Recipes (for 4 Servings).
Soup:
5 medium sized sunburst squash, either the yellow or the green ones.
4 x 3 inch strips of dried wakame.
1 teaspoon Barley Miso (aged at least 2 years) per cup of water.
Wash and cut the squash into bite-size pieces and add to soup stock . I may not have discussed this before but it is a good idea to make a soup stock out of the bits and pieces of the vegetables you are using in your meal - like the ends of the greens, carrots, onion peel (which is one of the very few vegetables that are actually peeled- generally speaking, always eat vegetables with their skins intact), the seeds of the squash etc. You add all these to a pot of water and bring to a boil making sure you do NOT add any seasalt and simmer for 15 minutes or so. Then drain the broth into the soup pot and discard the cooked vegetable pieces, preferably by composting them.
If there is not enough soup stock for the meal, add spring or purified tap water. Add the wakame cut into small pieces. Bring to a boil and simmer 15-20 minutes or so. Switch off the heat and let the water settle. Then take a cup of the soup stock, add the miso and mix it into the stock. Pour the dissolved miso into the pot of soup. It is ready to serve. Serve garnished with chopped raw watercress, celantro or green onions.
Grain:
1 1/2 cups organic short grain brown rice.
1/2 cup organic yellow millet.
You can either pressure cook or boil and simmer these, depending on the weather or where you live. The hotter the weather, then it is better to boil and simmer. In either case, use the method I give in the menu for "Water" to measure the amount of water you will need. Then add 1/8 tsp seasalt per cup. Pressure cook, or bring to a boil and simmer, 40 minutes.
Vegetable:
1 medium Butternut Squash.
1 medium Acorn Squash.
2 medium Yellow Onions.
2 medium Carrots.
Wash and cut the squash into small bite-size pieces. The onions are cut into small dices and the carrots are cut 'matchstick' style.
Place the vegetables in layers, with the onions on the bottom, followed by the carrots and then the two squash. Add water to a depth of approximately two inches. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes, keeping an eye on the bottom of the pot to make sure the water doesn't boil away and you end up with burnt vegetables! Toward the end of cooking sprinkle and mix in approximately one teaspoonful tamari as a seasoning.
Greens:
One bunch Swiss Chard.
Incidentally, in many of the macrobiotic books it says Swiss Chard should be avoided along with Beet Greens and Spinach. These plants contain oxalates which have been found to combine with calcium in the body and interfere with proper calcium metabolism. However, this only occurs in the presence of animal protein. So, if we are not eating animal protein regularly, the oxalates are not a problem and these plants can be eaten occasionally (two-three times a week), which is fortunate for us, as they are delicious.
Of the foods in this menu, the squashes and the millet are all Soil foods, onions are both a Soil and Metal food, carrots are a Fire food, and swiss chard is a Wood food.
Thus this meal will predominantly help to strengthen and harmonize the spleen-pancreas/stomach, and related senses and tissues, as well as lungs/large intestine, heart/small intestine, and liver/gall bladder.
Enjoy!
Recipes (for 4 Servings).
Soup:
1-2 medium sized Daikon Radish Root.
4 x 3 inch strips of dried wakame.
1 teaspoon Barley Miso (aged at least 2 years) per cup of water.
Wash and cut the daikon into bite size peieces on the diagonal. Place in soup pot and add 5 cups of soup stock (see Water Menu for comments on making soup stock). Cut the wakame into small pieces with a pair of scissors. Add to pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Take a cup of the soup dtock and dissolve 4 teaspoonfuls Barley Miso in the stock. Serve garnished with chopped raw scallions or parsley.
Grain.
2 cups of short grain organic brown rice.
2 umeboshi plums.
Use the same method for pressure cooking the brown rice as in the Water Menu, except instead of using 1/8th teaspoonful of seasalt per cup of rice, use one umeboshi plum per cup of rice and pressure cook for 45 minutes. We pressure cook longer in the Fall and Winter since these are more yin times of year (wetter, colder and darker are all more yin qualities), and time is a yangising factor. So the longer we cook the rice the more yang it is.
Vegetables.
2 Onions, medium diced.
1 Burdock Root, cut into bite size chunks on the diagonal.
I Buttercup Squash, cut into bite size chunks, do not peel.
Burdock is very yang compared with any other vegetable, so it is easier to pressure cook it for ten minutes by itself. Simply place in a pressure cooker, add water to cover, bring to pressure and pressure cook ten minutes. Then, in a cast iron or stainless steel pot, place 1 teaspoonful of olive or sesame oil, over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the onions and saute for five minutes. Then add the burdock along with its water and the squash. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add 1 teaspoonful soy sauce for seasoning toward the end of cooking.
Another "Metal" Vegetable Dish:
1 cup dried daikon (available through Gold Mine Natural Foods if not obtainable locally).
1 cup diced onions.
1/4 cup hijiki seaweed.
1 cup diced carrots
Soak the dried daikon for 30 minutes in 2 cups water. Soak the hijiki (hiziki) for 20 minutes in 1 cup water, and then remove the hijiki carefully from the soaking water and save the soaking water while pouring it off slowly into a new container so that the grit and silt remains in the soaking container - this can be discarded. Drain the dried daikon saving the soaking water. Take a saucepan and add 1/2 teaspoonful sesame oil, and heat. Then add the onions and saute for five minutes, add the hijiki, carrots, and dried daikon, saute togther for five minutes. Then add enough of the soaking water (both daikon and hijiki) to a depth of approximately 1 1/2 inches in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn to simmer and simmer for 15- 20 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Add 1/4 teaspoonful tamari at the end of cooking.
Greens.
1-2 bunches of collard greens, cut diagonally into strips.
Place water in a pot to a depth of 2 inches, add the collard greens, bring a boil and simmer five to ten minutes.
The ingredients in this menu with regard to the Five Transformation Theory are as follows:
Daikon, Burdock, Rice, and Onions are all "Metal" Foods, therefore strengthening the large intestine and lungs. Buttercup squash is a "Soil" Food, therefore strengthening the Spleen-Pancreas and Stomach. The greens are beneficial for the heart/lung - circulation of the blood, and the liver.
Gomashio or Sesame Salt is a very significant condiment eaten at lunch and dinner every day. We eat 1-4 teaspoonfuls per day sprinkled on our grains and/or vegetables. It has the qaulities of alkalizing the blood, strenghening the digestion and helping the blood detoxify.
The actual ratio of seasalt to sesame seeds will vary according to the condition of the individual. For general purposes I recommend a ratio of 1 part seasalt to 24 parts sesame seeds:
1/2 teaspoonful seasalt.
4 tablespoonfuls sesame seeds.
Heat up a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the seasalt. Dry roast by stirring the seasalt in the hot skillet for 2-3 minutes. Place in a mortar or suribachi and grind into a powder. Pour the sesame seeds into the skillet and dry roast by stirring constantly for 5-10 minutes. You will know the sesame seeds are ready by rubbing them between the thumb and index finger of your 'weak' hand and they crumble easily. Place on top of the ground up seasalt and grind into the seasalt, using only the weight of your arm (i.e., do not press down while grinding the sesame seeds) until 80% of the sesame seeds are ground up. Store in a glass jar.