Cooking

Lemon Broth Chazuke

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Remember how I’ve been experimenting with chazuke for a quick meal?  Well here’s my latest creation, a chazuke uses lemon-flavored teas. Bigelow’s Lemon Lift was the one I used, but you can find others using lemon zest and the like. It has a taste reminiscent of chicken broth – enough I think you could use just the tea-garlic-soy mixture as a broth substitute.

Seriously, this is delicious – and remember you could probably whip this up at cons, especially with the right canned goods or a little refrigerator.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cup lemon tea
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic (one clove)
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 cups steamed green vegetables – I use broccoli, collard, spinach (you can steam them in a microwave, but spinach will blanch if you pour boiling water on it, from say a coffee maker)
  • Either 1 cup garbanzo beans or 7 ounces of tofu, cubed. (Use 1 ½ cup beans/14 ounces tofu if really hungry or add a cup of rice)
  • ¼ cup frozen corn. (leave out if you use rice)
  • 1 tbsp chives.

Directions:

  1. 1) Make the tea by mixing the water, garlic, and soy sauce together. Add the tea bag after heated and let seep.
  2. Mix the vegetables, beans/tofu, and corn. Add the tea.
  3. Heat if necessary in microwave to unthaw corn/heat tofu
  4. Add chives, serve.

Healthy Cooking: Chazuke

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Next up on my healthy cooking hit parade is Chazuke, at times called Ochazuke.  It’s usually thought of as Japanese comfort food or quick food, but stick with me here.

Anyway, Chazuke really started as something simple in Japan – green tea poured over rice.  Sort of a simple porridge.  Over time people added seaweed and condiments like pickles or dried meat, making it a kind of healthy comfort meal and quick-to-assemble out of common ingredients.  In some cases it was also something you served to guests to note they kinda overstayed their welcome.

However when I heard of Chazuke my brain began to analyze it. It uses rice.  It uses tea.  It at times adds veggies and proteins.  I began breaking down the recipe into something healthy, and quickly I found a new favorite quick dish.  My Chazuke formula lets you make something healthy, delicious, and nutritious fast.  It works like this.

Main Ingredients:

  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups green tea (I use regular American green tea for less caffeine).
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked rice (traditionally white, I use brown), or another grain
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups of a vegetarian protein (I use tofu, seitan, or garbanzo beans)
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups of a vegetable that has been cooked/prepared.  I usually use steamed broccoli, collards, or spinach (note measure the cups after its prepared), but as pickled vegetables were traditional you could also try sauerkraut or low-sodium pickled vegetables (again, broccoli or cabbage is excellent).

Merely mix all of these together.  Now to jazz it up, try any or all of these in combination:

  • Roast, crumbled seaweed (Always good)
  • 1 Tbsp Soy sauce (also good)
  • About 1/4 cup kimchi
  • About 1-2 tbsp pickled ginger
  • 1 tsp Gojachung (Korean Hot Pepper paste)

My personal favorites are to use garbanzo beans (that go well with the tea), steamed collards OR pickled broccoli.  I usually spiced it with soy sauce, but lately have been trying Gojachung with a bit of soy sauce and/or Kimchi – usually 2 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp Gojachung OR 1/4 cup kimchi.

Take the above meal, add a nice piece of fruit for desert, maybe an additional veggie side dish (like sweet cherry tomatoes), and you created a kind of healthy onslaught – legumes, greens, whole grains and then some fruit.  All made from stuff you have around the kitchen (well my kitchen) and in the pantry, all delicious, flavored with that unique green tea taste.

 

I usually make it once a week, and it always satisfies.

– Steve

 

 

 

 

 

Healthy Cooking: Okonomiyaki

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I haven’t posted as much on cooking in the last year as i’ve been working on the voice of the blog – which I settled on as being “mine” which cleared things up.

So let me share one of my secrets of healthy, fast, delicious cooking: Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki’s been descried in many ways – usually poorly – so I’ll give my own summary: a pancake with vegetables and often savory ingredients in it, served with sauces (usually Bulldog and mayo). It’s a Japanese creation, repurposed from other cuisine, and quite popular as you can do it many ways – the name itself comes from “as you like it.”

To me, it’s a way to get a healthy meal fast that’s easy to eat. Of course I do it my way.

See I use chickpea flour. Chickpea Flour, aka Gram flour, aka Besan Flour, has two benefits:

  • It’s high protein because its’ pulverized beans.
  • When mixed with water, it’s sticky, so you don’t need eggs (great for vegans, people with allergies, or folks that just don’t want eggs).

Seriously, Chickpea Flour is culinary magic.

So here’s my take on using Oknonomiyaki to eat healthy – now this does involve a bit of oil for frying so it’s not as healthy as it could be, but still.

For a single serving you need

  • 1 cup besan flour
  • 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder (you can also use baking soda if you stir in a tsp of vinegar right before cooking)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2+ cups shredded vegetables – traditionally cabbage, I use finely shredded cabbage and carrots in a 3-1 blend. you can also try grated sweet potato, spinach, and chopped tomatoes (though they add a little water to the mix). Think of it like a veggie omelet if you want to get ideas.
  • Sauces of your choice (I recommend barbecue or Bulldog, some mix with mayo – I need to post my own version of Bulldog sometime).

To do this:

  1. Mix Chickpea Flour, baking powder and water in a bowl. Mix thoroughly as the flour can form little lumps.
  2. Gradually add the shredded vegetables, stirring until the bowl is basically vegetables coated in batter, stuck together. I get in as much as possible, which is usually a bit over two cups depending how well shredded it is.
  3. Heat a non-stick pan and add a bit of oil (olive or sesame) when hot, then dump the bowl and fry it up like a pancake. It usually takes 3-5 minutes a side -and try not to press down on it so it fluffs up.
  4. The complete pancake fits easily onto a standard plate. Dump it out and serve with sauce – even a bit of soy does the trick.

That’s it – a giant heaping helping of leafy greens and powdered beans turned into a delicious pancake.

There’s also ways to enhance it:

  1. Add soy sauce to the mixture to add savory tastes
  2. Add pickled ginger (about a tablespoon) for a great kick.
  3. Add about 1/4 cup kimchi – that adds fluid, so I’d use a bit less water.

To make it even easier? Keep a bag of frozen shredded vegetables in the freezer to grab whenever you want.

I’m sure you can come up with more ways to do it! It’s become one of my go-to for a quick healthy meal that tastes great – nothing like a nice, warm, savory pancake filled with nutritional goodness, with some nice condiments, after a hard day. I tend to make it about once a week.

Give it a try, let me know how it comes out for you.

-Steve