WHAT IS CONFINEMENT (CONFINEMENT RECIPES INCLUDED IN THIS ARTICLE)?

May be this information can help many new mothers who never heard of it

By ChefSarawak@NZChefSi

Confinement has been practiced by Asian women especially Chinese, for a considerably long period of time, during this period of postnatal 30 days period, traditionally a new mother would be confined inside her bedroom resting, eating the high protein food, breastfeeding and even not taking any shower. They are also known to eat 30 days of ginger, wine, and chicken with little starch. And most of these women got fat after confinement since then!

Most Asian women who believe in a good confinement could restore their postnatal health, to retain their youth or even to enhance their breast size, would practice the regime strictly, I read that some Taiwanese Chinese female doctors had achieved it successfully.

In this article, I would emphasize on Chinese women all over the world how they still practice their confinement up to these days but in a modernized way. You have to know the history of why Chinese women right after postnatal had to be confined in their bedroom and also not taking any shower, the reason was these postnatal exhausted frail women should not get sick, the dirty living environment with dirty water that couldn’t be drunk without boiling or sterilized for shower to prevent infection of the delivery wounds, and living standard in old China without a bathroom attached to the house or bedroom could both expose these women under chilling winds and air to get bad cold.

And everyone knows that under the feudal society, there were more poor women than rich women, most pregnant women were overwork, and they would work until the day baby’s birth, most of them were actually  malnourished, if these women were so poor that they couldn’t even afford to rest and being fed during confinement, they surely would die soon, old days women had to be very strong to survive, most of them were eliminated in the natural selection during child birth or during confinement period.

Chinese believe in hot and cold theories on one’s body and food, if women’s body is hot, only during this postnatal period they could take as much as ginger without suffering from ulcer, as ginger is considered as hot food, women with hot body would suffer ulcer if they took it during normal days. And for those people whose body is cold, ginger would help to balance their health. Ginger is known as a “hot” food for Chinese, but if its skin without being peeled, it would be less “hot”. So why postnatal women with hot body would not suffer ulcer caused by “hot ginger”, is it during this confinement period, women’s body has turned to “extra cold”? So, this is something interesting about hot and cold body and food theory.

I always also wonder if men and women who are gentler are they having a “cold body”, as empirically I noticed that men and women who are more extrovert are having a “hot body”.  Thus a person has to know if he has a “hot or cold” body, if he has a “hot” body, he has to use the “cold” food to balance his health. This practice of hot or cold food to balance individual’s hot or cold body included what food to eat during hot and cold season or hot and cold days, and thus, confinement and regular days.

Why I write this article? I was recommended by my friends to their pregnant friends said that I could cook confinement meals, but as they didn’t know my background, immediately they thought that I was the traditional “confinement aunty” whose service would include helping to take bath for the new born baby and cooking 30 days of confinement meals. In most third world country, “confinement aunty” was paid a little bit more than regular maid or cook, but in the western world since the imposed of minimum salary, it is almost impossible for most working-class couple to employ a professional chef to cook for their confinement meal. Thus, Asian living in western countries wouldn’t raise as many kids in western countries than in the third world countries, these Asian usually would “import” their parents or a trusted confinement aunty to help them during the confinement month.

When I was approached by these pregnant women, I realized that their husbands don’t know how to cook, but the modern days’ new-father would take leave to stay with their wife for at least two weeks. This is a very good idea, as there were many new-mothers would get depressed under the confinement period, as this is the period hormonal changes happened. Good and happy confinement could improve a couple’s relationship, bad and neglected confinement would lead to a couple’s separation.

After I talked to a pregnant woman for a while, a sudden idea came to my mind, I told her that I would teach her husband how to cook instead of getting me to cook for her. First of all, her husband would know more than me of what she likes to eat, she would save a lot of money to pay for a chef, next she would eat probably fresher food as I won’t be able to work there for 12 hours to take care of all her three meals, refreshment or even snacks for 30 days. The most important of all is if her husband cooks for her, I would bet she won’t get a depression, she will feel the love. Why? I remember when I worked as a piano teacher, I heard that a student’s dad would cook for his wife during confinement period, he would feed her with duck essence, that mean he would steam the whole duck without adding any water, any liquid after steaming is the duck essence. Ended up this dad is a dotting dad, whenever I met him, I would ask him about his daughter, he knows what his daughter is doing although he is a extremely busy businessman.

