Tempeh-tation!

Tempeh is one of those magical foods that is very healthy but also satisfying.  A little bit goes a long way in satiating the appetite.  Tempeh is like the cheese of Indonesia, cooked soybeans are inoculated with a bacteria starter and it is left to get "funky" as in moldy and fermented.  The end result is a dense cake that has a nutty taste and 'shroomy aroma.  Vitamin B12 forms as result of fermentation and is one of the only vegetable sources of natural B12.  Fermentation breaks down the proteins and natural sugars in the soybean, eliminating digestive issues with other soyfood products. Tempeh is relatively inexpensive and can be found at most health food stores, try different grain varieties to see which is the most tempeh-ting!

Miso Mustard Tempeh

8 oz tempeh

1 Tbsp oil

1 cup hot water

3 Tbsp sweet white miso

1/4 cup Whole grain dijon mustard

2 cups thinly sliced leeks or or a combination of leeks and shallots

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 a zucchini, sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin

1/2 lb cremini mushrooms or shiitake

1/2 cup dry white wine or stock

3-4 leaves of kale, collards or cabbage

salt and pepper to taste

Cut tempeh into 1/2 inch strips, lightly coat each side with oil.  place them in a skillet and brown on all sides.  Remove to cool and then cut them into blocks..

Make the sauce by combining the mustard, miso and water.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, saute garlic and leeks and or shallots until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes, add the reserved tempeh, zuchhini, mushrooms, carrots, and mustard/miso sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover and then lower the heat to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are crisp tender.

Add the white wine or broth, stir in the greens and cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

Voila, fini!  Serve this with fresh chopped chives or tarragon.  Place atop cooked quinoa for a complete meal.

*experiment with different in season produce and adjust the flavors for maximum intensity.

Oishii miso shiru (Delicious miso soup)

If you've never tried cooking with miso before, I advise to go to your local natural foods (or Asian foods store) and pick some up RIGHT now..... go on.... I'll wait.

Miso is one of the best things period. How it tastes, what you can do with it, and what it represents. 

I included a few pictures of when I was in Japan.  One picture was inside a miso shop, and the other was the line up to the store because everyone wanted to buy miso. You could buy handmade miso locally, and this particular shop sold a lot. This lovely couple had prepacked bags available (shouldn't really be sold in plastic, because it does absorb), but you could also buy it out of the barrel (shown in front.. the man is looking at it). It was amazing!

Soy beans are fermented in these barrels along with koji - which is a bacteria created from rice used for soya sauce, sake, and amasake (literally sweet sake, which is the goop at the end of the sake barrel). The older it is (ie. more than a year) the saltier, darker and dankier it will be. Sweet, light coloured miso is sometimes only fermented for a few months or less. 

Miso is 13 - 20% protein, has a profile similar to meat, contains plant sources of B12, (making it excellent for new vegetarians) is teeming with lactobacillus (same as yogurt), is alkalizing despite its building and high protein profile, neutralizes poisons in the body and effective at preventing radiation. This would be helpful for food poisoning as well! Awesome food? I think so.

It can be used for soups, sauces, seasonings, and you can find many recipes using miso in our blog. Here is a basic soup, often eaten for breakfast daily by the Japanese.

NEVER BOIL MISO - this kind of behaviour is punished in Japan (just kidding.. but not really)

Boil water and add veggies to soften them. Add seaweed, like wakame. Once veggies are soft, add tofu. At the very end, even when the soup is off of the burner, you can add miso. About 1 Tbsp per person or cup of water suits well. Stir and serve!

For plain miso, just add miso to boiled then slightly cooled water. That's it!! Easy!

Miso. It's what's for breakfast.. in Japan. 

By the way, although the lineup picture was taken in front of the miso shop, those kids weren't really in line to buy miso, I just thought it was a beautiful picture of the street and store front of where we bought it from.

Awesomest Dinner Ever!

