The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet (44 page)

SERVES 2 OR 3

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cup onion, cut into large dice

1 whole scallion, roots and all, sliced thinly on the diagonal (see Note)

2" piece dried wakame, cut into small pieces with scissors

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2" x 4" piece brown rice mochi, quartered

Shoyu

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cup diced rutabaga

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cup diced green cabbage

2 large bok choy leaves, white and green parts chopped separately

1
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teaspoons barley miso

1
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teaspoons mellow white miso

5–7 dandelion leaves, leafy parts only, cut into bite-size pieces

1 sheet nori

Bring 2
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cups of water to a boil in a medium pot. Lower the heat, and add the onion, scallion, and wakame. Simmer while you prepare the mochi.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the mochi to the pan, cover, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, checking to make sure the mochi doesn’t burn. Flip the mochi, drizzling each side with a couple drops of shoyu. Cover the pan, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes longer. The mochi is done when it expands and begins to look puffy.

While the mochi cooks, continue adding vegetables to the soup. Start with the rutabaga. When it has simmered for 5 minutes, add the cabbage and white part of the bok choy. Simmer for 1 minute. Place the miso in a small cup, stir in a few tablespoons of the soup broth, and then add it to the soup. Simmer the soup for 2 minutes, making sure not to boil the miso. Stir in the dandelion greens and the green part of the bok choy just until wilted and still bright green. Remove the pot from the heat.

To serve, ladle the soup into small bowls. Rip the nori into bite-size pieces, and sprinkle on each serving. Top with a fried mochi square.

Note:
The hairy root end of the scallion is full of good energy and extra good for you.

Alicia’s Magical Healing Soup

Welcome to your new chicken soup. I make this when I’m just not feeling right and, for real, it heals me. And it’s different every time; some days certain things appeal to me and other days they just don’t sound right at all, so making this soup is all about listening to your intuition. I always begin by pulling everything out of the fridge that sounds remotely yummy to me, and then I sort of edit as I go along. This is a combo that ends up on my table a lot, but you can really use any vegetables you like. Consider adding lotus root, burdock root, dried shiitake mushrooms (presoaked), collards, kale, garlic, bok choy, cilantro—anything that sounds good to you. And although they’re nightshades, I even use a little potato and tomato once in a blue moon if it feels right.

SERVES 2

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medium carrot, cut into large chunks

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medium daikon, cut into large chunks

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red onion, cut into large chunks

2–3 celery stalks, chopped (I love the middle part sooo much that I usually eat it before it makes it into the soup!)

3–4 small broccoli florets

4 button mushrooms, sliced

2–3 trumpet mushrooms, sliced

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medium leek, halved then cut into large chunks and swirled in a bowl of water to dislodge any grit

Ginger juice to taste (grate a 1" piece of ginger and squeeze out the juice with your fingers)

Shoyu to taste

1 whole scallion, roots and all, thinly sliced on the diagonal

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bunch watercress, tough stems discarded

Mochi, chopped or shredded (optional)

Toasted nori pieces (optional)

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the carrot and daikon. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the red onion, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the celery, broccoli, mushrooms, and leek. Add the ginger juice and shoyu to the broth to taste. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked through but still slightly firm, about 5 minutes. Add the scallion, and turn off the heat. (If you prefer the scallions raw, add them just before serving.) To serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Top each serving with some watercress, mochi, and nori.

Note:
You can make this soup into a miso soup by adding about 2 to 3 teaspoons of miso paste at the end. Dilute the miso with a little soup broth, and add it to the soup at the end of cooking, allowing it to simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Hearty Kinpira Stew

This soup is delicious and sooo good for you. Because it’s warming and strengthening, I have it almost twice a week in winter, but it’s appropriate any time of the year. Kinpira stew is earthy and makes me feel strong.

SERVES 4 TO 6

Sesame oil

1 cup burdock, sliced into thin matchstick pieces

Pinch of fine sea salt

1 cup carrot, sliced into thin matchstick pieces

1 cup lotus root, sliced into thin rounds

1 cup thinly sliced kabocha squash (peel only if the squash is not organic)

1 cup onion, diced

1 tablespoon sweet white miso (see Note)

1 tablespoon barley miso

Brush the bottom of a soup pot lightly with oil. Place the pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the burdock and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. If the burdock starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a little more oil or a little water.

Layer the carrot, lotus root, and squash on top of the burdock. Cover the vegetables with water, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft. Add more water from time to time as needed if the water level becomes too low.

Add the onion to the pot, and simmer until very soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Combine the misos in a small cup, and dilute them with a little of the soup broth (you may add more miso later to taste). Slowly add the diluted miso mixture to the pot, and stir gently. Simmer for 3 minutes more, taking care not to let the soup boil once the miso has been added. Serve immediately.

Note:
If you have to choose one miso, the barley is more medicinal.

Creamy Sweet Kabocha Squash Soup

This soup is so simple it’s ridiculous, and yet it’s truly delicious and good for you. It soothes the digestion process and helps me to feel centered and calm. I like to make a pot of it and eat it for a few days.

SERVES 3 OR 4

4 cups kabocha squash, peeled and cut in 2" cubes

2 pinches of fine sea salt

Minced fresh parsley

Place the squash in a saucepan with 3
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cups of water. Bring to a boil, and add a small pinch of salt. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, until the squash is soft. Mash the squash with a potato masher, or blend with a handheld blender, right in the pot. Add another pinch of salt (or 1 teaspoon shoyu), and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes longer. Serve the soup hot with a sprinkle of parsley on top.

To make the sweetest version, here are some tips on finding the sweetest winter squash:

• For kabocha and buttercup: Make sure the squash is a dark green with one bright orange spot on it—that’s where it sat and grew on the ground. The darker the green, the sweeter the squash.
  
• For butternut: A darker beige exterior is better, verging on orange.
  
• For all squash: Avoid squash that feels light in weight. That means it’s dry inside—and less flavorful—so heavier is better.
  
• Some old-time, organic squash growers will actually cure their squash by letting it sit in a cool dark place for a while. Ask at the farmers’ market to see if any of your local growers do that. Cured squash tends to be sweeter.
  

Radicchio, Radish, and Fennel Pressed Salad

Pressed salads are an interesting twist on fresh salads; by lightly salting and pressing the vegetables, they become more digestible while retaining all their live enzymes. In fact, the word salad comes from the Italian
herba salata
, which means “salted herb.” Pressed salads are crunchy and refreshing. Have some pressed salad as a side dish a couple of times a week. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days, but after that, pressed salads will become too limp and wilted. So freshly pressed is best! You’re going to be using your bare hands for pressed salads, so make sure you wash them with biodegradable soap instead of the heavy-duty chemical stuff.

This amazing combination of tastes will wake up any palate.

SERVES 6 TO 8

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head napa cabbage, thinly sliced

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head radicchio, thinly sliced

5–6 red radishes, thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb, stalks and fronds removed, thinly sliced

1 carrot, thinly sliced

2–3 scallions, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Combine the cabbage, radicchio, radishes, fennel, carrot, and scallions in a large bowl. Mix the vegetables together with your hands, and then slowly add the salt a little at a time. Massage the salt into the vegetables using your hands. If, after a few minutes, the vegetables do not start to wilt or exude liquid, add a little bit more salt. Continue to massage the vegetables until they are wilted and liquid gathers at the bottom of the bowl. You should be able to “wring out” the salad, almost as you would a washcloth.