Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Craving those night market Chinese dumplings but want it low carb? Hello cabbage rolls!

Perfect little pockets of pork mince, ginger and spring onion, wrapped in cabbage leaves, steamed to perfection and then dipped in an Asian inspired dipping sauce - You'll sure be adding this to your fake-away nights!

These cabbage rolls are so light and fresh yet comforting and filling, full of flavour and completely guilt free.

If you've ever had days when you're in the mood for a real Asian style dish, with pork, ginger, garlic, fresh vegies, then this is for you. Whether we are living a keto lifestyle or not, this has become a family favourite!

So far we have tried these with pork mince and chicken mince, and while both are great, pork mince, I believe, is the best choice. Next time I'll be sure to add diced prawn as well for the real dumpling experience!

I specifically bought a bamboo steamer for this dish, and I have no regrets - I wish I'd bought one earlier! Two tiers fits 8 dumplings perfectly. You can also pan-fry these cabbage rolls!

The dipping sauce is perfect for these rolls, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, honey substitute, ginger and chili. I've even made this sauce with some minor changes and added it to a chicken stir-fry, its that good!

The honey substitute I use is Natures Hallow, which I picked up from Low Carb Haven.

To make these cabbage rolls, you first need to prep your cabbage leaves. I've tried this with white cabbage and savoy cabbage, both were tasty but the prep was more complicated with white cabbage. Savoy leaves come apart easily, which you would then boil in water for three minutes, but with white cabbage I needed to boil the whole head for 10 minutes and then remove the core to peel away each leaf.

Once your cabbage leaves are prepped, simply combine 500g of mince meat with 1/2 cup spring onion, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon fish sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and salt and pepper.

Place a scoop of the meat mixture into a cabbage leaf, approximately 2-3 tablespoons. Roll up from the stem while tucking in the sides

We managed to make 14 cabbage rolls with white cabbage, but only 8 cabbage rolls with the savoy, but they were definitely bigger!

Place them into your steamer and cook for 25 minutes.

While your cabbage rolls are cooking, prep your sauce.

Mix 1/2 cup sesame oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey substitute, 1 teaspoon crushed ginger and fresh or dried chili. Mix until thickened and set aside until your cabbage rolls are ready!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Makes approximately 8

Filling:

8 Savoy cabbage leaves*

500g pork mince

1/2 cup spring onion, chopped

1 tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Salt and pepper

Dipping sauce:

1/2 cup sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey substitute

1 teaspoon ginger, crushed

Red chili

Method:

1. Prep your cabbage leaves. Carve out the core of the savoy cabbage and peel away each leaf. Submerge in a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and pat dry with a paper towel. * If using white cabbage, boil the entire head for 10 minutes, remove, allow to cool, cut out the core and peel away each leaf.

2. In a bowl, add pork mince, spring onion, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

3. Place a scoop of meat into each cabbage leaf, approximately 2-3 tablespoons and roll from the stem upwards, tucking in the sides of the cabbage leaf as you go.

4. Pop each cabbage roll into a lined steamer, be sure not to over-crowd, and steam over a pot of boiling water for 25 minutes.

5. While waiting for the rolls to cook, combine sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, honey substitute, ginger and chili in a bowl and mix until thickened.

6. Serve cabbage rolls with freshly chopped spring onion and the dipping sauce.

7. Enjoy!

1 cabbage roll dipped in sauce based off 8 total:

Net carbs: 3g Protein: 14g Fat: 25g

Have you made this recipe?

Let us know by tagging us on our Instagram! @ohmygoodness_nz

Chocolate Afghan Cookies

Step aside cornflakes - There's a new cereal in town!

Coming back to keto in 2021, I discovered the many products that had hit the market in NZ since my 2 year absence. There was sugar free caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, monk fruit sweeteners, honey substitute, sweet chili sauce, brownie and cake mixes, cereals and so much more! These were products I'd only heard was available in the US with crazy shipping prices! I was even more excited to find products in our supermarket, especially under well known brands like Vogel's. The Vogel's Café Style Muesli was one of the first products I got into and it immediately made me think of NZ's beloved afghan cookies - Just from the smell!

So one day during lockdown and after a few ideas swirling around in my brain, I decided I wanted to experiment.

I wanted something that would be similar to afghans, with the same texture that the cornflakes give us and that good chocolatey taste but obviously sugar free!

I'm beyond excited about this recipe and to share it with you!

Ingredients:

Almond flour:

Find me down the baking aisle, usually next to the gluten free flours or the nuts! This needs to be a finely ground almond.

Cocoa powder:

Feel free to use cacao powder if this is what you prefer - I love Donovan's Dutch Cocoa Powder, I'm not out here to get too complicated on ingredients!

Butter:

Any type is fine - salted, grass-fed, unsalted, vegan - Choice is yours!

Sweetener:

In this recipe I use Whole Earth 100% Natural with Stevia which is a 1:2 ratio with sugar - So if you're using a 1:1 like monk fruit, double the amount in this recipe.

