Pre-COVID, I was obsessed with the chilled pickled beet salad from my local shawarma joint. This is a slight attempt to recreate that in a low histamine way. I love all beets, but especially like the golden ones for their mellower flavor and lack of staining purple juice. Larger golden beets tend to be sweeter than smaller golden beets.
You’ll need:
2 large golden beets, peeled and quartered
1/2 Vidalia onion
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 cup cubed zucchini
2 tablespoons tahini paste
1 tablespoon white vinegar (optional – could be lemon or lime juice if you tolerate those instead)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 clove raw garlic, minced
1 tablespoon oil of choice
Hulled white sesame seeds for garnish
Salt
In an instant pot, cover the bottom with two inches of water and insert the metal trivet. Place your quartered raw beets on top of the trivet but do not layer them, or they’ll cook unevenly.
Close and seal your instant pot. Set it to pressure cook on high for 45 minutes, with a natural pressure release. Open and test your beets. They should be fork tender. If they’re not, reseal and cook for 10 more minutes.
While your beets cook, sauté your onion and raw garlic in oil (I used olive) with a little salt. You want your onions to brown slightly, and when they begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a little water to loosen them, then let it boil off to help soften the zucchini. Remove from heat.
Slice your beets into thick wedges or cubes and place them in a bowl.
In a small separate bowl, make your dressing by mixing the tahini, garlic powder, salt, oil, vinegar and parsley. It’ll be a little pasty in consistency.
Pour your dressing over your beets and toss to coat. If you want, sprinkle the raw sesame seeds overtop lightly. The warmth of the beets should help to melt and coat the sauce.
Pre-COVID, pre-MCAS diagnosis, I worked a job with a 3 hour round trip commute and was a big fan of the crockpot salsa + meat combo. Dump salsa over meat, go to work, come home to food.
Crockpots and slow cooking are a big histamine no-no, as are tomatoes and hot peppers. Even though I now work from home and have a commute of 2 minutes, I still miss the convenience of the commuter meal. I’ve tried a few different things to replicate the same sort of dish in an instant pot, and this is the most successful.
NOTE: There are a bunch of controversial ingredients here depending on which MCAS school of thought you follow. Sugar raises blood sugar and some avoid it altogether. Vinegar and black pepper may not be tolerated in all, especially in early diet stages. It would be possible to omit the vinegar, but the chicken would be less tender. I have not tried this recipe without sugar or vinegar or onions, though I have tried it with just the greens of onions and it turned out well. Mangoes are confusing all to themselves. Some lists call them histamine liberators, while others say that they have strong antihistamine properties. I personally have never had a problem with Mango and lean more towards the antihistamine school of thought. As with any food, you’ll have to test it out yourself in small quantities before deciding if it’s a trigger for you.
You’ll need:
1 large, ripe fresh mango
2 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 scallions/green onions, chopped
Cracked black pepper (optional)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
2 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup white jasmine rice
Peel and remove mango flesh from the pit, collecting it and any juice in a small blender.
Add water, garlic, coconut sugar, vinegar and black pepper to blender. Swirl to combine.
Blend until all ingredients are a consistent saucy texture.
In an instant pot, add a small dash of coconut oil, place chicken on top, and sautee to allow the meat to brown. Turn the chicken and brown both sides evenly.
Turn off sautee setting. Pour mango mixture into pot covering chicken.
Sprinkle scallions overtop of chicken.
Seal instant pot and set to pressure cook on high for 17 minutes. While you wait, boil your rice with water on the stovetop.
Allow the instant pot to naturally pressure release.
Open pot and shred chicken in the pot. Let it sit for 5 minutes to absorb the juice.
Serve over rice. Chicken does freeze and thaw nicely if you want to make batches.
Winter in the Northeast demands stew. For survival.
I can’t tolerate dark meat or beef, so I’ve had to get a little creative with my stewing. I will say that this doesn’t freeze super well unless you thaw it with gentle stirring in a pot on the stove – no microwaving or it turns to absolute mush.
You’ll need:
Instant Pot Blender (bullet, immersion, whatever you want) 1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into inch or so chunks 1 cup of home made veggie broth 1 cup water 1 tablespoon oil of choice – olive and melted coconut both work nicely here Two stalks celery, chopped Two medium carrots, peeled and chopped 1 white or yellow onion, diced 2 cloves garlic (omit if you can’t tolerate garlic) 1 1/2 -2 cups baby Yukon gold potatoes, peeled 1 bay leaf 1 teaspoon ground sage 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried basil Salt to taste 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
1. Add ingredients to the pot. Stir to combine. 2. Seal pot and pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. 3. Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then vent remaining pressure. 4. Open lid. Ladle out 2 cups of the liquid and vegetables into your blender. Don’t add chicken to this mix. 5. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture back into pot and stir to combine. This will naturally thicken the stew. If it’s still too watery, you can blend more of the vegetable broth mix. 6. Serve with chopped fresh parsley overtop.
Getting an Instant Pot as a low histamine eater is honestly life changing. It’s one of the few appliances that I don’t mind giving space to in my tiny galley kitchen.
I put off getting one for the first 6 months of my low histamine diet – I didn’t grow up in a house that pressure cooked, and culturally we’re taught to fear and respect unattended cooking devices. When I did break down and get one, I got it like new off of Facebook marketplace. Turns out they’re a popular holiday gift, and there are lots of non-limited eaters out there who don’t want it and can’t wait to get rid of it.
But once I did get the hang of Instant Pot cooking, I started using it multiple times a week and bringing it with me on the rare occasion that I travel overnight. It’s excellent at time saving for some of my harder-to-cook staples and the best way to handle broth and soups.
