February 22, 2009 at 5:41 am (Appetizer, Recipes)
Tags: Recipes, sesame seed, spinach
February 20, 2009 Recipes for Health from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/health/20recipehealth.html
Japanese Spinach With Sesame Dressing By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN
This cold spinach bathed in a nutty sesame dressing is my all-time favorite Japanese appetizer. Recipes for it vary; some call for rice wine vinegar, others for dashi, a soup stock. Most versions are much sweeter than this one.
- 2 6-oz. bags baby spinach (or 1 1/2 pounds, stemmed and washed)
- 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake
- 1 tablespoon water (more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil 1.
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. Blanch the spinach for 10 to 20 seconds in the boiling water and transfer to the ice water using a deep-fry skimmer. Drain and gently squeeze out water. Chop coarsely.
- Make the dressing. If your sesame seeds have not been toasted, heat a dry skillet over medium heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir and shake the pan constantly, and as soon as the seeds turn golden and smell nutty, transfer to a suribachi mortar and pestle or to a spice mill. Allow to cool. Grind the seeds just until crushed.
- Combine the soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the sake and water, then stir in the ground sesame seeds. Thin out with water. Toss with the spinach and stir together until the dressing infuses the spinach. Be careful not to bruise the spinach leaves. Divide into four small bunches and place in the middle of four small plates or bowls. Drizzle on a few drops of sesame oil. Serve at room temperature.
- Yield: Four small servings Advance preparation: You can blanch the spinach up to a day in advance. The dish can be assembled and refrigerated several hours before serving.
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February 14, 2009 at 8:27 am (Soups, Uncategorized)
Tags: glass noodles, Recipes, Soups, spinach, tomato
Was traveling in China and found that it was pretty challenging to be a vegetarian as people would kindly show their “disagreement” and generosity by providing and insisting that you taste their best dishes which almost always come with meat or fish.
Finally back on my healthy routines, and try to cook several times a week. This soup I’m about to introduce to you is very simple, and definitely can be a key showcase in your own 30-min meals 
Key ingredients:
- fresh baby spinach
- glass noodles (either thick or thin is fine, best made of green beans and mixed with some wild veggies)
what I used today was mixed with fiddlehead fern – a very healthy green wild veggie, hehe
- one tomato diced
- mushroom (the thin type like golden mushroom)
what I used today was a kind with brown-ish heads, imported from Korea
- a can of vegetable broth
Steps:
- In a saucepan, pour the vegetable broth and add equal amount of water or a bit more and bring it to simmer
- Drop the diced tomato
- When the tomatoes become soft, add mushroom and the glass noodles
- Check on the glass noodles every once in a while so it’s not too soft or sticky
- Put the spinach only a couple minutes before you turn off the heat, and let the soup sit for a minute before serving
- Drop a bit sesame oil for a final touch
- Add salt or black pepper to personal taste
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October 27, 2008 at 1:23 am (Main Dish, Recipes, Soups)
Tags: bell pepper, cauliflower, glass noodles, gouqi, Lunch, mung bean, Recipes, rice, Soups, spinach
For all you can have for lunch on a warm, sunny autumn Sunday in southern California:
- Rice cooked with whole mung beans (Mung beans are good for your health, I’ll write about it another day)
- Cauliflower and bell pepper of colors
- Spinach and glass noodle soup
Tips for making these dishes:
- Soak the mung beans for a half day before mixing them with the rice and put into the rice cooker
- Cauliflower and bell pepper of colors is a great vegan dish that I learned from a Buddhist cooking guidebook. Choose a combination of red, yellow, and orange bell pepper in this case, but not green bell pepper which has a slightly different taste.
To make cauliflower and bell pepper of colors:
- Put in a hot pan a drizzle of Canola oil
- Then drop in some slices of fresh ginger (and chopped fresh garlic/scallions depending on personal preference)
- Add cauliflower cuts, stir well
- Wait for a few minutes, and add diced bell peppers
- To enhance the flavor, add some vegetarian oyster sauce (my secret ingredient
)
- Again stir well and keep the the lid on till the veggies are softer before serving
To make the soup:
- In a sauce pan, pour half of a can of vegetable broth and mix with twice amount of water
- Bring to boil, and drop a small bundle of glass noodles (those made of mung beans, potatos, or with special flavors such as fiddlehead fern are good)
- Add some gouqi (dried goji berries) and wild mushrooms (any kind but smaller ones)
- Add a bag of fresh spinach the last
- Keep simmering for a minute or two then it’s done
- Some people like to put a drop of sesame oil right before serving (it smells great and puts a layer of shine on the surface of the soup ~~)
And I know, I know – next time I’ll remember to take pictures before I dive into the delicious meal, okay?
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