Lower Blood Pressure

If you love Spaghetti Bolgnese but you are concerned about your heart health, then why not check out this authentic Italian Recipe which we at Lower Blood Pressure have modified to be especially nutritious, and heart healthy without losing any of the taste!

Why is this Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe so Heart friendly?

When you go to a restaurant you usually don’t have a clue as to what goes into your food. Many restaurant meals are high in salt, fat and sugar. That’s fine for some folks, but if you want to know what you’re eating then our advice is to make it yourself, and then you know exactly what’s in it - and you can enjoy it knowing you’re not clogging your arteries with loads of saturated fat. This recipe wins healthy points for people concerned about their heart because:-

• It uses fresh natural ingredients
• The minced steak has all the excess fat removed and so is extremely low in fat
• The cooking oil used is Cholesterol free - Red Palm and Canola Oil
• The cheese used is a special type of mature flavoured cheddar which actually reduces cholesterol
• It uses fresh chili peppers and garlic which are reputed to have beneficial effects on heart health   

Ingredients

If you assemble the following ingredients, you will have enough Spaghetti Bolognaise for 4 servings:-

• 10 cloves of Garlic, chopped
• 4 Tablespoons of Red Palm and Canola Oil 
• 4 medium red onions, chopped
• 1 pound of sirloin steak, all fat removed, then ground in meat grinder 
• 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 10 Fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 400 gram can of chopped tomatoes (100% tomatoes, no additives)
• 10 medium sized mushrooms, chopped
• 1 red chili pepper, chopped
• 1 green chili pepper, chopped
• 1 or 2 low sodium Beef Stock Cubes
• 2 Tablespoons of mixed herbs (Thyme, Marjoram, Sage, Parsley and Oregano)
• Fresh Basil leaves for garnish 
• 65 grams per person of ‘Minicol’ cholesterol reducing cheese 

Cooking Instructions

It makes cooking a lot easier if you prepare all the ingredients first and line them up next to the stove. You can see in the photo that all the excess fat on the steak has been removed, for the leanest minced steak possible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The steak is then put through the meat grinder, to make the perfect home made minced steak.

Continue reading →

Curry with a difference – it’s packed with superfoods AND extremely low in fat 

Serves 4 people – Time required – approximately 2 hours

Heart healthy food doesn’t have to be bland and boring. Spice up your life and your taste buds with this extremely nutritious and heart health friendly exotic South Asian dish, tailored for maximum health giving and immune system boosting properties! 

This is an ‘authentic’ South Asian Curry dish with a difference. It is totally unique – you will not find it quite like this anywhere else!

Indian food is now the favourite food of the British. It has even outstripped the famous British Fish and Chips in popularity!

In fact, there are more people working in the Asian Restaurant business in England than in the entire UK defence industry. Not bad going for a food that was scarcely known to most of our parents generation.

The problem with many Asian dishes is that the fat content can be fairly high, and as most of this is based on ‘Ghee’ – or clarified butter, it tends to be fairly high in saturated fat. Bad news for heart health minded folks who have become addicted, like many millions have, to a good hot spicy curry.

This is a great shame because many curry recipes are full of otherwise nutritious foods which are heart health friendly – Onions, Garlic, Chili Peppers, Ginger, Capsicums, Tomatoes and Herbs.

So, here at ‘Lower Blood Pressure’ our mission was to find a curry recipe which would be as near authentic as possible to the restaurant curry, whilst containing only a fraction of the saturated fat. No mean feat, but after many months of experimenting and sampling our own efforts, we believe we have found the answer, and present it here for your enjoyment – whilst of course looking after your heart. The ONLY source of fat in this recipe comes from nutritious Olive Oil, plus the natural fat content of the lamb – most of which is trimmed during the preparation.