Vanilla:

Vanilla extract or essence would be fine here, just be mindful of how much you use. 1/2 teaspoon for extract or 1 teaspoon essence would be fine - I've used vanilla paste, approximately 1/2 teaspoon.

Xanthan Gum:

Our binder - We're about to mix a bunch of nuts together with some butter, so we need something to stop our cookies falling apart!

Vogel's Café Style Keto Muesli:

Its not an absolute must to choose this product - You could try any of their other keto friendly granolas, or you might like to try toasted coconut flakes! Let me know in the comments if you try other options!

Preheat your oven to 160C conventional and line a cookie sheet with baking paper or a silicone mat.

Using an electric beater, cream your softened butter, sweetener and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Sift cocoa and xanthan gum into the butter mixture, followed by the almond flour. Stir to combine.

When your mixture starts to form a dough, add in your choice of "cornflakes" and stir until fully combined!

I just really love the crunch and the cacao blend from this particular Vogel's muesli, with the added nuts it just makes a nice well rounded chocolate cookie!

When your cookie dough is completely combined, roll out into balls onto your prepared tray.

You can expect to make about 14-15, depending on how big you want your cookies! I found in my last batch that the cookies did spread a wee bit, so space them about 2 inches apart, and flatten with a fork. These cookies will not rice so make sure you flatten them as much as you want your cookie to be.

Bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes, and when the timers up, pull the cookies out of the oven and leave them on the cookie tray for about 10-15 minutes, before transferring to a cooling rack. These cookies need to be able to cool down completely before you handle them, as they can be very crumbly while hot.

While you're waiting for your cookies to cool down, melt your chocolate in a microwave safe dish, 20 second bursts and stirring in between. Be careful not to overheat your chocolate!

Drizzle your chocolate on top of each cookie and top with your desired nut, we went for walnuts this time but I think I prefer pecans!

Allow to cool completely, I like to pop mine in the fridge to speed up the cooling process, once you taste these, I guarantee you'll be back for more.

Chocolate Afghan Cookies

Makes 14/15

Ingredients:

100g Butter, softened

2 tablespoons sweetener

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cocoa

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons almond flour

3/4 cup Vogel's Café Style Muesli (Or other substitute)

Topping:

50g 90% Lindt Chocolate

Desired nuts (Walnuts, pecans etc.)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C conventional and line a cookie tray with baking paper or a silicone mat.

2. Cream butter, sweetener and vanilla with an electric beater until light and fluffy.

3. Sift cocoa and xanthan gum into the butter mixture followed by almond flour. Stir to combine.

4. When mixture starts to resemble a dough, add Vogel's in and completely combine. Shape into balls and place approximately 2 inches apart. Flatten with a fork.

5. Pop into the center of the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

6. When done, pull tray out of oven but leave the cookies on the tray for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cookie tray. Cookies will be very delicate until they have cooled down.

7. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 20 second bursts until melted and smooth.

8. Using a spoon, drizzle chocolate on top of each cookie and top with your choice of nut.

9. To help speed up the setting process, pop the cookies into the fridge until chocolate has set.

1 cookie:

Net carbs: 3g Protein: 6g Fat: 19g

Have you made this recipe?

Let us know by tagging us on our Instagram! @ohmygoodness_nz

Vanilla Cupcakes!

I've got a secret to share - My vanilla cupcake recipe!

But there's one thing, I've changed it up, and made it not only keto approved, but gluten free!

As lockdown continues on for us in Auckland, boredom is really setting in. I've been getting a little crazy in the kitchen, baking and cooking up a storm!

I've also been doing quite a bit of research on flours and baking techniques suitable for a keto diet - which I wish I'd done years ago. Adapting a recipe from using wheat flour to flours such as almond flour and coconut flour isn't as easy as switching it 1:1 ratio, so there needs to be room for error and practice.

Luckily for me, I've successfully transformed two recipes in the last two days on the first go - these vanilla cupcakes and afghan cookies (Recipe coming soon!)

What I've been lucky to produce is a fluffy cupcake with a moist crumb (sorry friends!), basically so damn close to my normal vanilla cake you'd be surprised!

When I took my first bite of this cupcake - I felt filled with pure happiness, like it was my birthday! My heart was full.

My partner's first words were "woah." followed by "wow."

In other words, these are 5 star cupcakes!

Ingredients:

Almond flour: In NZ, we commonly sell Almond flour in the supermarket or at bulk food places, but in other parts of the world you may find almond meal, not too be confused with almond flour. Almond meal is more coarsely ground, so we want finely ground almonds.

Coconut Flour:

This was used purely for experimental purposes - we've bought a couple of packets of baking mixes and I noticed coconut flour used with almond flour, so I wanted to see how it went down. Full disclaimer, I did not notice a coconut taste to the cupcake. Coconut flour is VERY absorbent, so you only need a small amount, however I'm not sure its entirely needed so if you want to skip coconut flour, sub the same amount for almond flour.