Here are a few of my Instant Pot staple recipes that I can’t live without.
Quinoa
I like to freeze well cooked quinoa into lunch portions and then throw the thawed amount into sautéed peppers, onions, asparagus, etc for a quick pilaf.
Combine 1 cup quinoa with 1 1/4 cups water in the pot.
Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 10 minutes.
Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then vent the remaining pressure. Open and fluff with a fork. I like my quinoa well cooked and soft, and this amount of time fully opens the germ for easier digestion.
Wild Rice
Wild rice isn’t actually rice at all, but a kind of seed! It’s high in protein and freezes and thaws well. It can be pricey if you don’t know where to purchase it. Trader Joes sells bags for a reliably low price, as does Whole Foods’ generic brand.
Combine 1 cup wild rice with 1 1/4 cups water in your pot.
Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 30 minutes.
Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then vent the remaining pressure. Open and fluff with a fork. Properly cooked wild rice will be soft and fully split open so that the lighter colored insides are visible. If your wild rice is still closed, don’t eat it.
Brown Rice
I’m that weirdo who always used to ask for brown rice at Chinese restaurants (back when I could eat at Chinese restaurants…) instead of white rice. It has more fiber, it holds you longer, and it has a nice nutty taste.
Rinse 1 cup of brown rice under water to allow the starches to drain, until the water runs mostly clear.
Combine the cup of rice with 1 1/3 cups of water in your pot.
Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 15 minutes.
Boxed or canned broth is off limits on the low histamine diet. Making your own with an Instant Pot is super easy, and also a way to ditch the sodium that a lot of pre-made broths carry.
Peel and roughly quarter two small or one very large white/yellow onion. Add to pot.
Add two stalks of celery snapped in half, as well as two larger carrots or several heaping handfuls of carrot peels, if you’re being thrifty.
Pour in 1 tablespoon of olive oil or your tolerated oil of choice.
Optional but nice – add the stalks from your shucked parsley, a bay leaf, and cracked black pepper to toleration.
Add 1 tsp of salt, or more to taste. Shake in a small amount of turmeric for color.
Seal your pot and set to pressure cook on high for 1 hour. Allow all pressure to release naturally.
Open the pot and remove vegetables and herbs. Your broth should be golden in color and have a nice neutral taste.
Beets are an anti-inflammatory superfood. I love how they taste but always hate the next day when you forget that you ate them and think that you’re dying when you go to the bathroom. *Gold Beets Have Entered The Chat* Like their purple siblings, golden beets are a root veggie with a nice earthy taste, but a little mellower. Best of all, they’re bright orangey yellow – no staining to your counter top or insides.
Peel your beets. If they’re larger, cut them into pieces. All beet pieces that go into your instant pot should be roughly the same size, maybe 3 inches across.
Place the metal trivet that came with your Instant Pot into the bottom of the pot, arms reaching upward towards the pot’s opening.
Pour 2 cups cold water into the bottom of the pot over the trivet.
Place your beets in an even layer on the trivet. Don’t stack them upwards.
Close the pot and pressure cook on high for 14 minutes.
Allow pressure to naturally release for another 15 minutes.
Manually release all remaining pressure.
Your beets should be fork tender. If they’re not, reseal the pot and cook for another 10 minutes. I’ve only had this happen once or twice, and I think it was due to under ripe beets because the cooked beets also had very little color or flavor.
Beans on the low histamine diet are controversial. Let’s start there.
Some sites list them as histamine liberators and therefore discourage eating them. The SIGHI list has them at a rating of 2, and says that ‘Some tolerated exceptions are possible in some cases,’ whatever that means. And most commonly, beans come in a can, with canned food being off limits for its ability to accumulate histamine. Those I don’t eat.
All my tolerated beans start as dry in a bag, then soak and are pressure cooked before being frozen in individual portions. I’ve found that these never set me off and are a true safe food. They’re also thankfully a cheap protein source, and more sustainable than animal proteins.
You’ll need: -1 cup dry black beans (Goya is always a quality bet, or loose from a bulk store) -5 cups of water for cooking -5 cups of water for soaking -Instant pot -Colander or strainer -Containers for freezing
Soak your dry black beans in enough water to cover them by three inches, either overnight or for at least 6 hours. I’ll often throw them in water at breakfast, and they’re ready for cooking by dinner. It’s good to note that soaking black beans turns the water black and you’ll want to do this in something like a steel cooking pot or bowl, not something stainable and precious.
After soaking, dump your black beans into a colander and drain. Pick out any beans that look shriveled or weird.
Put your strained beans in the instant pot. Cover them with 5 cups of water. You might be tempted to use less water and more beans – don’t. This ratio is needed for proper cooking. Depending on the size of your instant pot, this means that you might be limited to cooking just one cup of beans at a time. Don’t overfill the pot! This makes a huge foamy mess.
Close the lid on the instant pot and set it to pressure cook on high for 28 minutes. Then, allow the pressure to naturally release.
Open the pot and test the beans for doneness. They should be quite soft. If for some reason your beans are crunchy, don’t eat them. Close the pot and pressure cook for another 10 minutes. Crunchy beans = digestive hell
Immediately decant the beans into your freezing containers. I like to use jam jar sized mason jars for individual portions. Add a small amount of the bean liquid to the container to keep them from drying out when you reheat.
Additional Tips: -The time for cooking applies to black beans, which are a softer bean. If you try this with something like a navy bean or great northern bean, that will take significantly longer. -I’ve never experienced this, but have read that using hard water with high mineral content to cook the beans can alter results. If you live in a place with hard water, consider using filtered or extending your cook time. -Once thawed from frozen, these mash up nicely with whatever spices and oil you can tolerate as a dip.
Post COVID Kitchen 