorbet bar

No, we didn't eat all the desserts on this plate!  The dessert spread sat on an 8' table, all mini desserts, very beautiful.  There was also an ice cream/sorbet bar (the lilikoi or passion fruit sorbet was our choice).

We didn't think we ate that much, but the sugar in the sorbet must have made us get what local people call "kanak attack".  It was a nice holiday treat for us and nice to spend time with some friends.  No more buffets for us unless they are at a wedding.

Just out of curiosity, the female half of this couple weighed herself as soon as we got him and weighed about a pound more than before we went to brunch.  (The female half of this couple can get a little carried away with the weigh ins).  It's been two days since the brunch and no weight gained!

The photos featured here came from a friend who also went to the Halekulani Brunch but at a different time (we forgot our camera!)

Dukan Asian Chicken and Bamboo Stir Fry

Asian Chicken and Bamboo Stir Fry
(it really did look appetizing in person!)

We loved this dish, even though it was a bit salty for us.

Originally we wanted to make a Thai recipe called "Moo Pad Prig No Mai" but we have quite a few packages of chicken tenderloins in the freezer from Costco and we didn't have time to shop in Chinatown this week for the Thai paste and kaffir lime leaves.  We did however have some bamboo shoots in the fridge we wanted to use up.

This is by far our favorite way of cutting our chicken tenderloin, it really ended up nice and moist.  Slice your chicken tenderloins very thin and at an angle.  It'll look like most Thai dishes.   If you don't like spicy food, you may want to leave out the chili pepper flakes and use only one tablespoon of chili paste.  Also, if you aren't watching your sodium intake, go ahead and use an entire tablespoon of soy sauce (we used 1.2 T. low sodium soy sauce and 1/2 T. water).

We probably would've eaten this during Cruise even though it has oyster sauce and the sambal oelek, just not often.  This dish was quick and easy!

1 lb. chicken tenderloin, washed, patted dry and cut into thin, flat strips
1 c. bamboo shoot strips, canned
2 T. sambal oelek
1 tsp. red chili pepper flakes
1 T. fish sauce
1/2 T. low sodium soy sauce
1/2 T. water
2 T. oyster sauce
1/2 t. natural sweetener

Mix fish sauce, soy sauce, water, oyster sauce and natural sweetener in a bowl and set aside.  Heat wok over high heat.  Spray pan with a little bit of olive oil spray.  Add sambal oelek and chili pepper flakes.  Stir until fragrant.  Add chicken and stir fry 4-6 minutes or until chicken is cooked.   Add bamboo shoots and  stir fry for a minute.  Add fish sauce mixture and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy...we sure did!

Following Us By Email

Wow, we just realized (thanks to Flamidwyfe) we didn't have an "Follow By Email" feature on our blog! Yikes!  We love this feature on all our other favorite blogs.  Sorry we didn't have one on there, but now we do!

On another note, today is our office building's holiday luncheon but since we are going to Sunday Brunch  and have dinner with friends from Florida soon after that, we're saving our celebration meals for then.  We're not sure what's being served today, but if it's typical local Hawaii food, there probably are a lot of carbs, fried and sugar loaded foods.  Yikes!

We're still undecided on what to do about Sunday Brunch...some days we (meaning the female half of this couple) wants to just eat proteins and veggies at brunch, then other days we decide maybe it'll be a celebration meal and we'll have a dessert and champagne.   This will be the second buffet we're going to since we started the Dukan diet (the other was a family wedding, but there were so many food choices we were able to put together a plate of raw fish, green salad, meats and roasted veggies.

Will try to post photos from the Sunday Brunch, it's been voted the best in Honolulu!

Hot Hula - similar to Zumba

Not sure if all of you have heard of Hot Hula, but it was on our local news the other morning.  A local Hawaii woman created a polynesian version of Zumba!   The clip we saw on the news looked like mostly slower Tahitian dance moves (as a former Tahitian dancer, the female half of this couple agrees Tahitian dancing is really a workout).  According to the founder, she incorporates both Tahitian and Hula dance moves in her routines.  Gee, why didn't we think of that?!    Come to think of it, when the female half of this couple did dance Tahitian, she was in way better shape!

The male half of this couple probably won't take up Hot Hula any time soon, but the female half of this couple is going to dig out her old Tahitian routines from college and add this to her exercise list.  Here are some you tube videos of Hot Hula:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjFSkDpjnwM&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPzaDPidGsM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YSfJywYtic&feature=related

Not sure if the female half of this couple can bring herself to dancing Tahitian moves to hip hop music (as fun as it sounds), she is a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Polynesian dances!

If you're interested in trying Hot Hula, I highly recommend following along with the you tube posts before you invest in a DVD of routines to decide if it's for you.  You don't have to become an advanced dancer.  The female half of this couple has taught slower Tahitian numbers to students in Japan and it still gets your heart rate going and makes you sweat...a lot.

If you have any questions about Tahitian dancing (we're not experts, but have learned several routines over the past 20 years), please feel free to email us at hapacouple@gmail.com.  We also don't mind helping you get started via a Skype lesson or two.