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You Are Here: IC
Network : Fresh Tastes
: March 2002
Bladder Friendly Mexican
Cuisine (Part 1 of 2)
Introduction
Twelve years
ago, when I was first diagnosed with IC, I wasn't sure there was
a connection between what I ate and how my bladder felt. But when
the light finally dawned on me that what I was eating may be a problem,
one of the first connections I made was the one between spicy hot
Mexican food and sleepless nights in the bathroom. The realization
that my favorite foods were triggering bladder pain was really depressing.
And I especially hated the idea of giving up Mexican food. I love
Mexican food and so does my whole family.
Mexican cuisine
is not just one cuisine, but many. Not unlike regional styles in
the U.S., each province of Mexico has its own specialties and its
own way of preparing traditional foods. Chiapas, Chihuahua, and
Oaxaca for instance are famous for their great variety of cheeses
and cheese dishes. The Spanish brought dairy products and new spices
to Mexico and changed forever the diet and culture there. Spices
such as cinnamon, which are used extensively in Mexican cooking,
are also favorites in Spain. The resourceful Mexicans gave Spanish
food a new twist and thus we have a wide variety of tasty Mexican
sausages, called chorizo, which often are spiced with native chile
peppers. Then too, its proximity to the United States has greatly
influenced modern Mexican cooking just as Mexican cooking has influenced
that of the southwestern U.S. Recently, blend of Southern U.S. cooking
and that of Mexico has created a new food fad for Americans-- Tex-Mex.
All the variations
of Mexican cooking though include foods that are unique to the Americas--
ones eaten by the native population centuries before the Europeans
arrived. Chile peppers, vanilla, and chocolate are chief among the
native American contributions to Mexican cooking and are used extensively
in all regions of Mexico. Corn is a staple of the diet throughout
Mexico much as wheat is in the United States and Europe. Despite
frequently containing tropical fruits, tomatoes, and chile peppers,
not all Mexican food is off-limits to those with tender bladders
or delicate stomachs. Wonderful stews, chicken dishes, cheese dishes
and desserts are easily adaptable for Americans with IC.
Healthy
Mexican Cuisine
Many traditional
Mexican foods rely on lard, bacon, or fatty meat products for their
unique flavor. Corn tortillas for instance, are traditionally made
with lard. Refried pinto beans are fried in bacon grease or the
fat from chorizos. Mexican foods have become popular with Americans
in recent years, so brands of both flour and corn tortillas made
in the U.S. often substitute shortening for the lard. Be sure to
check the labels of tortillas you buy.
There is a
down side to the availability of Mexican foods here in the U.S.,
at least for people with IC. The manufacturers have cut the fat
content of their products for health-conscious American consumers,
but they've also added preservatives and flavor enhancers. Some
of these additives irritate tender IC bladders. There is one small
glimmer of hope though. Packaged foods made by Mexican firms and
marketed both here and in Mexico are more likely to lack the irritating
additives than those made by U.S. firms strictly for U.S. consumers.
Another point
on the good side: Mexican cuisine relies on a wealth of fresh ingredients,
especially vitamin rich vegetables and cheap but protein-packed
beans. That makes it ideal for people who need to get good nutrition
while avoiding artificial ingredients. It's also a high-fiber cuisine
that's ideal for offsetting the effects of constipating painkillers
and antidepressants used to treat IC. (If you have IBS, it's advisable
to ease slowly into a high-fiber diet, otherwise the sudden increase
in fiber can cause painful gas and cramping).
Salsas:
Sauce only for the brave
As we begin
to see our bladder improve with appropriate treatment, it's natural
for us to want to push the limits and see what we can get away with.
So we often experiment with things like tomato salsas. If you want
to bladder-test a salsa, the best route is to buy one with no preservatives
(it will not last long though, even in the refrigerator). If you
are at a restaurant, ask if they make their salsa fresh daily. In
the southwestern U.S., one good additive-free brand of bottled tomato
and tomatillo salsa is Herdez (it's made and also sold in Mexico).