Baking powder:

Our darling raising agent, don't skip over this ingredient!

Baking soda:

In addition to baking powder - Baking soda also helps with rising baked goods!

Xanthan gum:

My new favourite in the kitchen - and absolutely necessary for gluten free baking. Xanthan gum helps ingredients to bind together, where gluten free baking does not contain the obvious; gluten, xanthan gum steps in like the peace-maker in a dysfunctional family, it keeps everything together.

Sweetener:

My choice of sweetener for this recipe was Whole Earth 100% Natural with Stevia - Which has a 1:2 ratio with sugar. Previously I used Whole Earth Monk Fruit which was a 1:1 ratio with sugar, so just keep an eye out when choosing your sweetener!

Eggs: We whip our eggs in this recipe to make them light and fluffy - This helps with the structure of the cupcake and helps give it its fluffy crumb!

Olive oil:

I'm not a fan of traditional creaming butter and sugar, so 95% of my cake recipes contain oil for long lasting cupcakes that don't dry out.

Buttermilk: A girl once said to me, "mmm buttermilk sounds delicious." no, honey! Buttermilk is curdled milk, not so delicious! You can find out how I made buttermilk with cream down below.

Vanilla Extract:

A key ingredient for vanilla cupcakes - I did use vanilla paste for this recipe, however I recommend vanilla extract. You'll need to add double if you're using vanilla essence.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C conventional and line a cupcake tray with paper liners.

Start by mixing together your almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and xanthan gum in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, using an electric beater or a stand mixer, beat your eggs until they're light and fluffy.

Gradually add in your sweetener while continuing to beat for about 30 seconds.

Follow with olive oil and vanilla, beating until completely combined.

Next, mix in half of the dry ingredients - you'll start to notice the batter becoming thicker. Add in half of the buttermilk and mix until combined. Follow this with the remaining half of the dry ingredients, and then the last half of the buttermilk.

Spoon out your batter into your cupcake liners, filling them about half way and bake for 25-30 minutes, keep an eye on them and for heavens sake DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN until you are past the 20 minute mark! Prematurely opening the oven door can cause your cupcakes to sink in the center by interrupting the rising stage. Check your cupcakes at the 25 minute mark, if a skewer or fork comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready - if not, pop them back in for another 5 minutes.

Let the cupcakes sit in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. While you wait for them to cool down, crack on with your frosting.

Blueberry cream cheese frosting:

If you have a go-to frosting recipe - by all means any will do!

For these cupcakes I wanted to experiment a little, so I beat together some softened cream cheese, butter, blueberry compote and powdered sweetener. Full recipe instructions down below.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes 9

Ingredients:

1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

6 tablespoon sweetener (see below*)

2 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup buttermilk (see below**)

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C conventional and line a cupcake tray with liners.

2. In a small bowl, mix together almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and xanthan gum.

3. In a large bowl, using a electric beater or stand mixer, beat eggs on a med-high speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add sweetener and continue to beat until combined.

4. Add oil and vanilla and beat for a further 30 seconds.

5. With the beater still running, mix in half of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk. When combined, add in the other half of the dry ingredients and then the last of the buttermilk.

6. Spoon mixture into cupcake liners about half way and bake for 25-30 minutes, checking at the 25 minute mark for doneness. Cupcakes are done if a skewer (or fork) comes out clean.

7. Take tray out of oven but leave cupcakes in the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

* I am using 1:2 ratio with sugar for this recipe - if using a sweetener like monk fruit, double the amount in this recipe.

** To make buttermilk with cream - Put half a tablespoon of vinegar in cup with half a cup of cream, let sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Blueberry cream cheese frosting

(note: alternatively if you like a more buttery taste, change this recipe to 110g cream cheese and 110g butter)

Ingredients:

180g cream cheese, softened

40g butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sweetener (see below*)

Blueberry compote (see below**)

1. Beat cream cheese and butter together until creamy. (If too cold, pop bowl into microwave and in 20 second bursts on med/low power should help the butter and cream cheese soften enough for beating)

2. Beat in blueberry compote, followed by gradually adding the powdered sweetener.

3. Transfer frosting to a piping bag and decorate your cupcakes!

* You can either purchase powdered sweetener or make it yourself in a coffee grinder!

** Blueberry compote - I highly recommend checking out Glam Jams if you aren't in the mood to make this - but alternatively put 2/3 cup of frozen blueberries in a pot with 1 tablespoon of sweetener and a splash of lime or lemon juice. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring often. In another bowl, use a sieve to push the blueberries through - we're only extracting the juice here - then pop into the fridge for 5 minutes to cool down.

1 cupcake with buttercream:

Net carbs: 5g Protein: 6g Fat: 34g

Have you made this recipe?

Let us know by tagging us on our Instagram! @ohmygoodness_nz