As part of my dabbling with the #FODMAP diet, adapting my current repertoire of recipes is proving to be a thorough mixture of highs and lows, or as the famous Foreigner song goes ‘In my life there’s been heartache and pain, I don’t know if I can face it again, Can’t stop now, I’ve travelled so far, to change this lonely life’. Okay, so maybe lonely life is a little extreme – but faced with hunger, 3pm on a Saturday afternoon and near to tears trying to find something to eat you really do start to think that maybe the IBS wasn’t really that bad…..shall I just get a nice warm and tasty pasty?!

Fortunately its not been all bad there has been highs in the form of actual whole days without stomach pain, which after 18 odd years is a revelation – and actually its super useful in identifying triggers. That comes with sadness though too. A cheeky fruit cider on Saturday afternoon left me questioning how much I really did enjoy its beautiful chilled fruitfulness!! I am almost at the end of the elimination phase despite the cider slippages- and I look forward to reintroduction with a mixture of joy at the thought of hot buttered avocado toast and also with some trepidation..!

So as promised a few weeks back – I promised to share some tasty recipes – admittedly there has not been as many show stoppers as I would have liked, however this is the first dish I had seconds of, which is a good sign! Adapting this from my main corned beef hash took a bit of thinking. Baked beans, Worcestershire sauce, onions and the garlic in its raw form were all off the menu; so how would I make it still taste good and be low in FODMAP’s?! Admittedly its not lactose free – I added quite a bit of cheese but as my booklet assures me – most cheese, especially the hard ones are low, and therefore suitable… and discovering garlic oil was allowed has been a game changer!

1x 340g Corned Beef

1/2 stick celery, finely chopped

1 tsp garlic oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 large white potatoes, diced (skin on or off as you prefer)

1/2 tsp turmeric

3tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander

2 salad tomatoes

1 heaped tsp tomato puree

50g red Leicester cheese, grated

1 tsp butter

s&p to taste

Start by boiling the potatoes with the turmeric, drain well, mash well and add the butter, 1/3 of the cheese and 1 tbsp of the coriander. Season to taste and add put to one side. Pre-heat oven to 190o.

Heat the a non-stick frying pan until medium-hot, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and toast until they start to pop or smoke very lightly, add the oil and celery and fry for 2 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and fry for a further 5 minutes or until starting to go mushy, turning down the heat a notch. Add the corned beef and break down with a spatula and fry until browned lightly. Make a well in the middle and stir in the tomato puree and a splash of water to loosen and fry for a further 2-3 minutes or until well mixed, stir in the remaining coriander and season with black pepper.

Transfer into an oven proof dish, top with the prepared mash and sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned nicely.

Serve with veg of your choice – we had roasted carrots with dwarf beans.