This was an exceptional treat! Hand crafted by Whole Foodie Anna, this was a perfect winter meal that brought about bliss that lasted all evening.

Unfortunately, like me (Mike), Anna doesn't really use recipes or measure anything, which is awesome - measuring things kills my appetite, and using the right side of your brain to cook only fosters more love in the food!

So - squash soup, gently sauteed veggies with almonds and a subtle sauce, and then a crunchy millet salad, that Anna did agree to write out for me:

Crunchy Millet Salad

• Sautee in water, cubed zucchini, onion, potato
• Cook millet
• Add these two things together along with:
• Pumpkin seeds
• Miso paste
• Basil
• Oil
• Parsley
• Spices - black pepper, dr. basil, curry, etc.

(I have a feeling there was garlic in there too, but she didn't write it down!)

Eat slowly and enjoy the poof of qi from this very digestive-fire stimulating dish!

Baked Tempeh, Eh!

Baked tempeh is so hearty, it's almost as rich as meat! Almost the only source of vegetable based B12, tempeh is a fermented soy food that has oodles of protein. Baked tempeh is so hearty, it's almost as rich as meat, in fact my dog Jack liked it so much he ended up eating most of the tray to my surprise. I'm not sure if I should scold him or reward him eating such an eloquent food. 

Make a marinade of:

-chopped green onions

2 Tbsp miso paste

1/3 cup tahini

3 tablespoons of water

1 crushed clove of garlic

(and a little honey if your tahini is bitter)n

Slice and spread out the tempeh as shown in a casserole dish, and then pour the marinade over the tempeh and let it sit. Bake it at 375 for 20 minutes. The liquid should evaporate so you have a nice coating of yumminess on the tempeh once its done. YUM!

Spicy for your noodle!

This soup is so yummy and has a bit of a kick, so adjust this to your heat level.  I went to a Thai restaurant recently to have some soup and there was a note at the bottom of the menu that said, 'all dishes spiced to your testes'.  Okay, I am assuming that is a typo, but then I looked around and found that there were only men eating in the restaurant... coincidence? hmm, strange.   

for the broth:

put 2 cups of vegetable broth, 1 dried shiitake mushroom, 1 piece of kombu seaweed, 2 slices of fresh ginger and a splash of tamari in a soup pot.  Simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

cook soba noodles until al dente in rapid boiling water, about 5 minutes, check often.  Drain and rinse under cold water until noodles feel like they are room temperature

for omelette:

dissolve 1 tsp mello miso with a little broth to form a paste, stir in one egg and one egg white and chopped scallions.  

heat 2 tsp of ghee or butter in a skillet and pour egg mix, tilt pan to cover bottom of pan and cook until just done, fold eggs over until it looks like a roll.  Remove from heat and cut into thin slices on a cutting board

Just before broth is done simmering, place 1 tsp of gojuchang (korean hot pepper paste) in the pot and dissolve, stir in chopped greens; such as spinach, watercress, bok choy, sliced snow peas or snow pea shoots until just wilted.

Spoon broth into bowls add cooked buckwheat soba noodles, top with sliced omelet, chopped cilantro and a few drops of unrefined toasted sesame oil!

This soup can stand a lot of improv, you can go without the spicy paste and just have a nice gingery broth, substitute any green of your choice, put in some shredded daikon (japanese radish), try some mushrooms like enoki or shiitake, use diced tofu, or any meat of your choice.  It is really limitless, guide your soup with your taste buds!

Sweat and enjoy!

Beany bean and miso dip!

Yummy!! Here's how these were blended:

The green one: flax oil, miso paste, honey, apple cider vinegar, shoyu, cumin, black pepper, garlic, cayenne, parsley, ... and ground sesame seeds.

The red one: aduki beans, miso paste, chili powder, cumin, lemon, cilantro, black pepper, cayenne, ginger, and a bit of cilantro. The aduki beans I used were leftovers and had some orange juice in them... but it was kind of weird, I don't think I'd do that again.