Black Sesame Rice with Steamed Kale, Cabbage and Edamame...

Tonight’s dinner was less of a recipe and more of a ‘lets throw some stuff together and see what happens’ kind of affair, but it turned out so good that I just had to share it. Originally I didn’t know what I wanted to make, but as the day grew later and I became more and more involved with homework I realized whatever I did choose to make wasn’t going to be anything elaborate. Midway through the day I started feeling like rice, and once I got thinking about rice I got thinking about bowls - again!

Well, I was all out of brown rice, but had a jar of black rice that I’ve been neglecting. Black rice pairs particularly well with sesame seeds which I have plenty of and so that got me thinking of Asian flavors. Asian flavors brought me to Edamame which is a good protein source, and then all I needed was a vegetable. Today I had to write an essay on the health benefits of Cruciferous vegetables, and writing that essay inspired me to utilize the kale and red cabbage that were sitting in my fridge. Steam it, and toss it into a bowl with a few well picked condiments and a lovely nutritious dinner was served.

This is a light but filling dinner packed with dense nutrition. Black rice provides you with 18 amino acids, zinc, copper, iron, carotene and several vitamins as well as protein and fiber, which makes it more nutritious then plain ‘ole brown rice. Not to mention - if you believe in such things anyway - in China black rice is claimed to be good for the kidney’s, stomach, and liver. Sesame seeds are a great source of manganese, copper, calcium, iron, phosphorus, Vitamin B1, zinc, magnesium, selenium and fiber. They’re also great at relieving the liver of oxidative stress.  Edamame provides you with complete protein - meaning it contains all of the essential amino acids - as well as fiber, calcium, iron, Vitamin A, C & E and various other minerals. Kale is the best known cancer fighting vegetables on the planet, and the richest of all leafy greens in carotenoids. Ounce for ounce it has more calcium then milk, and it’s calcium is more bioavailable then milk - meaning our bodies can utilize more of it, better. It’s also packed full of essential vitamins and minerals. Cabbage is another great cancer fighter and an immune stimulant packed full of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients and by now we should all be well aware of the amazing health benefits of both Ginger and Garlic.

This is exactly the kind of delicious meal you can eat every day and not feel guilty about it. Every ingredients is packed full of beneficial nutrients to help you! This is definitely going to be a ‘go-to’ meal for me from now on.

Black Sesame Rice with Steamed Kale, Cabbage and Edamame

For the Rice  

1 1/4 C Black Rice
2 ½ C Water
1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
3 Garlic Cloves minced
½-1 tsp Japanese 7 Spice blend (To taste)
1/4 C Sesame Seeds

For the Kale - Cabbage - Edamame 

! Bunch Kale torn into bite sized pieces
1 ½ C Red Cabbage sliced
1 ½ C Edamame
Sliced Green Onions to taste
2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 Tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Amino’s (Tamari or Soy Sauce can be used instead)
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
Ume Vinegar to taste
½-3/4 tsp White Truffle Oil (Optional but strongly recommended!)
½ tsp ground ginger

- Cook rice in a rice cooker, or according to package directions. Once rice is done cooking add in the sesame oil, garlic cloves, and 7 Spice blend. Stir to combine and cover the pot or cooker with a lid for 5 minutes to let the steam infuse the garlic into the rice.

- Add Sesame seeds to the rice just before serving and stir to combine.

- Meanwhile in a large pot steam the Kale, Cabbage and Edamame, for roughly 5-7 minutes until the kale is wilted and the cabbage is wilted but still a little crisp. If you need to you can steam in two batches, kale first, then cabbage and edamame together.

- Combine all the steamed vegetables in a large bowl. Add the Bragg’s Liquid Amino’s, Rice Vinegar, Ground Ginger, Maple Syrup, Ume Vinegar, White Truffle Oil, and Green Onions. Stir to combine and taste for flavor.

- Serve by scooping the rice into a large bowl, then layering in the steamed vegetables. Enjoy!

*** Note - If you taste the mix and feel it’s too salty but don’t want to add any more maple syrup to even it out you can add 5-6 drops of liquid stevia. This works really well. ***

Crispy Cabbage and Rice Bowl with Miso Molasses Dressing...

Lately, when it comes to food I’ve been feeling really uninspired and over-stimulated. What I mean by that, is in my mind I’ve been battling two contrasting desires. On the one hand I want to make everything. I want to make all those delicious, gourmet meals that has my mouth watering when I log into the blogosphere, or crack open a cook book, yet on the other hand everything sounds so good that nothing seems right, does that make sense? Plus I just can’t seem to muster the energy to do any ‘gourmet’ cooking. I want food that quick, simple, and easy, I want food that’s low calorie and high in nutritional density, I want food that’s good for my body, food that is fuel. Yet I want it to taste amazing and I want it to seem decadent.

