Best Kept Health

03/05/2024

Do you kohlrabi?

Definitely, one of the most underrated vegetables in non-Asian cuisine. Let me tell you, there is life beyond Daikon! Sweeter in flavour, beautiful to look at and with a milder, less harsh more rounded flavour, kohlrabi is great for pickles… especially Japanese style pickles.

I also love using it in stocks, stir fries, salads, soups, roasted… it’s delicious and packed full of vitamin C and phytonutrients, just like any other brassica.

Here is the recipe for my Japanese style carrot and kohlrabi pickle, stored in my favourite pickling pot courtesy of ❤️

Makes roughly 1kg

1 large carrot
1 medium kohlrabi

Brine:

1 tsp black peppercorns
300ml rice vinegar
50ml apple cider vinegar
450ml water
200g caster sugar
1tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients for the brine in a pot over a medium heat for a minute or two until dissolved, set aside. Cut the kohlrabi and carrot into relatively thin sticks, place in your sterilised vessel of choice and pour the brine over. Place straight in the fridge. They’ll be ready to eat a few hours after and will keep in the fridge for a month or two.

09/10/2023

Give me a hot broth with noodles and condiments anytime, any day and I’ll take it. It’s one of my favourite things to make and eat. You can be as creative or as boring as you want with it - drink it straight, load it with veggies, condiments, fried garlic, pork or jammy eggs. It’s a great thing to make in big batches so you can store the leftovers in the freezer. I personally always make a simple stock and then dress it up as I like when I eat it.

This base stock is packed with garlic, ginger, spring onions and Korean radish which have amazing anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. Perfect if you are feeling a bit run down and need that extra feel-good kick. Of course you can make it vegan by replacing the pork and chicken with shiitake and kombu, although for me, you don’t get the same depth of flavour and and silky texture you get with the original recipe thanks to the chicken feet 🙂

Makes 3 litres stock

500g chicken feet
3 stipes pork belly
300g chicken necks
2 chicken drumsticks
2 medium Korean radishes cut in big chunks
A bunch spring onions
4 big pieces ginger, peeled
2 whole heads garlic, peeled
4 celery stalks
5L water
200ml Shaoxin wine
Pinch of salt

Seasoning: a good splash of soy sauce + 1 tbsp gochujang

Place all ingredients in a pan, fill it with cold water and bring to the boil. Bring the heat down to medium-low and simmer for about 1h30m. Remember, the lower the heat, the more clear your stock will be and viceversa. Make sure you skim the impurities from the top while it cooks.

After is finished, I like to let it sit for a few hours for the flavours to marry even more. When it’s ready, take the meat and radish out and set it aside for later. Drain the stock and place back in the pot for seasoning. I like to season mine with soy and gochujang, but you don’t have to. Or you can use any other seasoning you like.

I ate mine with the steamed radish and pork, chewy noodles, blanched beansprouts, spring onions, enoki and a generous serving of my Szechuan crispy chilli oil. Too good.

30/07/2023

My guilty pleasure and go to for absolutely everything. My crunchy chilli oil. Spicy, umami and super fragrant thanks to the different types of chilli, szichuan pepper, cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise in it.

Its epic with with rice and egg or just with some stir fried veggies. Totally worth the hour that takes to make 🌶️🌶️🌶️

10/07/2023

Cavolo nero on pizza is my new favourite. Crispy and bitter with the umami kick of the salami… the best.

The last 2 months have been full on, but I’m finally getting back into cooking and doing the things I love. I’m so inspired by the food in this city, everything taste so good here and you can find any ingredient under the sun. My creative brain absolutely loves it.

I know I’ve been really disconnected from it all lately, but I’ll be back. So much to do, so many ideas. Who said reinventing yourself was easy? 😉

04/04/2023

It’s congee weather 🍚

With all the condiments :)

26/02/2023

Having the best Korean feast 🥢

Thank you .apothecary.spa for filling our bellies with the most warming and delicious Korean homemade food. Right up my street. What a treat ❤️

31/12/2022

See you later 2022, an emotionally charged and challenging ride and our last year in NZ. 12 months of beautiful moments with magical people, laughs, tears, fun and lots of good food.

Life will always be full of obstacles, pain and hard work, there would be no growth otherwise. It’s all about enjoying the process and learning a thing or two along the way - a foolproof recipe for happiness. Find what gives you wings, and just keep going.