Ingredients

The complete ingredient list is detailed below, and you can identify most ingredients from the photograph below (chef’s tip – for best flavour, the meat can be prepared and marinated in the refrigerator for 24 hours, in garlic and lemon juice for extra flavour):

  

1. 1 pound of lean lamb steaks (or beef or chicken if you prefer) – cubed into 1/2 inch blocks
2. 3 -4 red onions (white onions are also OK) – coarsely chopped
3. 6 Large fresh Tomatoes – coarsely chopped
4. 3 medium sized capsicums (also known as sweet peppers) – coarsely chopped
5. 4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
6. 30 grams of fresh root ginger – finely chopped
7. 1 Red and 1 Green Chili Pepper (or more if you prefer your curry hotter) – finely chopped
8. 1 bulb or 10 cloves of fresh Garlic
9. 1 400 gram can of chopped tomatoes with Herbs
10. 2 Teaspoons of ground Turmeric
11. 2 Teaspoons of Paprika or Cayenne Pepper
12. 1 Teaspoon of Ground Black Pepper
13. 1 cinnamon stick (approx 2 inches in length) – finely grated
14. 5 Whole green Cardamom pods (outer husk removed)
15. 4 Whole cloves
16. 1 Teaspoon of Mustard Seeds
17. 1 Teaspoon of Coriander Seeds
18. 1 Teaspoon og Ground Cumin or Cumin Seeds
19. 1 Teaspoon of Fennel Seed
20. 2 Teaspoons of Garam Masala Powder
21. Basmati and Wild Rice
22. Fresh living Coriander

Preparation

Time required – Approx 30 minutes 

Preparation is the key to success. If you prepare well, cooking’s a breeze. If you don’t, you’ll have loads of grief. The main preparation for this dish involves removing the excess fat from the lamb steaks, and cutting it into 1/2 inch cubes, and coarsely chopping most of the fresh ingredients. Plus the spices need to be ground up using a pestle and mortar. That’s about it. It is very helpful to put the ingredients into separate bowls near the stove, as things move pretty fast when you start cooking, although there are some breaks when you can grab a beer or a glass of wine!

Cooking

Time required – Approx 1 hour

This dish is best cooked in a Wok, but if you don’t have one – a large frying pan will do instead.

If you follow the instructions below very carefully you will get a delicious tasting curry that will have you hooked in no time at all.

1. Place the Olive Oil in the Wok and heat until very hot (Max heat on stove)
2. Toss in the chopped Garlic and Ginger and stir fast for 2 minutes
3. Add the chopped onions and stir well for 2 more minutes
4. Throw in the cubed lamb and continue stirring fast for another 3 minutes or until the lamb is slightly browned. Do not allow the lamb to stick or burn
5. Add 1 Teaspoon each of the the ground Turmeric and Paprika and stir well into the mixture in the Wok for another minute till everything is well coated
6. Add the chopped Capsicums and stir for another 2 minutes
7. Add the chopped fresh tomatoes and keep stirring everything round for another 3 minutes
8. Back off the heat to about half throttle and add the can of tomatoes stirring well for a couple of minutes
9. Now add all the ground up spices, and the finely chopped chili peppers in one go and stir them in well
10. Back off the heat till the mixture is slowly bubbling away, and grab yourself a well earned drink
11. Stir the mixture every 5 minutes or so, until after about 45 minutes the meat should be nice and tender
12. You may have to add a cup of water every so often as the curry sauce cooks to keep it from becoming too sticky
13. Now it’s time to boil the rice – following the instructions on the pack for whatever variety of rice you chose

Serving Up Time

When you’re ready to serve, drain the rice into a sieve and and pour boiling water over it, This will remove the excess starch and make it nice and fluffy.

Heat the plates in the oven, and then arrange the rice around the outer edge of the plate in a ring.

Now take the curry off of the stove and spoon it into the middle of the rice, as per the photo at the top of the page.

Finally, sprinkle the top with chopped fresh living Coriander and that’s it – you’re good to go.

If you want to add some extra trimmings you can add some Naan Bread, lime pickle and some Poppadoms.

Love it or hate it?

Have you any comments? We would really appreciate your feedback about this recipe. Did you find it easy to make? Did you enjoy the flavour? Did you find it too strong? Not spicy enough? please let us know. You can comment using the comments form below or send us your comments to:

admin@lowerbloodpressurecheap.com

Thank You – and good heart health.