This is the very first recipe of the beginner’s classes I had with Natália almost six years ago! I made some adaptations both because I didn’t have all the ingredients and because I decided to try something different.
It is a full menu, with soup, main course and dessert.
Desserts are seldom cooked and served at home. Indeed, not only was I
told that they should be seldom served but also I do not have the time and,
above all, I can do well without the extra calories.
However, the apple purée is a classic since it very easily and quickly
cooked. All that can be said about is that it is a perfect dessert to the cold
season.
Menu
Miso soup
Short
grain brown rice
Stewed
adzuki beans
Apple
purée
Miso
soup
Ingredients (serves 2)
Water, 1 tsp of barley miso (*) per serving, a bit of
“daikon” (dried radish), ¼ onion and ½ carrot thickly chopped, a bit of pumpkin
chopped in small cubes; 1 bit of wakamé seaweed, fresh herbs to garnish
(chives) or finely chopped leak.
My favourite miso is rice – not surprisingly since my
favourite food is rice. But barley is less concentrated and appropriate for
this season since the temperatures are pretty high (17.ºC in January in a city located in parallel 38.º North!!!). I
particularly like the non-pasteurized miso, where small grains are still
visible. It is so, so tasty!
Preparation
Bring the water to boil in a pan, together with the
daikon and the vegetables; after 10 minutes, add the wakamé cut into thick
stripes and let it gently boil for another 10/15 minutes. Take out some water
from the broth and mix in the miso, Pour the mixture in the broth, allowing it
to simmer for some 2 or 3 minutes (the simmering
is essential to activate the miso properties).
Serve with chopped fresh herbs, as chives or chopped
leek. You can also add some fresh ginger juice or a bit of lemon. Both the
herbs and the fresh juice add freshness to the soup and make it more balanced,
since the miso is very yang and concentrated.
Short
grain brown rice
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 (small) cup of short grain Brown rice, 2 cups of water, 1 stripe of kombu seaweed, a bit of salt.
Preparation
Cleanse the rice carefully and soak it with the stripe of kombu (ideally for 6-8 hours). Then drain the rice and put the kombu, the drained rice and fresh water (not the soaking one) in a pressure cooker and bring to the boil, add a pinch of salt and close the cooker. When the cooker gets the pressure on, lower the fire (not so much that the pressure is turned off), put the pan on a plate to diffuse the heat, and cook for 40/45 minutes.
Notes
Cooked in this way, the final result is very well cooked rice, with unaltered grains and quite tasty. It is very yang so it should be alternated with less yang methods, such as cooking it in a traditional pan with 3 measures of water per measure of rice, where the result is a creamier rice.
Cooked in this way, the final result is very well cooked rice, with unaltered grains and quite tasty. It is very yang so it should be alternated with less yang methods, such as cooking it in a traditional pan with 3 measures of water per measure of rice, where the result is a creamier rice.
When using seaweeds, the amount of salt should be reduced. Seaweeds add minerals to our food, in which sodium is included.
Sometimes I cook the rice with barley. The proportions are 2/3 of rice to 1/3 of barley: Other cereals, such as millet, oat or wheat can also be used.
I served the rice topped with toasted sesame seeds.
Stewed adzuki beans
Ingredients
Adzuki beans, water, a tripe of kombu, 2 striped onions, a bit of pumpkin cut into Small cubes, olive oil, fresh coriander to garnish.
Preparation
Cleanse the beans and soak them overnight with the kombu. Drain the beans and put the kombu, the drained beans and enough fresh water - at least 4 measures to 1 measure of beans - in a pressure cooker and bring to the boil, add a pinch of salt and close the cooker. When the cooker gets the pressure on, lower the fire (not so much as to allow the pressure to turn off) and cook for 40/45 minutes. The beans should be well cooked and soft but unbroken. Should they cook too much they will break and the result will not be the same (we are not preparing a purée…)
Meanwhile, in another pan, lightly sauté the chopped onion with a drop of olive oil and a pinch of salt until it becomes golden, then add the pumpkin cubes with a pinch of salt. Let it cook for 10 minutes and add the cooked beans with a bit of its cooking water. Gently stir for another 10 minutes, season to taste and served garnished with fresh chopped coriander.
Notes
Other kinds of beans can be used for this stew such as black soya beans or our traditional Portuguese beans (red, white, “catarino”, “manteiga”) or chickpeas or green lentils. Red lentils or friar beans are not so appropriate.
Should you like it, you can also season with a pinch of cumin powder, which helps the digestion of the beans.
In the original recipe, the main course was completed with broccoli which were replaced with green beans lightly boiled with very few water and a bit of olive oil and salt.
Pickles
Turnip seasoned with ume su
Grate the desired amount of turnip, season with ume
sue; it can be served immediately or after some time; should there be leftovers
they can be used for about a week.
Pressed vegetables with salt
Finely cut carrot, onion and white cabbage. Sprinkle
with salt and tighten with both hands (as if you were washing them) until the
salt penetrates the vegetables; put the vegetables in a presser or, if you
don’t have one, in a glass container with a weight on top, for at least a
couple of hours. Serve drained (as the salt makes the water to come out of the
vegetables). You can keep the pressed vegetables in the refrigerator for a week
or so (the longest period I have tried so far is 3 weeks and they were fine).
Takuan (long pickled white raddish with salt and bran rice, not home made)
Apple
purée
Ingredients
Golden apples, a pinch of salt, lemon zest, 1 cinnamon
stick
Preparation
Wash the apples, peel and cut them in halves, which
should be immediately soaked in salted water for 1 minute and then placed in a
large pan, with the plain part of the halves facing the base of the pan. Add
the salt, the lemon zest and the cinnamon stick. Cover the pan. Keep in strong
fire for 5/10 minutes, then lower the fire and maintain for 20 minutes. Take
off the lemon peel and the cinnamon stick and purée the apples with a blender.
Season with lemon (or orange) zest. I used finely
chopped almonds, which added some fat and protein to the dessert.
Note
I have posted this last version several times, the first one in 2011
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