Recipe for cancer patients: vegetable wraps
“Ssam” or vegetable wraps provide ample vitamins and minerals that stimulate our metabolism. / Courtesy of CJ Freshway
“Ssam” or vegetable wraps provide ample vitamins and minerals that stimulate our metabolism.
One can prepare wraps with raw or steamed vegetables. Wraps made with cooked greens could be good for a cancer patient who may have a sore mouth.
Using seasonal vegetables such as lettuce, pumpkin leaves, or leaf beets, make bite-size wraps with multigrain rice. Adding shrimp or beef for protein can make it a complete meal.
Ingredients (serves two)
You will need 180 grams of rice, 20 grams of lettuce, 20 grams of kelp, 20 grams of curled mallow, 20 grams of leaf beets, sesame oil, sesame seeds and salt
For “ssamjang” or dipping sauce: 15 grams of “doengjang” (soybean paste), 5 grams of “gochujang” (hot pepper paste), 10 grams of onion, red pepper powder, red pepper, chopped garlic, oligosaccharides.
Step by step
1. Wash the rice and leave it in a sieve for half an hour and cook it dry. When the cooked rice cools down, add small amounts of salt, sesame oil and sesame seeds for seasoning.
2. Steam the lettuce in a large pot.
3. Leave the kelp in water to rinse off any saltiness. Once the taste is gone, blanch the vegetables and slice them.
4. Peel of the outer layer of the leaf beets and curled mallow, slice and blanch them in boiling water.
5. Put the ingredients for the ssamjang in a bowl and mix well.
6. Wrap the prepared vegetables around a small ball of rice and present with the sauce.
Cooking tips
1. If the patient eats small portions and supplementing protein-rich dishes is difficult, mix in ground beef, pork or shrimp stirred with doengjang to the rice.
2. If you are using salted sea tangle or salted kelp, make sure to leave it in the water long enough to get rid of any saltiness.
3. For blanching, dip the vegetables in the water when it starts boiling. Leave lettuce in the water for about six minutes. Kelp only requires a couple of seconds. If you are steaming greens, take them out before they turn yellow, rinse them in cold water right away and cool them in the freezer.
This is an excerpt from “Must-Have Recipes to Fight Cancer” by Yonsei Cancer Center, CJ Freshway and Severance Hospital Nutrition Team published by Samho Media.