Traditions and gluten-free insanity

No matter what anyone says, everyone will always attest to the delicious first-rate food their mother makes. You're probably familiar with the common conversation of "no seriously, my mom makes THE BEST..." It's about another week until I go back to my hometown to spend Labor Day weekend with my family and I couldn't be more excited. Usually, a trip back to see my family entails this great tradition of eating large family-style meals. Things like claypot caramelized catfish (ca kho), lau canh chua (sweet and sour hot pot), and seafood noodle soup (hu tieu) are classics that frequently circle through family dinners every month.

Ca kho to - a favorite in my book! (photo courtsey of T. Haynes)

My visits to see my family, though not often, are filled with lots of catching up with both personal news, as well as catching up with eating good food. For us, eating at the table together just generates good conversation - there's something about everyone being present, sharing a meal, that really brings people closer and creates this great intimacy. When I was growing up, no matter what you did in the day, whether you had math tutoring, or went fishing with family friends, or went to hang with friends to eat, you HAD to be home for dinner. If you ate already, no one cared, you had to sit at the table and be present for the conversation. Because in my family, the dinner table was where most of the conversations happened - conversations of laughter, heartache, love, loss, teen angst, to family drama. These conversations happened around an old school 6-person wooden table that had newspapers strewn across the table top instead of place mats (ghetto-ish, but highly effective at absorbing any fish sauce spills).

The only downer about this visit is I happen to be in the midst of a gluten elimination diet to try to pinpoint some annoying symptoms that I've been experiencing for the past year. A year ago, I decided for health reasons to cut out meats from my diet and switch my diet to a more plant-based, grain diet. As a result, my body started to react weirdly to it, and I think it may be a gluten reaction. So I just saw a physician about this and am doing a two week elimination diet as one method of trying to figure out what's going on with my body. I've also done two other tests, so hopefully a result will come out before I head back to Stockton. Either way, this gluten-free diet has been a major bummer - I never knew just how much "wheat" by product there was in food - it's in EVERYTHING. It was bad enough trying to get over not eating bread (I love eating bread with avocado on top, yum!), but wheat flour can be found hidden in many asian sauces (hoisin, oyster sauce, etc.). Needless to say, I've been going through a rollercoaster of emotions because of this dietary adjustment - I'll be happy after a day of not experiencing stomach pains, headaches, or bad gas and think wheat may be the root of my problems, but then I'll be sad the next day when I realize that I can't eat my rice dishes with oyster sauce because there's a wheat flavoring thing in it!

My favorite brand of oyster sauce (photo courtesy of K. Louie)

Anyways, MOH, supportive as ever, has been noticing my sulking around the apartment, sadly reading labels of all my favorite food seasonings, sighing whenever I look at bread, and has concocted a delicious little gluten-free dessert for me - before you question the validity of my statement "delicious," especially for something gluten free, keep in mind that the batch is all gone and it's only been two days. I came back from a run and smelled this yummy wafting coconut-crispy-cookie goodness and immediately thought of this cookie I had at the australian bakery, Pie-not, the digger. 

The digger, otherwise known as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) biscuit, was a baked delight that was used during WWI as a main source of sustenance for the soldiers on the warfront. Baked with love by wives, aunts, grandmommys, sisters, friends, these biscuits were created as a healthy source of sustenance for soldiers, with an added bonus that the cookies would withstand storage for long periods of time. The basis of this biscuit involves oats, flour, sugar, butter and this great honey-alternative, golden syrup. One thing you'll notice is there's no eggs in this cookie, adding to how well it stores for long bouts of time. The cookie to this day, is still considered a traditional biscuit and can be found in many specialty bakeries as homage to its great historical significance. 

MOH's rendition of the ANZAC was modified from an online (site featured below) using gluten-free flour. He was super worried about the results, but the cookie was so good!

MOH's ANZAC:

- 1 cup flour (Red Mill, gluten-free all purpose flour)

- 1 cup oats

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1/2 cup coconut flakes

- 9 tbsp of butter

- 2 tbsp golden syrup

- 1 tbsp water

- 1 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree F

2. Stir in flour, oats, coconut, and sugar  in a mixing bowl

3. Melt butter and add in syrup to water

4. Add baking soda to butter mixture

5. Add dry mixture (1) to liquid mix (2 and 3)

6. Scoop walnut size balls of the mix and bake onto baking sheet for 10 minutes - be careful, the walnut size is small, but the cookie spreads A LOT! The end product is this cookie crisp-like biscuit, so make sure the dough balls are 4-5inches apart!

I think the only thing to watch out for is how thin this cookie gets - it's very sweet and tastes like a crispy oatmeal galette. Really tasty and goes great with coffee and tea. If you like your cookies more rounded out, many gluten free sites suggest using xantham gum as a solidifying agent.

Needless to say, MOH's little surprise has greatly lifted my spirits in the wake of this gluten-free personal challenge. This blog has been about keeping up with traditions, and MOH's staying true to his form. Ever supportive, my little baker has managed to find silver linings through anything. Awesome end to a long week.

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend. Happy eating all!

Interested in making your own ANZAC? If so, use the following recipe:

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/anzac-biscuits-L79.html