All these contrasting desires have been leaving me feeling so blah in the kitchen, not to mention that I’ve just been feeling really ‘fooded’ out since being back from Vancouver. In Vancouver we didn’t exactly eat junk, but we did eat a lot, and I mean a lot. There are so many good vegan restaurants in Vancouver that we probably ate double the amount of food we normally do, so that’s where this intense desire for simple, and basic food is coming from.  Since our return I’ve been really into smoothies, juices, beans, salads, bowls and superfoods. We ate a lot of that kind of stuff in Vancouver and now that I’m back I want to really focus on good for you whole foods. Unfortunately there are only so many salads and so many bowls that one can make before you start to get bored. As I already said the 100+ cook books in my collection haven’t been much help as I feel kind of uninspired to actually put in any of the work they require.

So lately my meals have revolved around four basic principals, and I actually find that these four things are actually the best things to consider when making a bowl - or even a salad. Firstly a survey of what you have in the pantry and fridge is an absolute necessity. Second it’s good to look for what you have in abundance or what needs to be used ASAP. Third it’s always important to take into consideration any food craving or interest you may be having that day. Lastly pick one culinary or cultural theme, whatever inspires you the most in that moment. Once you’ve gone through these steps putting together a bowl or salad is pretty effortless work.

At least that’s how it works for me. This is the method I employed to make dinner Thursday and surprisingly it came together rather well. As it happened I had a lot of cabbage, rice and various seeds. The cabbage needed to be used. I wanted something sugar-free and nutritionally dense, and I was interested in an Asian sort of flavor. The miso molasses dressing might sound strange to you, but I assure you it’s quite good. Molasses is great because it’s relatively low in sugar with a low-glycemic load plus it has a bounty of trace minerals like copper, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, B6, and selenium. The cool thing is that you don’t even need to eat that much molasses to get the nutritional benefits, a Tbsp is enough to enjoy the nutrition. It’s also much lower in calories then other liquid sweeteners - such as Agave or Maple Syrup. So when I decided to add a touch of sweetness to my miso dressing that’s why I chose to try Molasses. “What’s the worst that can happen?” I reasoned, and much to my surprise it turned out fantastic.

I also love the combination of slightly wilted cabbage with crispy kimchi, crunchy seeds, a creamy dressing and cooked rice. All these things just seem to go together in perfect textural harmony. Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean!

Crispy Cabbage and Rice Bowl with Miso Molasses Dressing 

1 C Brown Rice
3 C Shredded Green Cabbage
1 C Shredded Red Cabbage
½ Large Yellow Onion
5 Green Onions Sliced
1 Tbsp Hemp Seeds (per serving)
1 Tbsp Black Sesame Seeds (per serving)
1 Tbsp Ground Golden Flaxseed (per serving)
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1/3 C Kimchi (per serving)


Miso Molasses Dressing 

1/3 C Rice Vinegar
½ C Water
4 Tbsp Mellow White Miso
1 ½ Tbsp Molasses
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil

- Cook brown rice according to package instructions.

- Heat sesame oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. When hot add the cabbage and the onion and stir-fry for 6-8 minutes until onion begins to turn soft and cabbage is sightly wilted. Do not overcook, you want the cabbage to still have some texture!

- Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth.

Assembly.

- Divide the rice amongst 2 - large portions - or 3 - smaller portions - bowls. Divide the cabbage mixture evenly between the bowls and sprinkle each bowl with 1 Tbsp hemp seeds, 1 Tbsp black sesame seeds, and 1 Tbsp Ground Golden Flaxseed.

- Garnish with desired amount of sliced green onions, and add 1/3C of kimchi to each bowl. Top with desired amount of dressing and serve!

*** Note - Can be made soy-free if using a soy-free miso like Chickpea Miso.***

Umeboshi Noodles with Black Soybeans and Collard Green Ribbons in Soy Broth...

I know with all the toppings it's kind of hard to see all
the awesomeness in this bowl

If you know me, or If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you probably know that Asian Cuisine is one of my favorites. I love the duality between the simple fresh ingredients and the bold complex flavors that are so characteristic of Asian cooking. I also love bowls and one pot meals, especially on cold days. Well, today was a cold day, and I was feeling particularly inspired thanks in part to the reading I’ve been required to do for my Chinese Medicine class, as well as my most recent trip to Mitsuwa, the Japanese Market in Arlington Heights.