You may also find you have more luck with bottled salsa made only
with tomatoes versus those made with tomato paste. And if you are
genuinely allergic to tomatoes, you may also have more luck with
the green salsas made with tomatillos (husk tomatoes). If you want
to make your own salsa, you can increase your chance of success
by cooking the onions before adding them to the salsa. Be aware
too, of the Scoville heat scale for chile peppers. Serranos are
much hotter than jalapenos. And habanero chiles (don't even think
about it...) are among the hottest, being many times hotter than
a jalapeno.
Here's another
trick you might try if you're getting brave enough to try a salsa
again. The Tomato Growers Supply Company (888-478-7333, www.tomatogrowers.com)
markets seeds of an interesting new variety of hot pepper named
"Fooled You". Their catalog says, "Truly a jalapeno pepper for gringoes...".
They claim it has "no heat but still retains the essential flavor
of a jalapeno." They advise it for Mexican food served to children,
so how bad can it be? It's new, so I haven't personally bladder-tested
or taste-tested this yet, but I'm looking forward to growing and
trying some this summer.
Another help
if you are going to bladder-test a homemade salsa, is to use low-acid
tomatoes. My cookbook, A Taste of the Good Life, lists some lower
acid varieties you could grow yourself.
Tortillas
For tortillas,
again, small is beautiful. The smaller the company that makes them,
the more likely it is that the tortillas are only distributed locally,
and so the less likely they are to contain additives to extend shelf
life. The additives to especially watch out for in corn or flour
tortillas are sulfites. Check the label for the word "sulfite" or
"metabisulfite". Benzoates and benzoic acid can also be a problem
for IC patients, and they too are frequently found in tortillas.
The amount used by each manufacturer varies though, so if you can't
find additive-free tortillas it pays to actually bladder-test various
brands that do have benzoates to see if the amount is low enough
for you to get away with. Other than the preservative issue, tortillas
are very bladder friendly. (If you suffer from vulvodynia and are
oxalate-sensitive though, you'll be better off with the flour ones).
Mexican
Seasonings
The problematic
spices and seasonings used in Mexican cooking are not all hot. Besides
the obvious (red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and chiles), paprika
or oleoresin paprika can also be flare-inducing. Oleoresin paprika
is sometimes found as an orange coloring in otherwise "safe" Mexican
cheeses. Cumin (called comino) is another seasoning used extensively
in Mexican cooking. It isn't hot like chile peppers, but it is pungent
and may irritate a very sensitive bladder when used in huge amounts
(as it typically is in tamales or enchilada sauces).
Cilantro, the
leaf of the plant that produces coriander seeds, is commonly used
in sauces and salads and even in fruit dishes served in Mexico.
It is an interesting flavor addition to scrambled bacon and eggs.
It complements potato salads. Though it seems safe for many people,
I have heard from at least one woman with IC and vulvodynia who
says she cannot tolerate cilantro. I'm not aware of whether or not
cilantro has a high oxalate content. Just to be safe though, and
because we all vary in our sensitivities to foods, before making
a dish with fresh cilantro, try eating a sprig of fresh cilantro
alone to make sure your body can tolerate it. (By the way, I'd be
very interested to hear from any of you who have experienced bladder
flares from cilantro.)
Mexican
Foods We Can Eat
All's not gloom
if you have a sensitive bladder and love Mexican food. There are
a lot of tasty Mexican dishes we can safely eat:
Cheeses
We're able
eat many Mexican soft cheeses because they are either not aged or
aged very little. Two bladder friendly soft cheeses you might want
to try are Requeson and Queso Blanco. Requeson is soft like ricotta.
It works well for things like spinach lasagnas and cheese spreads.
Queso Blanco is made from skimmed cow's milk and is much like a
cross between mozzarella and cottage cheese (or ricotta). It doesn't
melt, however. The versions of Queso Blanco made in Mexico have
a slight lemon flavor because the milk is curdled with lemon juice.
