Help cooking for very sick person - no/very low salt for one

[music-city-missy]

Her liver is failing and she needs to go on the transplant list but is so sick and weak that they can't even do all the testing much less put her on the transplant list right now. And her kidneys are also starting to fail. (She's in her 40s)

She has finally taken me up on an offer/challenge to make her foods she can eat and will want to eat. Her request last night was my famous eggplant parm. My biggest challenges are getting low salt cheeses or cutting back on the parm a good bit and I have never cooked eggplant that I didn't salt it to draw out moisture. Anyone got any advice - I am thinking about cutting and pressing to get the moisture out????

She also likes Indian food and I was going to make the five ingredient chicken but when I looked at the different curry powders (Madras is my favorite) they had salt fairly high up on the list of ingredients. Anyone have recipes to make your own madras (or other curry powders) from scratch so that I can leave the salt out? Otherwise that is fairly easy to watch the salt in that.

 

[angak1]

For the eggplant, I never salt it. Have never had a problem. I think Cathy has some curry blends

That are terrific and could be salt free. So kind of you to take care of your friend like this. Best wishes to you and her

 

[Guest]

some ideas

I never salt eggplant from the farmer's market and only sometimes salt eggplant from the grocery store, more to get the desired texture and not so much to remove "bitterness". If after salting you briefly rinse the slices then squeeze them very well I bet you remove most if not all of the salt. I sometimes use my ricer to squeeze the slices. It's a bit time consuming but gets them really dry. You can certainly minimize the salt in the sauce and go heavy on the mozz and light on the parm.

Here's the recipe I use for Madras-style curry powder, very slightly adapted from Hemphill's The Spice and Herb Bible:

Weigh and grind together:
14.5g coriander seed
7.8g cumin seed
1.3g mustard seed
1.75g fenugreek seen
0.77g whole cloves
0.9g cardamom seed (not whole pods, just seeds)
2.4g black pepper
add:
1.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
0.5 tsp cinnamon
0.5 tsp ancho chili powder
grind briefly to blend

My 2 favorite Indian dishes are Keema-style Stew with 2 Potatoes, and Cauliflower and Potatoes "Aloo Gobi" . Let me know if you want recipes.

I once spent several months making soups for a friend dying of esophageal cancer and it was as much a comfort to me as it was to he and his wife. Best wishes to you and your friend.