However, as many Chinese would believe that vegetable are “cold” thus they believe that it shouldn’t be taken during confinement period, but this traditional style of complete protein diet for confinement women may cause them serious constipation. I was also being asked what kind of food they eat during confinement could induce more breast milk etc. However, many Asian mothers are not aware that during the first three days, the “little clearer milk” is called colostrum, it is the vital “health insurance” for their baby’s health, they have to keep feeding their babies even there is “little milk”, only on the third day, the white milk comes.

The following are some suggested easy cooking recipes for confinement meals.

1.  Braised Vinegar Pork Trotters

To induce milk, traditionally, Chinese would add peanut and sesame oil to braised pork leg, it has high collagen. Note that for simple cooking, I won’t introduce to deep fry the pork and boiled eggs before braising. Another known herb eaten by Hakah-Chinese women during confinement period is motherwort, note that motherwort should not be used to feed underaged boys! The dried motherwort plants would be sweated with ground ginger and sesame oil, then add chicken pieces and rice wine. Another known protein to induce milk is white fish, and there is a kind of cat fish many Chinese would cook for confinement women who had undergone caesarean, this fish is believed could heal the wound faster, but I read from some article reportedly said that it’s better to let the wound heals naturally so that the wound will heal beautifully!

Ingredients:

1 kg Pork trotters and leg meat, (ask the Chinese pork shop butcher to cut them into smaller pieces, advise to buy pork from Chinese butcher, you won’t complain there is a peculiar smell. Have a quick blanch)

250 ml Red wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar

5 tbsp Black sesame extra virgin oil (Product of Taiwan)

1 whole handful of ginger, ground/mash finely

500ml Rice wine or red wine

2 Handful peanuts, wash and rinse

5 Eggs, boiled and shelled

1 tbsp White miso paste

1 bulb Garlic, cut in half with skin on

5 big Shitake Mushroom

100ml Reduced carrot juice, or a handful of deseeded jujube, the purpose is to give natural sweetness for diabetic confinement mothers. Optional, regular people can use sweet wine and caramelized sugar

Salt and pepper TT

Method:

1.  In an oven safe large pot, sweat the ginger with sesame oil 

     until light brown, make sure you add a pinch of salt

2.  Seal the pork as much as possible, it may need extra oil

3.  Deglaze with wine

4.  Add vinegar and the rest of the ingredients, except not the egg

5.  Once it is boiled, place a cartouche on top

6.  Place in a preheat oven of 180C for 45 minutes

7.  Check the seasoning and sauce make sure it doesn’t dry up, then 

     add the eggs

8.  You can always add a bit of water if it is too dry, continue to braise

9.   Cook until the pork skin is soft, then check the seasoning

10. Served with the rice.

2.  Seaweed Ginger Beef (Or Your Choice of Meat) Soup

This dish helps confinement women to prevent constipation, beef and seaweeds both got lots of vital vitamins and minerals, your breast milk will be healthy for the baby as well. “Hot ginger and wine” will help to balance the “cold seaweed”. Another ingredient used during confinement to prevent constipation is sesame oil, thus it is generally being used generously for confinement meal! I would advise you buy extra virgin black sesame oil.

Ingredients:

500g Wagyu beef, cut into cubes (Or your choice of meat like turkey, chicken, venison, duck, lamb, etc.)

200g Ginger, ground finely

5 tbsp Sesame oil

½ Handful Korean dried seaweed

1 tbsp Goji berry

300ml Rice wine

300ml Stock (Simmer with beef bones, onion, leek, daikon, mushroom and burdock root for overnight in slow cooker, store the stock)

Method:
1.       Sweat ginger with sesame oil
2.       Seal the beef cubes as much as possible
3.       Deglaze with wine
4.       Add stock and the rest of the ingredients, except not seaweed
5.       Transfer into a clay pot, let it boil then simmer
6.       When the beef is getting tender, add the seaweed
7.       Check seasoning with salt and pepper
8.       Serve with rice

3.  Steamed Whole Ginger Chicken/Duck

Ingredients:

1 whole Free range chicken

200ml Rice wine

200g Ginger, peel off skin, blend with 200ml rice wine, squeeze the juice and get rid of sediment

TT Salt and pepper

Method:

1.       Marinate the chicken with ginger rice wine juice, season with salt and little pepper for an hour

2.       Place the chicken in a large bowl

3.       Place into the heat-up steamer, steam until cook, usually around 30 to 40 minutes depend on the size of a chicken, regular chicken will be cooked about 20 minutes, but for food and safety reason for women in confinement, it is always safer to eat fully done chicken.

