Low GI Recipes of the Month

Our chef Kate Hemphill develops deliciously simple recipes for GI News that showcase seasonal ingredients and make it easy for you to cook healthy, low GI meals and snacks. For more of Kate’s fabulous fare, check out: www.lovetocook.co.uk. For now, prepare and share good food with family and friends.

Miso, Shitake and Soy Bean Soup
When you really want something nutritious and comforting, try this soup. It’s gluten-free too! Fresh soy beans are now readily available shelled and frozen in some larger supermarkets and in Asian produce stores. You may know them as edamame in Japanese restaurants.

Serves 4

2 tbsp brown rice miso
6 cups (1½ litres) water
handful dried shitake mushrooms
200 g (7 oz) frozen shelled soy beans (edamame)
50 g (1¾ oz) buckwheat soba noodles
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 spring onions, finely sliced
red pickled ginger to serve (optional)

• Dissolve the miso paste in water and bring to the boil. Add the soy beans, mushrooms, noodles and ginger and simmer for 10 minutes, or until beans and noodles are cooked.
• Serve in soup bowls topped with spring onions and pickled ginger (if using).

Per serve
570 kJ/ 136 calories; 9 g protein; 3.8 g fat (includes 0.5 g saturated fat); 18 g carbohydrate; 3.8 g fibre

Brown Rice Salad with Beetroot Relish
By combining the brown rice with barley, you reduce the overall GI of this lovely, crunchy, nutritious salad. Use a low (or lower) GI brown rice such as Uncle Ben’s Ready Whole Grain Brown Rice (GI 48) or Doongara brown rice (GI 66). The beetroot relish also works well with grilled meats and burgers and will last for five days, covered, in the fridge. You can add any other vegetables you like to the salad to make it a veritable Mediterranean medley.
Serves 4–6

100 g (3½ oz) brown rice
100 g (3½ oz) pearl barley
1 red + 1 yellow pepper, cut into 2–3cm (1 inch) squares
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
200 g (7 oz) baby spinach, rinsed
extra virgin olive oil (about a teaspoon)

Relish
2 large beetroot, roasted and peeled (or pre-cooked in natural juices and drained)
1 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

• Cook the brown rice and pearl barley in two separate large saucepans of boiling water until tender. Drain and return to the rice pan with all other salad ingredients. Stir well and add a little extra virgin olive oil. Even if you are serving the salad cold, this step will soften the vegetables with the heat in the rice pan. Season with plenty of cracked black pepper.
• While the rice and barley are cooking, blitz all relish ingredients together, leaving a little texture.
• Serve rice salad warm or room temperature with a spoonful of beetroot relish on top.

Per serve (based on 6 serves)
980 kJ/233 calories; 5 g protein; 11 g fat (includes 1.3 g saturated fat); 26 g carbohydrate; 4.5 g fibre