Versions made in the U.S. however, are likely to have been made
with rennet instead, just like most cheeses we are familiar with
here. You can check them out out a local Mexican food market if
one is near you.
Another cheese
that's often used in Mexican-American cooking and is available in
most places in the U.S., is Monterey Jack cheese. This is a soft,
creamy yellow cheese aged a scant two weeks. (Aging increases the
monoamine content of cheeses and also their propensity to cause
bladder flares). Melted with some chopped black olives between two
corn tortillas, Monterey jack cheese makes a delicious IC-style
quesadilla. Be sure you don't get "hard jack"-- the aged, and bladder-flaring
version of jack cheese. In Mexican-style dishes (if jack cheese
bothers your bladder) you can easily substitute Muenster or mozzarella
(they are not aged at all).
Drinks
In Mexico,
cinnamon is often added to dishes made with chocolate, and even
to hot chocolate. Cinnamon happens to complement the flavor of carob
and white chocolate quite nicely too. Try adding a pinch of cinnamon
to hot carob drinks (see Fresh Tastes, Jan 2000, "Warm Beverages
for Cold Weather").
Poultry
Dishes
In the province
of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, chicken and other meats are often
cooked with fruit and the spices that complement fruit. This area
of Mexico has a little of everything, including mountains, very
fertile valleys, and a mild climate. An abundance of produce and
its famous chocolate make this area home to one of the most interesting
cuisines of Mexico. Below is a tasty home-style chicken dish that
I like. It's easy and relatively quick to fix. I serve it with rice
or corn tortillas.
Orange
Chicken Oaxaca
serves 4
3 Tbsp. corn oil, divided
1/2 cup chopped green onion (see note)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
pieces of chicken (breasts or thighs) for four people
1 cup water
1 tsp. freshly grated orange rind
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp. salt, or to taste
In a large skillet, saute the green onion and sliced garlic in 2
Tbsp. of the corn oil until they begin to turn golden. Remove and
set aside. Wash chicken pieces and pat dry. Add the remaining tablespoon
of oil to the skillet and brown the chicken pieces. Add the water
and remaining ingredients to the skillet, stirring to mix. Cover
and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through, about
35 minutes.
Note: Green
onions are safer than bulb onions, and chives are safer still. If
you use chives, you might want to use onion salt in place of the
regular salt. Frying the onion until it begins to turn brown (as
opposed to just throwing in raw onion and letting it boil) helps
make it more bladder friendly.
Dessert
Originally
brought to Mexico by the Spanish, flan is a light custard dessert
commonly served throughout Central and South America. Mexican flan
has many variations. It can be both cooked and served in the same
small custard dishes, or it can be cooked in molds and turned out
on plates after cooking. It's often served topped with a caramelized
sugar sauce. Sometimes it is cooked in one large pan, sometimes
in individual molds. Below is a flan recipe characteristic of southern
Mexican cooking-- a delicate tasting flan made with coconut. Next
month I'll have more recipes from Mexico!
Mexican Coconut Flan
serves 3
1 egg
2 egg yolks
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 c. unsweetened shredded coconut (see note)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl beat the eggs and egg yolks
with the vanilla and brown sugar until well combined. Pour in the
milk and condensed milk, and stir to combine. Stir in the coconut.
Pour the mixture into six 4-oz. custard cups. Place the cups in
a large rectangular baking pan. Fill the baking pan with hot water
until it is about one inch in depth. Bake at 350 degrees F. for
35 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool ten minutes, then refrigerate for at least two hours
before serving.
Note: Make sure the coconut doesn't have metabisulfite or sulfites
on the label and isn't sweetened. To lower the calories, use low
fat sweetened condensed milk and low fat milk.
Orange-Coconut Variation : Add 3/4 tsp. orange extract with the
vanilla. To decorate, place an orange twist on top of each dessert.
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