Ikan Pepes, my favorite Balinese dish. I also (try to) prepare it in the US, but I am afraid it is just so, so, not exactly what I imagine your wife’s refined version to be.
As for your jumbo shrimp scampi ( yummy), I would like to make some comments regarding your doctor’s remarks on “cholesterol.”
I am sure you have heard about Dr. Ancel Keys, who just died almost 2 years ago, short of his 101st birthday. He was the inventor of the “famous” K-ration, which became part of the US Army’s gourmet cooking during WWII.
Dr. Key (and his wife, Margaret), popularized the “Mediterranean” diet with a series of best-selling books. Science, diet, and health were the central themes of his professional and private live.
Dr. Key’s pointed out that the amount of cholesterol that one ingests daily from any kind of diet is small (which has since been found experimentally to be about 20% maximum) when compared to the amount that one’s liver synthesizes daily following the ingestion of saturated fat (and now trans fat (monounsaturated or polyunsaturated) which have recently been found to be even more detrimental to good health). Some of the foods that contain a high proportion of saturated fat are butter, coconut oil, and palm kernel oil (the latter two present in large quantities in the Balinese’s diet
), dairy products (especially cream and cheese), meat as well as some prepared foods. These foods, present in large amounts in one’s diet (like the ones found in the US and other industrial nations), will result in one’s liver to produce excessive amount of cholesterol, with the well known health consequences. Please note that saturated fat is necessary, in “natural” quantities, for the cells’ well being.
I have had several discussions with my cardiologist on this subject. Of course, he has to agree with the scientific (and Dr Key's) findings, but cannot go against the present mantra of his profession, so his only answer is “…yes, Dr. P., but every little bit helps.” :roll:
