Omkari Wholistic Living         

 

Late Summer Menu 

 

Beans ~ Adzuki Beans, Lotus Root, and Butternut Squash

 

1 cup adzuki, soaked

1 inch square kombu

1 cup hard winter squash, butternut squash

1/3 cup dried lotus root

shoyu to taste

 

1. Place kombu on bottom of pressure cooker, add squash on top of kombu, then place soaked adzuki beans on top of squash.  Place dried lotus root on top of adzuki beans. 
2. Add enough water (soaking water may be used) to cover beans by 1 inch.
3. Bring to boil for 10 minutes and remove foam that rises to the surface.
4. Cover pressure cooker, lower heat, and pressure cook 25 minutes.
5. Turn off flame, remove cover, and add shoyu to taste. 

 

Grains ~ Short Grain Brown Rice and Sweet Brown Rice

 

1 cup short grain brown rice

½ cup sweet brown rice

2 ¾ cups water

3/16 tsp sea salt (1/8 tsp per cup of uncooked grain)

 

1. In an Ohsawa pot, rinse grains and stir up with loving hands.  Add sea salt and water to grains and soak overnight. 
2. Cover Ohsawa pot and place into pressure cooker filled with 1 ½ inch water.  Cover pressure cooker and bring to pressure under medium heat
3. At pressure, put flame deflector under cooker and turn down heat until the hiss is barely audible. This may take a few minutes for this adjustment to take place.
4. Cook 50 minutes.
5. When time is up, move pressure cooker off burner and let pressure come down on its own.
6. Open and stir up grains to evenly mix all elements of yin/yang.

 

Sautéed Vegetables ~ Hijiki with Carrots and Onions and Black Sesame Orange Dressing

 

½ cup hijiki, rinsed and soaked

1 medium onion, sliced into half moons

¾ cup carrots, matchsticks

few drops sesame oil

½ cup water (Optional: ¼ cup mirin and ¼ cup water.)

1 ½ T. shoyu

grated orange rind

 

Dressing:

1 T. black sesame seeds, roasted

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. olive oil

1 T. shoyu

2 T. orange juice

 

In a skillet, saute onion in oil until translucent.  Layer hijiki on top of onions and carrots on top of hijiki.  Add water to hijiki layer.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.  Season with shoyu, stir, and continue to cook uncovered until liquid has evaporated.  Mix in orange rind.  

 

To make dressing, grind black sesame seeds in a suribachi to make a paste.  Add orange juice, shoyu, lemon juice and olive oil and grind together.  Mix with hijiki sauté.

 

Greens ~ Blanched Greens

 

1 bunch collards or kale

 

Ume

vinegar to taste

 

1. Fill a large pan with water and bring to a boil.
2. Cut down the center rib and slice across the greens in small slices 1 inch wide.
3. Add collards to boiling water and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, watching closely to see when the center rib is translucent.
4. Put greens in glass serving dish and stir in ume vinegar to taste.

 

Pickle ~ Sauerkraut

 

Raw sauerkraut may be found in the refrigerated section of your natural food store.  Sauerkraut is alkalinizing and aids digestion of grains.

 

½ T. sauerkraut

 

Condiment ~ Gomashio (sesame salt)

 

(24 to 1 ratio seeds to salt)

 

½ cup of brown, unhulled sesame seeds

1 tsp of sea salt

Suribachi (ridged bowl)

Surikogi (wooden pestle)

 

1. Heat skillet on medium heat.
2. Roast sea salt for two minutes then put in suribachi and grind.
3. Roast sesame seeds while stirring until you can break them up between your thumb and weakest finger on your weakest hand by rolling.
4. Add seeds to salt and grind slowly until seeds are 80% ground.
5. Let cool for 30 minutes and then store in screw top jar.  Keeps for two weeks outside refrigerator.

 

Seasonal Fruit Couscous Cake

Serving Size  : 6     

                       

                        Couscous Layer:
     3/4           cup  couscous
  1 1/2           cups  apple juice 
     1/8           teaspoon  salt
   
                        Fruit Topping:
  1 1/2           cups  apple juice 
     1/2           cup  water
  2                 teaspoons  agar flakes
  3 1/2           tablespoons  kuzu -- diluted in 4 T. cold water
  2                 cups  fresh fruit -- diced or thinly sliced
     1/8           teaspoon  salt

 

Wash couscous in a very fine strainer.  To make the bottom layer of cake, bring apple juice and salt to a boil in a saucepan.  Add couscous.  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Spoon couscous into a 10 inch tart pan or baking dish, and gently pat couscous down with wet hand.

 

To make the fruit topping, bring apple juice, water, salt and agar flakes to a boil in a saucepan.  Stir constantly.  When agar is dissolved, lower heat and cook 2 minutes.  Add fruit.  Add kuzu mixture, stirring constantly until clear.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Pour over couscous layer.  Chill in refrigerator until set.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 140 Calories; trace Fat (1.8% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 95mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1 Fruit.

 

NOTES : Strawberries, apples, cherries, apricots, blueberries, or other fruit, depending on the season.  Millet or quinoa may be used in place of couscous.  Amazake may be used in place of apple juice.

 

Tea ~ Roasted Brown Rice Tea

 

1 handful brown rice

water

 

1. Heat water in small pot.
2. Add rice to heated skillet and roast until golden brown.
3. Put in teapot and simmer for 7 minutes.
4. Serve through strainer.

 

Method of Eating

 

1. In order to develop a conscious relationship with food, chew well (between 50 to 100 bites per mouthful).  Put implement down and count five in breaths and five out breaths between each mouthful.  This helps you become aware of the manifold activity, such as the sun, moon, stars, rain, bacteria, and farmer that have gone into the food.  This deep respect and reverence helps to strengthen our connection with nature and allows the healing process to unfold.
2. Eat the soup first to prepare the stomach for food. 
3. Eat from yang towards yin. eating one bite of grain, then most yang vegetable. Do this until vegetable is used up, then go to next most yang vegetable and repeat until done.
4. Have salad, dessert, and tea last.