My Menu

We had a family gathering and dinner yesterday to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. I cooked one soup and six dishes for five persons.

Dragon Boat Festival Dinner

Silkie Chicken, Fish Maw, Mushroom and Vegetable Soup

Stir-fry Shrimp with Si Gua, Cloud Ear Fungus and Onion

Steamed Sesame Chicken

Pan-fried Pre-steamed Beef Patties

Grilled Quails

Stir-fried Bay Scallop with Vegetables in Spicy Sauce

Braised Bamboo Fungus, Baby Bok Choy and Quail Eggs

Dessert

Fruits and Crispy Twist

Threshhold Amount of Omega-3 for Heart Benefits

Daily doses of omega-3s of at least 250 milligrams are required to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death and other heart conditions, says a new review and meta-analysis.

According to findings published in the British Journal of Nutrition, at least 250 mg of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (LCFA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), was associated with a 35 percent reduction in the risk of sudden cardiac death.

In addition, such doses were associated with a ‘near-significant’ 17 percent decrease in the risk of ‘total fatal coronary events’, according to a team of researchers from academia and industry.

“Thus, the intake of 250 mg omega-3 LCFA per day may, indeed, be a minimum target to be achieved by the general population for the promotion of cardiovascular health,” wrote authors led by Kathy Musa-Veloso from Cantox Health Sciences International.

The study’s authors were affiliated with Cantox, the University of Toronto, the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED), Denomega Nutritional Oils AS, Ocean Nutrition Canada, and Monsanto.

Current recommendations

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in 2009 that 250mg should be the labeling reference intake value for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

In the US, the recently released 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans did not include specific EPA/DHA recommendations, but instead recommended consumption levels of seafood of 8-12 ounces per week, “which provide an average consumption of 250 mg per day of EPA and DHA”.

The new meta-analysis and review sought to test such recommendations. The reviewers identified 8 prospective studies to include, and these indicated that consuming at least 250 mg was associated with a significant reduction in sudden cardiac death and near-significant reductions in the risk of total fatal coronary events.

Researcher said that the results suggest that 250mg/day EPA+DHA should be considered a minimum, not an optimum, level of consumption.

Source:British Journal of Nutrition

A Singaporean Stir-fried Noodle Recipe from My Clippings

Ingredients

100 g pork loin
100 g shrimp
250 g oil noodle

100 g yu choy
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp kecap manis
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp deep-fried shallot

Pork Seasoning

1 tsp light soy sauce
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Shrimp Seasoning

1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Dash white ground pepper

Method

1. Slice pork. Rub shrimps with cornstarch and rinse.
2. Add seasoning to pork and shrimp. Set aside.
3. Heat 3 tbsp oil in wok. Sauté the garlic. Add pork. Toss for a while and then add shrimp.
4. Add yu choy and noodle. Pour in the chicken broth.
5. Mix in the kecep manis and soy sauce. Cook for a while. Dish up and sprinkle with deep-fried shallot before serving.

Note

If kecap manis is not available, use dark soy sauce instead.

Source: Hong Kong magazine