4.       Eat by tearing the meat, you will get the best chicken texture using this method.

5.       Accompany with ginger sauce

6.       Serve with rice

4.  Ginger Sauce

Ingredients:

200ml Sesame oil and olive oil, half and half

100g Ginger, peel the skin, grind the ginger finely

1 tsp Vinegar

2 tsp Sugar, optional if you are diabetic

½ Stem, Spring onion, chifonade

Salt TT

Method:
1.       Heat the oil until smoking
2.       Turn off heat, stir in ginger
3.       Once it cools down a bit, add spring onion and check seasoning
4.       Use as a dipping sauce for any kind of steamed, blanched or 
       poached white meat.

5.  Steamed Whole Snapper

Ingredients:

1 whole Snapper, gutted and scaled, wash the fish with lemon juice

1 clove, Garlic, minced finely

30g Pickled mustard, chop finely

1 tsp White miso

100 ml Sesame oil

200g Ginger, julienne

2 stems Scallion, white part, julienne

1 Chili, julienne

10g Baby cilantro or cilantro, garnishing

2 tbsp Rice wine

2 tsp Vinegar or lemon juice

5 Pieces of tofu, cut into thin square

1 pinch White pepper powder

Method:
1.       Fry the ginger and chili until golden brown separately, drain. 
       Keep the ginger chili oil
2.       Fry the pickled mustard with sesame oil and minced garlic
3.      Use two tbsp of ginger oil to mix with the miso sauce, wine, vinegar,
      pepper to prepare a sauce
4.       On a serving plate, arrange the tofu on it, sprinkle the pickled
       mustard, place the fish on top of tofu, spoon the sauce to the fish
5.       Mix the fried ginger and chili with spring onion, place it on top of fish
6.       Steam for 10 minutes
7.       Garnish with fresh cilantro, serve immediately with rice

6.       Drunken Pork Offal or Chicken Offal

This is a very popular dish served during breakfast for confinement women

Ingredients:

50g Pork liver, soak in milk, slice thinly

50g Pork kidney, remove sinew, soak in milk or salted water, slice thinly

50g Pork heart, slice thinly

Or 150g Chicken offal mixture of gizzard, liver, heart, kidney, cockscomb

200ml Rice wine

200ml Boiling water

50g ginger, julienne

3 tbsp Sesame oil

2 Egg, poached or boiled

1 handful Vermicelli wheat noodle, blanch

Salt and Pepper TT

Method:
1.       Sweat the ginger with oil until light brown
2.       Deglaze with wine
3.       Add boiling water
4.       When boil, add the offal
5.       When cook, check seasoning
6.       Add noodle and poached or boiled egg

7.  Herbal Beef

Fenugreek is another known herb for inducing breast milk, it is not a popular herb for Chinese, but it is one of the most popular Indian herbs.

Ingredients:
½ Onion1 handful Leek
2 handful fresh fenugreek or 2 tsp dehydrated fenugreek /methi, can purchase it from Indian store
5 tbsp Sesame oil100g Ginger1 handful Garlic chives500g Wagyu beef, cut into cubes1 Handful cooked kidney bean (Kidney bean must be soaked before cooking)
300ml Rice wine'
300ml Boiling water
Lemon juice, salt and pepper TT
½ Handful cooked black bean


Method:
1. Chop all the herbs in food processor
2. Sweat the herbs with oil and a pinch of salt
3. Seal the beef
4. Deglaze with wine
5. Add boiling water
6. Cook until the beef started to get tender, add the beans
7. Check seasoning
8. Serve with rice




8. Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:
1 Whole free range chicken, cut into pieces, Asian cut
6 Tbsp Sesame oil
50g Ginger, ground finely
200ml Rice wine
1 tbsp White miso paste, mix with rice wine
Salt and pepper, TT