My last trip to Mitsuwa was a couple of weeks ago, and I was on a mission for Miso and a variety of Japanese noodles. These are things I can find easily in the health food stores in my area, however they’re roughly half the price at Mitsuwa, which is way more economical considering how much miso I go through. As for the noodles I found exactly what I wanted, a ton of Udon, Soba and Somen, and then I found some packages of Green Tea flavored noodles, and Ume flavored noodles. Ume of course referring to Umeboshi, the tart, sour, slightly sweet plum typically used as a paste or made into vinegar in Japanese cooking. I’d never seen Ume noodles anywhere else before, nor had I even heard of them, but they were bright pink and beautiful, and contained no weird or nefarious ingredients and so I bought a package.

I really had no idea what I was going to do with them once I got them home, and so they’ve just been sitting in my pantry for the past couple of weeks. Until today. Today, for whatever reason was the day I decided to give them a try. Initially I was a bit stumped as to what to pair them with, or what kind of dish to put them into because I wasn’t sure what their flavor would really be like. Eventually I decided to go with traditional Asian seasonings such as garlic, ginger, sesame, and tamari, and picked my vegetables according to what I had on hand and what I thought might make the most startling contrast. Green, orange and black I thought would all look fantastic against the bright pink noodles, and I had really been trying to find a use for the solitary can of Black Soybeans left over in my pantry from a squash stew I made a couple of months ago.

Now, I’ll be honest, at first I wasn’t sure how this would turn out. I was kind of just flying by the seat of my pants so to speak. Whenever you just start tossing things together there is always the risk that you’ll under season or over season whatever your making, or just make a bad call on an ingredient. So when we sat down to eat I was a little hesitant and a bit skeptical, particularly of the noodles since I had no idea what to expect from them. Turns out there was no real need to worry because this delicious hearty bowl really blew me away. The flavors were exactly what I was looking for, rich - complex - and warming, and the entire thing came together in the most delicious way. The Ume noodles in particular were fantastic, and now I can’t wait for my next trip to Mitsuwa so I can buy myself some more packages. If you see Ume Noodles in your area pick some up, and make this dish!

Umeboshi Noodles with Black Soybeans and Collard Green Ribbons in Soy Broth.

8oz Umeboshi Noodles
1-2 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
6 Garlic Cloves Minced
1 Thumb Sized Piece of Ginger grated
1 Medium Sized Leek sliced
1 Bunch Collards - ribs removed cut in ribbons
4 oz Enoki Mushrooms
1 15oz can Black Soybeans
A Few Dashes of Ume Vinegar
1 tsp Japanese 7 Spice

For Broth 

1 1/3 C Low-Sodium Vegetable Broth
2 Tbsp Low-Sodium Tamari
½ Tbsp Agave nectar

For Garnish 

1 Large Grated Carrot
½ Tbsp Brown Rice Vinegar per bowl
2 tsp Sesame Seeds per bowl

- Cook Ume Noodles according to package directions. Then drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop cooking and set aside, until ready to serve.

- While Noodles are cooking heat 1 Tbsp of sesame oil in a large skillet. Add the minced garlic, grated ginger and sliced leek. Saute over medium-high heat until the leek has softened, and garlic is fragrant. About 5-7 minutes.

- Add in the collard green ribbons, then cover and cook for three minutes. Then add in the enoki mushrooms and cook another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and the collard greens are bright green and tender. If the pan starts looking dry during this time you can add an additional 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil.

- Lower the heat and stir in the black soybeans, ume vinegar, and 7 spice seasoning. Replace the lid and let sit over low heat until the soy beans are warmed through then turn the heat off. And set the pan aside until ready to serve.

- To make the broth whisk the vegetable broth, soy sauce, and ume vinegar in small sauce pan. Then bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Let simmer one minute then turn off the heat.

- To serve divide the noodles into two bowls. Then divide the broth and the collard green mixture evenly among them. Top each bowl with grated carrot, sesame seeds and the rice vinegar.

PS: Black Soybeans by the way are pretty interesting. They look like a black bean but a bit lighter, and taste a regular soybean or maybe a blander edamame. Outside of health food or specialty stores I don’t know how easy it is to find them, the brand I used was Eden Organic’s but if you can’t find them you could always sub in regular soybeans, edamame or black beans if you want to keep the contrast. Shiitake mushrooms would also be good if you don't have Enoki.

Once I mixed it all up you could better see those lovely
Pink Ume Noodles!