Happy new year to you all! Be kind, do what you love, stay true to yourself and follow your dreams… always follow your dreams ✨

📷 .apothecary.spa ❤️

05/12/2022

Kway Teow, chicken and garlic noodle soup 🍜

• Chicken broth
• Thai flat rice sticks
• Poached chicken and garlic from broth
• Beansprouts
• Pickled green chillies
• Crispy fried garlic
• Garlic oil
• Spring onions

There’s nothing more satisfying than making a dish like this, all from scratch and then sit down and eat it. All those hours of prep are so worth it.

I’m a happy girl.

20/10/2022

Tuesday was just smiles and good vibes. The drinks were not bad either ;) Merci Yoan .already.exists once again, for capturing the moment so magically ✨ and thank you for letting me use that beautiful space that I know and love so much ❤️

A few people told me after the workshop that they felt so inspired by it. One of the reasons I started doing these classes is because I wanted to show everyone how amazing fermentation is, I wanted to spark that curiosity in people. Fermenting is so easy and accesible and it brings a bit of calm and slow motion to this crazy fast paced world. It brings us back to basics. So that comment made me very, very happy.

Thank you to the amazing group of humans that joined me last Tuesday - it was the perfect closing to an amazing 3 years full of workshops and never ending learning. Definitely not a goodbye, but a break to reset and see my new path with a bit more clarity.

To new beginnings 🥂

16/10/2022

Tomorrow is the day! Our last workshop in NZ. It feels so surreal, but it’s happening and we are sooo ready.

There will be nice refreshing water kefir, ginger bug and whey sodas to try, yummy homemade snacks, good chat, heaps of learning, awesome people and proper laughs.

Only 1 space available, get in there! Head to ‘s website to book.

https://www.wellingtonapothecary.co.nz/collections/workshops/products/gathered-fermentation-series

Fermentation brings communities of people, ingredients and microbes together. It’s about gathering, connecting, sharing and caring. ‘GATHERED’ is a celebration of spring, of new life and new beginnings, using ingredients found at the markets, in your pantry and your backyard. These special cla...

12/10/2022

A lot of people that come to my water kefir classes, always ask me ‘What is whey?’ and 'Can you actually buy it?’ Well... technically, yes. But there’s a bit more to it than just that, although the process is very simple.

Whey is one of the two main proteins in milk. It's the cloudy, yellowish liquid that’s released from cheese curds during the cheese-making process and from straining fresh yogurt or milk kefir to thicken it. Whey can be acidic or sweet. The type of whey formed depends on the type of cheese or yogurt. Acid whey is the by-product of soft cheese, fresh cheese, yogurts and cottage cheese. It is normally curdled with lactic, citric or acetic acid. Sweet whey is the by product of hard or pressed cheeses normally made with rennet. Acid whey has a lower pH than sweet whey since more of the lactose, or milk sugar, in the whey is converted into lactic acid. Acid whey also contains more minerals such as calcium, zinc and potassium.

It’s not just natural soda that you can make with whey (the strawberry and lemon ones are so delicious). You can use whey as a ‘starter’ to culture vegetables - it really helps kickstart the fermentation process.

Using whey is also a great way of reducing food waste. You can use whey in baking, as a substitute for water or milk. You can also cook pasta, rice or oats with it, soak grains, freeze it for another time or even use it to water your plants. As long as you use it within 3-5 days, it’s totally fine. Have some fun with it :)

I made ricotta today. I’ll be using the ricotta to top a potato and fennel gratin tonight, and the whey to make a soda for next week’s class.

Have you ever made anything with whey before?

09/10/2022

We all know probiotics of any kind are some of the best things we can put in our bodies. The good bacteria and yeast that live in them, can help us digest our food better, strengthen the immune system by fighting pathogens, boost our energy and mood or help with inflammation.

Even though probiotic drinks are healthy drinks, they still contain sugar and traces of alcohol, however, the number is pretty low when you compare it to other types of beverages like commercial sodas or beer. Bacteria feed on the carbohydrates or sugars that are present in the drink (in the form or fruit, veg or added sugar) but the amount found in the end product is so small, that you would have to drink litres for it to be really ‘bad’ for you - and I don’t think your tummy would thank you for that.

Join me next Tuesday the 18th October for my final water kefir and natural soda workshop at . Come gather around our special table, where I’ll be talking about the wonders of fermentation and taking you through every step of the amazing journey that is water kefir making, including in depth troubleshooting techniques and the most delicious recipes. And of course, let's not forget the classics and some of our workshop favourites: ginger bug and whey soda - yes, I’ll tell you all about those too.

Just like in our last class, we’ll be using ingredients found at the markets, your pantry and your backyard. There will be lacto fermented bites and bits served at end too. Come celebrate spring with us, new life and new beginnings. It’s gonna be a special one.

• This class is now sold out (THANK YOU 🙏🏻). Send me a message if you want to be added to the waiting list •