Curry Flavored Soup

1. 

It is snowing today. We need warm soup!

comment from Mrs. P.

Boy, was that good!!!

Delightful, delicate curry and tomato. Really good!!!

ingredients (serves 4)
1 onion, sliced
1 onion, grated
7-10 medium Baby Bella ( or your favorite) mushrooms, sliced
1 pack of Baby Brown beach ( or your favorite) mushrooms, broken apart
1 tablespoon of shitake-mushroom powder (crushed dried shitake)
2 cups of boiled chick peas
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup of TVP boiled with a pinch of combu-tea powder (or combu-dashi powder)
1 cup of canned diced tomatoes ( no-salt )
2 tablespoons of parsley, minced
1 tablespoon of curry powder
2 teaspoons of kombu-tea powder ( or komb-dashi powder)
1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of Paprika
1 teaspoon of Herve de Provence
extra virgin olive oil, sea salt

Brown beach mushrooms

Textured Vegetable Protein

directions
Put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic in a thick pan. Saute over it on low heat. After the oil reaches the boiling point, add the TVP, the sliced onion and the curry powder and stir lightly.
Add all of the other ingredients but salt. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 1 hour.

beginning

in 50 min 

Remove from the fire and cool it down. - This allows the flavors of the soup to harmonize.
Put the pan on medium heat again and add 1/2 -1 cup of water if the amount of liquid is too little. Simmer it for 10-20min. Salt to taste.

Good soup makes us happy!

Broccoli Pasta

This is my lunch for today.

My husband doesn't like broccoli but I like it very much. So I often cook it for myself at lunch.

It is easy, healthy and yummy! And pretty!

ingredients (serves 1)

1.5 cups of small cut broccoli

1 clove of garlic sliced

1 pinch of crushed red pepper

100g of your favorite pasta ( I chose 1.5 cup of Farfalle)

extra virgin olive oil, sea salt

directions

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the salt ( 1.3 tablespoons for 0.5 gal ). Put the pasta in the water and cook as long as the indicated.

Put 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, the garlic and the pepper in a sauce pan. Saute over low heat until the garlic becomes golden. Put 1 tablespoons of the boiling water in the pan and shake it until the sauce becomes milky.

Add the broccoli to the water 4minutes before the pasta is done. Use a timer and make sure the pasta is Al dente.

Drain the water off the pasta and broccoli. Put them to the sauce pan and stir well with crushing the broccoli lightly. Drizzle the olive oil to taste. Dish it up!

Homemade Live yeast Breads

Today, I made some breads with my homemade live yeast.

The live yeast was made from organic raisins.

Making the live yeast is easier than I had expected.

You need just good raisins ( apple, strawberries or other fruit),

good water and good whole wheat flour.

This is my live yeast in a zip lock bag. Can you see the air bubbles?

This has dry figs and walnuts

I chose low temperature rising. It is good for live yeast, and easy.

You just need to put the dough in your refrigerator for 24 hours.

The live yeast bread has a good fragrance

and the low temperature rising makes their skin crispy.

Kohlrabi and Parsley Root Salad

I got some kohlrabies. I had never seen them before. I studied about this unique vegetable in a recipe book which I borrowed from Mrs. P. It stated that the taste is a cross between an apple and daikon. Daikon is a Japanese vegetable, a kind of radish, and my favorite. I imagined that the kohlrabi definitely would be good! We were able to get daikon in an ordinary American market recently but Japanese daikon is sweeter and juicier than an American one. I thought the kohlrabi might be just like, or much sweeter than a Japanese true green neck daikon. I tasted a little bit. It was soooooooo good!!! Fresh, crispy and sweet. Just like kabu (a kind of Japanese radish). I like it!! So I cooked the salad, kohlrabi/daikon and parsley root/burdock.

comment from Mrs. P.
The salad is amazing with all the different chopped textures, colors and tastes. Kohlrabi is Good! So is parsley root!

ingredients (serves 2)

1 large parsley root

2 kohlrabies

8-10 Boston lettuce leaves, torn
4-6 radishes, sliced

1/2 fennel, sliced : sprinkle a teaspoon of sea salt, leave 10min, squeeze and cool in a refrigerator.

Ponzu*, Tahini*, extra virgin olive oil, roasted white sesame seeds, lemon juice
*http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-282-kikkoma-ponzu-1503fl-oz.aspx *http://www.amazon.com/Tahini-Ground-Sesame-Seeds-ziyad/dp/B000LRH9SS/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1262739110&sr=8-8
1 sheet of fried yuba* crushed or some cornflakes ( for topping )

* http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/312660-tochigiya-hira-yuba

my seasonings

directions

1 : Shave 1 large parsley root like a pencil

wash the parsley root and scrape off its skin with a knife's back under the water.

　shave off the end of the root like a pencil

with your sharp knife or a peeler.

This way of cutting makes them soft and produces a nice texture.

Called "sasagaki," it means bamboo leaves.

sauce for parsley root : mix every thing well =(a)

2 tablespoons of tahini

2 tablespoons of ponzu

1 tablespoon of crushed sesame seeds

Put the parsley root into the boiling water, cook for 20-30 seconds and drain it. Put it in a bowl, add a half of sauce(a) and mix well. = (A)

Keep a half of the sauce(a) until dishing it up.

This is my Japanese grinding bowl.

It is easy to crush the sesame and you can make the dressing in it.

Just put all the ingredients of the dressing in it after crushing the sesames.

Then, put the root in it and just mix. How smart!

(Don't forget to keep out the half of sauce.)

Of course, you can choose a food cutter, or just use your finger.

2 : Pare and grate 1 kohlrabi

These are Japanese graters.

The square one is good for daikon and onion etc.

Today, I use this one for kohlrabi.

It makes the pieces smooth and fluffy.

The round ceramic grater is good for ginger.

I often use it to grate frozen ginger.

The grater has its own container. Isn't it convenient?

dressing for grated kohlrabi : mix every thing well = (b)

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of ponzu
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Put the grated kohlrabi and the dressing(b) in a bowl

and mix well. = (B)

3 : 1 kohlrabi pared and cut into julinnes

first of all slice the kohlrabi

layer the sliced pieces and cut them like matchsticks. = (C)

4 : Put the Boston lettuce, the radish, the fennel and (C) in a big bawl. Add 1 tablespoon of Ponzu, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and mix well. Dish it on a plate. Drop some (B) with a spoon someplace on it and put (A) on the top. Put some fried yuba or some cornflakes on the top. Sprinkle half of the sauce(a) (which kept from 1) around the salad. Gorgeous and Yummy!!

There are some extras.

Boiled parsley root is even good just dressed with the sauce(a).

It is also very good to serve just cut kohlrabi

with grated kohlrabi dressed(b).

This has a little bit of Japanese spice called "7tastes*" on the top.

*http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-143-sb-seven-flavor-chili-pepper-053oz.aspx