I dropped into Safe House Gluten Free Cafe at 217 Commercial Road, South Yarra today. Safe House Gluten Free Cafe is a 100% gluten free environment, which makes it safe for coeliacs as there is no risk of cross-contamination. It also looks great for people like myself with fructose malabsorption or other fodmap intolerances, as they have plenty of fructose friendly and dairy free options, as well as options for vegans. 
I was in a  hurry, so I just grabbed a coffee (which was very good), and a fructose friendly chocolate muffin, which was great. Unlike a lot of gluten free and fructose friendly cakes and muffins I've had at cafes, this muffin was not too dry or powdery, and tasted delicious.  I am definitely planning on coming back here and doing a full review. If you're in South Yarra or Prahran, definitely check them out.

I love curries, and used to go out to local Indian, Malaysian and Thai restaurants just to get my curry fix. However, so many curry based dishes are high fodmap due to the use of ingredients such as onion, shallots or garlic. Occasionally I’ll risk it, but I often have my fructose malabsorption triggered, and end up feeling getting really sick.

One of my favourite Indian curries is Rogan Josh. Rogan Josh is a Kashmiri curry, and there are many variations on this traditional dish, with some being high fodmap and some being very low fodmap. Your luck may vary considerably depending on how your local restaurant does the dish. For instance, this version of Rogan Josh uses 1kg of onion! (and is obviously extremely high fodmap) - however, these recipes use no onion. I have also seen recipes that add tomato, yoghurt or cream. 

I’ve borrowed from all of these recipes, to make a variant that is low fodmap, gluten free and lactose and casein free, with ingredients I was able to find relatively easily (this may vary depending on what your local stores offer when it comes to Indian spices).  I did not have any Rajantot (which is used in several of the recipes I found online), so I did include a small amount of tomato. This can be changed if you have problems tolerating even a small amount of fresh tomato.

I love risotto, it's one of my comfort food dishes. However one of the problems with many risotto recipes is making it fructose friendly and low fodmap, as most recipes contain onion, and especially stock containing onion. This is particularly an issue when dining out at a restaurant, as it's easy to overlook the onion in the stock, even when the rest of the ingredients are low fodmap. 

At home, it's easier to make risotto from scratch, so then you can ensure all the ingredients are safe, but unless you've got some home made stock handy, or have managed to find a safe, low fodmap stock (here in Australia there are some stocks that are onion free and low fodmap, but ingredients in store bought stock can change, so be cautious when using store bought stock), it can be  a challenge to make a risotto that still has some real flavour. What I do in this situation is make some "fake" stock with salt and pepper dissolved in boiling water, along with adding some fresh herbs and chilli. I'm interested to get some feedback from anyone who tries this recipe. It works for me, but tastes vary. Let me know what you think.

This recipe is gluten free, low fodmap and fructose friendly, with lactose and casein free options.

It has been a while since I've posted, but that's going to change over the next few weeks. I managed to get the flu while trying to work full time and complete a Masters degree in Business Systems, so it has been a fun few weeks. I'm going to remember to get the flu shot next year! 

One thing I have been trying to do is get more variety for breakfast. Before I found I had fructose malabsorption, I normally had a  slice of toast with vegemite and apple for breakfast. Obviously, that had to change, and although I do fall back on gluten-free toast with a banana, I've been trying to get more organised and prepare some different breakfasts.

One quick and easy breakfast recipe is macadamia and walnut banana bread. This is fructose friendly, low fodmap, gluten free, with lactose and casein free options. Prepare this the night before, and there's enough to last the entire week. I'll even take a serving in with me to work if I'm running late and haven't had a chance to eat breakfast before I have to leave. 

Here’s another quick and easy dish using pesto. This dish is chicken with walnut and rocket (or arugula, as it is also known) pesto, served with gluten free gnocchi. 

Using rocket instead of basil adds a peppery flavour to the pesto, and the walnut complements this flavour very nicely.

This dish is low fodmap, fructose friendly and gluten free. It does, however, contain parmesan, which is a problem for some people with lactose intolerance, and is not safe for someone with casein intolerance.