Method:
1. Sweat the ginger with oil until light brown
2. Add the chicken pieces, stir fry
3. Continue to stir fry and deglaze continuously with wine and miso mixture
4. When the chicken is cooked, check the seasoning
5. Serve with rice

9. Pig Stomach Soup

Ingredients:
1 Pig Stomach, wash with vinegar, salt and corn starch, blanch in water, cut into bite size pieces
100g ginger, slice
5 tbsp Sesame oil
100g Pork belly. Blanch in water, Slice
100g Daikon, Japanese cut
300ml Rice wine
300 ml Boiling water
Vinegar, salt, and pepper, TT


Method:
1. In an oven proof pot, sweat ginger with oil
2. Add pig stomach and pork belly, stir fry
3. Deglaze with wine
4. Add water and daikon
5. Let it boil, turn to simmer for an hour, check periodically to make 
    sure water doesn’t dry up
or
6. Add a cartouche on top
7. Braise in oven at 180C for another an hour, check periodically to 
    make sure water doesn’t get dried up
8. Check the stomach if it is tender enough, once it’s done check 
    the seasoning




10. Chicken Herbal Soup

Ingredients:
1 whole free range Chicken,
6 Jujube
6 Dong Qui (A kind of ginseng like herb)
50g Dried Logan
500ml Rice wine
8 Shitake Mushroom
10g White wood ear, soak
500ml Boiled water

Method:
1. In a clay pot, add all ingredients
2. Let it simmers for an hour or until the chicken is tender
3. Serve with rice or noodle




11. Scotch Fillet Steak and Skewer

Note that as this is the meal for confinement women, make sure the steak and skewers' meat are all well-done! The meat thus is marinated differently to prevent dryness. 


Ingredients: 
1 piece NZ Grassfed Scotch fillet steak
250g Meat (Any kind of meat your prefer), cut into an inch cube
50g Butter, cut into cubes, chill. Monte
Wine vinegar, salt and ground black pepper, TT
100ml Red or white wine (red meat with red wine)
Worcestershire sauce for color, sauce
100ml Stock, sauce
5 tbsp Olive oil
2 Skewer sticks, skewer
1 clove Garlic, mash
50g ginger, mash


Method:
1. Marinate the steak with 1 tbsp oil, salt, and pepper. If you are 
    using lower quality meat, try to massage the meat with 10ml of 
    water until it is fully absorbed first before marinating.
2. Massage the meat cubes with 10ml of water, repeat for another 
    2 times until the meat cubes stop absorbing water. Then marinate 
    the meat cubes with a tbsp oil first, then 1/2 tsp salt, 1 pinch of 
    pepper, 1/2 tsp vinegar and a tsp of ginger and garlic
3. Grill your steak and skewers, but if you don't have a grill, you can 
    seal your steak and skewer on an oven safe frying pan, then place 
    into the oven to grill. Remember to turn the steak and skewers
4. Prepare the sauce by sweating the ginger with oil until light brown, 
    deglaze with wine and stock, boil. Then use this stock to deglaze 
    the grilling frying pan (as long as it didn't burn you can do it). 
    Reduce to the stock to one serving portion about 50ml, then Monte 
    with butter while it is still bubbling. Try to Monte while the sauce while 
    it is hot so it won't split easier later.

12. Mix Vegetable Salad

    Most Chinese believe that vegetable is belonged to "cold" entity, it would end up give "wind" to the baby through breast feeding, thus it is not encouraged to feed it to the confinement women. But there are many western confinement women still ate their meal regularly, and they are still healthy and pink, but there were some Chinese argued with me this way, "Did you notice the western women got old very quickly after they delivered babies, all because they didn't eat properly during confinement!" And further more my friends argued that their Chinese-in-laws that were born and raised in western countries don't believe in confinement and they didn't do it, they showed me the picture of how these women looked much older than stereotype Chinese women who followed the proper confinement. I am not going to make any remarks, as some confinement women didn't have dog luck to stay in their bedroom for a month and they are responsible to raise or take care of other family members as well.

    However, you can always choose to use warm entity vegetables and fruits for confinement meal, if it is cold, you can use the hot entity ginger and wine to balance it.


