Manhattan Macrobiotic

Confession

2006-06-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Lately I have strayed; I've been too busy to cook and family gatherings have had me eating bagels and lox. It's amazing how quickly the old cravings come back once I start eating the fun carbs again.

Yesterday I did make the hijiki recipe to be found in Jessica Porter's book and a veggie stirfry, only to fall off the wagon with half a carton of Celestial Seasoning's Chocolate Caramel Chai, which is made with Rice Dream but still.....

Spices

2006-05-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

Even I--and I'm Nordic and we tend to regard salt as a dangerous spice--find most macrobiotic recipes to be a bit bland; I've been adding curry, tumeric, coriander, cumin, etc. to my veggie/seitan stirfrys.

Of course, I've been too lazy and/or busy to cook anything but stirfrys, as a result of which I've strayed a bit from the macro straight and narrow.

Umeboshi balls

2006-04-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

Actually, they're rice balls with umeboshi plum inside but I like calling them umeboshi balls 'cause it sounds like a Japanese sex toy....

My variation on them requires rolling them in the freshly roasted sesame seeds while still in the pan so that the seeds stick. I'm too lazy to crush the seeds first, also too lazy to use nori.

Flava!

2006-04-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

As a recovering sugar junkie--dare to say almost recovered--it's been a delight to learn to appreciate savory, salty and mildly spicy food. I don't crave sweets the way I used to. Fourteen days without sugar....

Mana

2006-03-17T21:49:00.000-08:00

646 Amsterdam Avenue (91st-92nd St.)

I gave them a second chance and am glad I did. I indulged in crispy and and just greasy enough sweet potato dumplings. My SO was impressed by his yakisoba and my tortilla plate was extremely satisfying. I was not in the mood to be ascetic tonight.

Chocolate tofu pie

2006-03-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

Posting about Ozu made me want to go, so we had dinner there tonight. I had an excellent Ozu roll, which is really more like a burrito with kobucha (pumpkin), eggplant (I was wrong--they do serve nightshades), beans, and tofu in a whole wheat tortilla. My husband and I split a piece of chocolate tofu pie; it was very dense but not too heavy. At first I thought it wasn't sweet enough but now I'm craving another piece....

Macro Restaurants in Manhattan

2006-03-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

My favorite on the UWS is Ozu (566 Amsterdam between 87th & 88th Streets); I rely on them when I get cooking fatigue. They make a really delicious portabello spring roll (you can get it steamed rather than fried if you're avoiding fried foods); I also love the way they cook salmon. They're certified Kosher, having stopped serving crustaceans a while back.

I wish we had a branch of Souen up here, or Angelica's Kitchen (not strictly macro but vegan and you can avoid the deadly nightshades on the menu) for that matter. I haven't tried Mana recently; I ate there a while back and was underwhelmed but I should probably give them another chance.

Arame madness

2006-02-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

Lesson du jour: Seaweed Expands. I was sort of vaguely aware of that, but didn't realize just how much cooked seaweed 2 1/2 oz. arame produces. I made a tempeh arame dish that would be cloying even in small portions--neither tempeh nor arame are for the faint of palate--and now have enough of the stuff to feed an entire ashram.

Seitan stew

2006-02-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

I love making seitan stew; you can use tofu or tempeh in this recipe but I think seitan is perfect for stews. I'm trying to avoid overusing tofu now that it's clear that overdoing soy is not such a hot idea.
4-inch kombu strip
10 oz. seitan, cut into chunks
6-inch long burdock root
4-inch piece of daikon
2 medium carrots
3 1/2 cups of water
1 medium-sized onion
1 cup green cabbage
1 cup butternut or acorn squash
1 cup broccoli
Any leafy greens you might want to add
Scallions or parsley for garnish

Soak the kombu in the water for 10 minutes, then add the burdock, seitan, onion, and daikon. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Add salt if the seitan hasn't been pre-seasoned. Add carrots, cabbage, and squash and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Simmer for another few minutes, adding the broccoli and the greens. Add scallions or parsley at the last minute.

Kukicha Tea

2006-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Is a POWERFUL diuretic. Now I know why it's so popular with macro folks; it counteracts all that miso....

Teflon

2006-02-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Looks like the macro community was correct to be suspicious of Teflon (they don't like microwave ovens either, alas):

"Teflon Chemical a Likely Carcinogen By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer February 16, 2006 2 hours, 7 minutes ago DOVER, Del. - A group of scientific advisers to the Environmental Protection Agency voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a recommendation that a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon and other nonstick and stain-resistant products should be considered a likely carcinogen."

Macrobiotic Cooking in a rent-stabilized kitchen

2006-02-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

If I ever get to be a good enough cook to write a cookbook, that's going to be the title. For non-New Yorkers, a rent-stabilized kitchen is a broom closet with an oven that belongs in the Smithsonian and an icebox without a separate freezer compartment. Let's not forget most of us don't have dishwashers and, thanks to the ancient plumbing, couldn't even if we had the space. The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics, by Jessica Porter, is the only cookbook I've come across that doesn't assume a voluptuous kitchen. In fact, it's the best macro cookbook I've found, once you get past the overly groovy prose and the fact that her idea of "hip" includes Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

De-Lurking

2006-02-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

This blog is an attempt to insure that I won't bore my non-macro friends with my foodie musings. I'm obsessed and I've noticed that my civilian friends often seem bemused and tolerant when I start going on about the virtues of umeboshi plums.