The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet (41 page)

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat in a separate pan. Add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika and cook until the onions are translucent, again adding a touch of water if the onions start to stick. Add the onions to the skillet with the cabbage and stir to combine. Add the drained noodles and toss together until heated through. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.

Nabeyaki Udon

This is a traditional Japanese dish that is generally cooked in an earthenware or iron pot. This dish is so full of noodles and vegetables that it’s pretty much a complete meal as is, but if you want more protein, add some tofu cubes to the simmering broth or serve a protein on the side. Either way, this dish is light, fresh, and satisfying. The shiitake mushroom soaking water gives the broth a deep flavor.

SERVES 2

1 dried shiitake mushroom

1 tablespoon maitake mushrooms

Sauce

2–4 teaspoons shoyu

3–4 tablespoons water or soaking water from shiitake mushroom

5–8 drops ginger juice (grate a 1" piece of ginger and squeeze out the juice with your fingers)

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teaspoon fresh lemon juice or rice vinegar

1 carrot, cut into bite-size pieces

1 stalk broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces 1 leek, white and green parts, cleaned and cut into large bite-size pieces

2 bok choy leaves, cut into bite-size pieces, or 1 baby bok choy

1 handful bean sprouts

2–3 napa cabbage leaves or collards, roughly chopped

4–6 dandelion greens, roughly chopped

1 (8-ounce) package udon noodles

1" piece kombu

Place the shiitake and maitake mushrooms in a small bowl with water to cover. Soak for 30 minutes or until softened. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Arrange all the vegetables on a plate near your stove. Remove the mushrooms from their soaking liquid, reserving the liquid. Slice and add to the plate with the vegetables.

Cook the noodles in the boiling water until just al dente; drain and set aside.

In a nabe or ceramic pot that is safe for use on the stovetop (if you don’t have one, you can use a regular pot), bring 2 to 3 cups water and the mushroom soaking liquid to a boil. Add the kombu and mushrooms and lower the heat so the water is simmering. Begin adding the vegetables one at a time, starting with the carrots and other vegetables that take longer to cook. Most of the vegetables shouldn’t take longer than 2 minutes to cook. You want them fresh and light, not mushy or overcooked.

Bring the nabe pot to the table. Give each person 3 bowls: 1 for their noodles, 1 for their nabe vegetables, and 1 small bowl for their dipping sauce. Everyone takes from the big nabe pot, dipping their vegetables and noodles in the dipping sauce as desired. The whole meal is pretty and fun and healing.

Make sure to drink the vegetable broth at the end. It has a very subtle flavor and all the goodness of the vegetables that cooked in it.

Variations :

You can lay fried mochi on top of the vegetables and garnish with toasted nori pieces and scallions! If you feel particularly ambitious, serve topped with a few pieces of Vegetable Tempura (page
274
).

Gomashio

I guarantee you will love gomashio; it’s a delicious condiment that tastes amazing on top of any grain or vegetable dish. It’s also incredibly good for you. Since it’s made from calcium-rich sesame seeds and magnesium-rich sea salt, it’s great for the bones and is good for the overall nervous system. Gomashio aids in digestion and adds extra vitamins and minerals to your meal. Black sesame seeds are higher in minerals than tan sesame seeds, but I love them both so I switch off from batch to batch. Just keep the ratio 1 part salt to 18 parts seeds. You will need a suribachi—a grooved Japanese mortar and pestle—to make gomashio.

They’re really cheap and useful for lots of things, so definitely get one! Unfortunately, an electric coffee grinder won’t grind the salt and seeds together as well.

Gomashio will last about 2 weeks in an airtight container. Limit your consumption to about 1 to 3 teaspoons of gomashio a day, or you’ll get too much salt in your diet.

Heat 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt in a small dry skillet over medium heat. Heat until the salt is really dry, stirring often, about 2 or 3 minutes. Be careful not to let it burn. Pour the roasted salt into a suribachi, and grind to a fine powder. Rinse 6 tablespoons of sesame seeds in a fine mesh strainer. Place the seeds in the same dry skillet, and toast over medium heat until the seeds have a nutty aroma, puff up a little, and crush easily between your fingers.

Add the sesame seeds to the suribachi with the sea salt, and grind until the seeds are 80 percent crushed. Transfer the gomashio to a glass jar with a tight lid, and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Basic Rice

Sometimes a simple bowl of plain rice is just the perfect thing, especially if I’ve been eating lots of complicated, fun food. When it’s fresh out of the pot, I like hot rice sprinkled with Gomashio, sunflower seeds toasted with shoyu (page
215
), or fresh chopped cilantro, parsley, or chives for a bright color and flavor. Come to think of it, all that stuff is great on leftover rice, too! With some veggies on the side, I’m all set.

SERVES 2

1 cup short- or medium-grain brown rice, soaked in water overnight if possible

Pinch of fine sea salt

Wash the rice by placing it in a pot. Cover with water and swish it around with your hands. Pour off the water, replace with fresh water, and allow the rice to soak for 1 hour or up to overnight. Drain the rice through a strainer. (Sometimes I skip these steps.) Return the rice to the pot and add 2 cups of water and the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover. Place the pot on a flame deflector if you have one, and turn the heat down as low as it will go.

Simmer the rice for 50 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the rice sit for a few minutes longer with the lid still on. Serve warm.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of those endlessly adaptable recipes that will come out slightly different each time, depending on the type of vegetables and rice you use. It works well with long-grain or medium-grain brown rice—you can even use sweet brown rice, which makes it nice and sticky. Here is a combination I like using short-grain brown rice. It’s quick, easy, tastes great, and is great for you.

SERVES 1 OR 2

1–2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

2 pinches of fine sea salt

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cup thinly sliced lotus root rounds

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cup thinly sliced daikon rounds

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cup thinly sliced carrot

1 cup cooked short-grain brown rice

Shoyu to taste

Brown rice vinegar to taste

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cup chopped bok choy or small broccoli florets

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cup finely chopped scallions, white and green parts

Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring constantly, for 10 seconds. Add the lotus and daikon and another pinch of salt and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes longer. If the vegetables begin to stick, add a little water, a tablespoon at a time, to the wok.

Add the rice to the wok and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of water. Season the rice with shoyu and vinegar, add the bok choy, and stir-fry for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the rice is hot and all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the scallions just before serving. Serve hot.

Rice Pilaf with Caramelized Onions

This recipe by Christina Pirello comes from her book
Christina Cooks
. There are so many delicious flavors and textures in this dish that it becomes much more than the sum of its parts. It’s good enough to serve at a dinner party.

SERVES 4 TO 6

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

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red onion, cut into thin half-moon slices

3 pinches of fine sea salt

Mirin or white wine

4–5 slices fresh ginger, cut into fine matchstick pieces

1 small carrot, finely diced

1 small parsnip, finely diced

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cup pecans, lightly oven-roasted and coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, lightly pan-toasted

2 cups cooked short-grain brown rice

Brown rice vinegar

2–3 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced on the diagonal, for garnish

Place 2 tablespoons oil and the onion in a medium skillet over medium heat. When the onion begins to sizzle, add a generous pinch of salt and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add a generous sprinkle of mirin and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until the onion begins to caramelize (this may take as long as 20 minutes).

While the onion cooks, place the remaining 2 teaspoons oil, the ginger, carrot, parsnip, and a generous pinch of salt in a large skillet over medium heat. When the vegetables begin to sizzle, add a pinch of salt and sauté until just tender, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the pecans and pumpkin seeds just to coat with oil. Add the rice and a generous splash of vinegar and stir to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with the caramelized onions. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve.