Read Dharma Feast Cookbook Online
Authors: Theresa Rodgers
Dharma Feast Cookbook (33 page)
Aduki beans, which are also called adzuki or azuki beans, are small reddish-brown beans. They have a strong nutty sweet flavor and are used frequently in a macrobiotic diet. You can buy them at Asian markets or in many health food stores.
| S ERVES 4 | P REP TIME 2 HOURS (WITHOUT SOAKING TIME) |
2 cups rice 1½ cups dried aduki beans, washed 5 cups water 3 -inch piece of kombu seaweed (look for in same store section as nori, the sushi seaweed) 1 small butternut squash (2 cups) Shoyu, low sodium soy sauce, or tamari to taste | Begin cooking rice. (See Place beans, water, and kombu in a separate 2-quart pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Chop squash into rounds and cut off peel. Discard seeds. Cut into small chunks and arrange on top of beans, making sure beans are still covered with water. Cover and continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Stir periodically. Add more water if needed so that beans are covered with water. Mix squash into beans. Remove kombu and discard. Add shoyu, soy sauce, or tamari and cook for 15 more minutes. Add shoyu, soy sauce, or tamari to taste. Ladle bean mixture into bowls over rice. |
| G ARDEN V EGETABLE S OUP |  |
The freshness and bright full flavors of just-picked, sautéed summer vegetables bring a light but deep flavor to this soup. It’s best in summer but can be made any time of the year.
| S ERVES 10–12 | P REP TIME 1 ½ HOURS |
2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons butter 2 large sweet onions, finely chopped 6 stalks celery, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1½ pounds carrots, peeled and cut into thin rounds 2 handfuls thin green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces Additional butter and olive oil Sea salt and pepper to taste 3 pounds new potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces, or regular potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces 4 large ears organic corn or 1 12-oz. bag frozen organic corn 2 bay leaves | Heat olive oil and butter in a stock pot. Add onion and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally. After a while, there should be browning on bottom of pan but vegetables shouldn’t turn brown and they should not be scorching or burning. Add garlic and sauté another minute or two. Add carrots and green beans and continue sautéing. Add small amounts of oil and butter as needed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add potatoes; continue stirring and sautéing. In summer, use fresh corn cut off cob. Scrape “milk” from corn cob and add to vegetables along with corn; stir. Continue to cook over low heat. Add bay leaves. When vegetables are just tender, add water to cover. Stir. Make sure to loosen the browned (not scorched or burned) bits from bottom of pan—this gives flavor to the broth. Simmer for 20–30 minutes. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Remove bay leaves before serving. |
| M USHROOM AND B OK C HOY S OUP | |
This recipe was invented when we cooked for a large group. It was an important time for the people who gathered, and a soup of onions, cabbage, and mushrooms was requested by one of the honored guests. Since we couldn’t find a recipe to fit their request, we created this soup. It has a bit of an Asian taste. Baby portobello mushrooms and shitake mushrooms blend with bok choy to make the soup grounding and nourishing.
| S ERVES 12 | PREP TIME 1 ¾ HOURS |
| V EGETABLE B ROTH 3 carrots, cut in chunks 4 stalks celery, cut in chunks 1 onion, quartered 1 clove garlic 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 bay leaves Salt and pepper to taste 4 quarts water M 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 medium onions, chopped 3 stalks celery, chopped 1½ pounds baby portobello mushrooms, cut in half and sliced ½pound shitake mushrooms, sliced 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil ¼ head white cabbage, sliced and cut into 1-inch pieces 1 medium head bok choy, sliced 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari | Vegetable Broth Remove and discard bay leaves. Remove half of vegetables and compost. Puree remaining vegetables and broth with immersion blender. Mushroom and Bok Choy combination In remaining butter and oil, sauté cabbage and bok choy for about 5 minutes, or until barely tender. Add to broth. Add soy sauce. Stir. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 20–30 minutes. |
B
READS
All breads at Stages 1, 2, and 3 should be whole-grain, not made from white flour, as it is highly processed. In Stage 2 of the diet we begin to limit the use of bread and by Stage 3 it is for special occasions only. We’ve included a few recipes for breakfast breads and cornbread that are great for those times. Also, sometimes on a cold winter’s night a steaming bowl of White Bean Soup and a chunk of hot cornbread makes the perfect hearty meal.
Because grains contain phytic acid which blocks the absorption of minerals, their flours do as well. The complex starches and sugars in grain flours remain intact and are difficult to digest. Also, the cellulose in grains is a great source of minerals but we can’t absorb it.
There are two methods for overcoming these problems—fermenting and sprouting. Fermented breads are also called sourdough. The process of soaking flour for at least 12 hours (24 is better) in either (1) a cultured dairy product (buttermilk or yogurt, for example—also called soured dairy), or (2) water with a small amount of cultured dairy or vinegar or lemon juice, breaks down phytic acid. The lactobacilli in soured dairy breaks down the starches and sugars. The process of fermentation breaks down the cellulose, making its nutrients available to us in a form we can absorb. Sprouting a grain before grinding it into flour also eliminates these problems.
Modern sourdough- and bread-making techniques have done away with the fermentation process, replacing it with the faster and more reliable yeast-culture process. This process, however, produces an alcoholic fermentation, which destroys some of the nutrients and is not acidic enough to remove phytic acid or break down starches, sugars, and cellulose in the same way.
This is why we recommend traditionally-made sourdough breads and breads made from sprouted grains, like Ezekiel bread. Many health-food stores are beginning to sell traditionally-fermented sourdough. Make sure the breads you buy are whole-grain, not made from overly-processed white flour. If you would like to make your own traditional sourdough bread, there is a recipe for the starter and the bread in
Nourishing Traditions
by Sally Fallon (Newtrends Publishing, Inc., 2nd Edition: Warsaw, Indiana, 1999).
There are many gluten-free breads made from grains such as millet and brown rice available in stores but use these sparingly. They are heavily processed.
To make your own gluten-free breads it’s best to have a gluten-free baking book, but a good all-purpose gluten-free flour mixture is 1 cup rice flour, ¾ cup potato starch, and ¼ cup tapioca starch/flour (from
http://www.csaceliacs.org/
recipes/FlourFormulas.php). This is a one-for-one replacement for gluten flours, which means if the recipe calls for one cup of wheat flour, substitute one cup of this flour. The mix you use will depend on what type of cooking you are doing. See
http://www.csaceliacs.org/recipes/
FlourFormulas.php for more mixtures.
A note on baking powder—several of these recipes call for this ingredient. Make sure to use an aluminum-free baking powder like Rumford, which is also gluten-free and uses non-GMO cornstarch.
| C ORNBREAD (G LUTEN -F REE ) |  |
To make your bean soup perfect, serve cornbread. No one will know this one is gluten-free. It’s the old-fashioned kind—with a course texture and baked in a cast iron skillet. It’s hard to find something better than a hot wedge dripping with melted butter. If you like your cornbread spicy, chop up a few jalapenos and add them to the batter. Sliced jalapenos served on the side could also be a welcome addition.
| S ERVES 8 | PREP TIME 1 HOUR |
2 cups stone-ground cornmeal 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon sea salt 1¾ cup milk 1 egg 1½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup (optional) ¼ cup melted butter 1 cup fresh or thawed, frozen corn, chopped | Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat cast iron skillet in oven for 10 minutes. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Combine milk, egg, vinegar, and honey or agave, if using, in a medium bowl. Pour into dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold corn into batter. Carefully remove hot skillet from oven. Coat bottom and sides of skillet with butter. Pour excess butter into batter; stir just to combine. Pour batter into skillet. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Turn skillet upside down onto wooden cutting board. Cornbread should release from pan. Cut into wedges. Serve hot with butter. |