Ingredients:
100g Young ginger, skin peeled, sliced thinly
100g Carrot, skin peeled, sliced thinly
100g Celeriac or sweet turnip, Sliced thinly
1/2 Chili, julienne
3 Peppercorn, smashed
1 clove Garlic, peeled, Smashed
100ml Red wine vinegar
400ml Sweet wine


Method:
1. Boil sweet wine and vinegar with chili, garlic, and peppercorn, 
    reduce
2. Add the vegetable, turn off the heat, let the residue heat cooks
3. When it cools down, keep it in the fridge, eat whenever you like it.

13. Confinement Pasta Carbonara

   As tomato is considered as a cold vegetable, thus I suggest feeding Pasta Carbonara to our confinement ladies. I develop this recipe variation as a confinement meal. Note that according to my very close Italian friend who has been eating Italian fine food since young told me they won't put any garlic or onion when preparing Carbonara but just purely lardon, hard cheese and egg.


Ingredients:
2 tsp Olive oil and 1tsp Butter
I strip Bacon, diced
150g Poached Chicken/Turkey breast, cut into small cubes
3 tbsp White wine, deglaze
30g Ginger, mashed
1 tbsp Parmesan
¼ Onion, Macedoine
1 whole eggs
100ml Full cream, whisk with the egg
5g Parsley, chopped finely
1 portion Pasta, Spaghetti


Method:
1. Heat the water, cook the pasta to al dente, around 7 minutes 
    in small quantity
2. While waiting for water to boil cooking pasta, get ready to 
   cook the Carbonara sauce. Saute bacon with onion and ginger 
   until bacon getting crunchy, then add chicken cubes, sealed them 
   if possible. Drain and set aside.
3. Deglaze the frying pan with wine, turn fire off, whisk in egg and cream
4. Stir in butter, pasta and meat with the sauce, turn on the fire, stir 
   vigorously, take away from the heat if it is too hot, do it back and 
   forth until the sauce starts to thicken, then turn off heat, let the heat 
   simmer for another 10 second.
5. Check the seasoning, serve with sprinkled parsley and parmesan 
    cheese.

14. Pork Liver Eggplant Pickled Ginger

    















    As confinement meal is cooked different to ensure confinement is healthy and pink, I created this recipe with ginger being used not just for flavor but as one of the many components being being mixed in a dish. You will notice there is a so much sesame oil used, the oil is used to sweat the eggplant an Spanish onion (or you can blanch it with oil). 

    Note that the liver has to be cooked well-done for confinement women.

Ingredients:

200g Pork liver, trim the sinew, soak with milk overnight
1 pinch Cayenne
1 Egg plant or 2 Japanese egg plant
100g Minced pork
8 Tbsp Extra virgin black sesame oil
1 Spring onion, use the white part, julienne
20 slices Young pickled ginger, macerated the ginger in red vinegar, salt, sugar and Spanish onion overnight, drain and julienne
5 Tbsp Fresh Ginger juice
1 Spanish onion, julienne
5 Garlic cloves
4 Tbsp Rice wine or red wine
1 Tsp Minced Shiitake mushroom
1 Tsp Corn starch
1 Tbsp Egg white
1 Tsp Oyster sauce
1 Tbsp Dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp Raw sugar
1 Tbsp Fish sauce
1/2 Red Chili (optional), brunoise
TT Salt and pepper
20g Spring onion, chifonade or coriander, garnishing
1 tsp grated lemon zest, garnishing

Method:
1. Slice the pork liver, massage with a tbsp of wine and ginger juice
    until absorbed, marinate with 2 tbsp of sesame oil, 1 clove of 
    garlic mince, egg white, 1/2 tsp corn starch, pepper, cayenne
2. Make the sauce by mixing wine, fish sauce, 1 tbsp of sesame oil,
    and soy sauce
3. Marinate minced pork with 1 tbsp wine, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 clove
    garlic, pepper, 1/2 tsp corn starch and minced mushroom
4. Sweat Eggplant with Spanish onion and pickled ginger with sesame oil,
    sugar and a pinch of salt (don't add too much), drain and set aside
5. In the same wok, add garlic, then seal minced pork and liver.
6. Combine eggplant and deglaze with the sauce. 
7. Check seasoning
8. Garnish with spring onion or coriander and lemon zest