The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet (47 page)

SERVES 2 OR 3

1 large daikon (roughly 1 pound but size doesn’t really matter)

2 tablespoons shoyu

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cup mirin

2"–3" strip kombu

Slice the daikon into
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" rounds, and place them in a skillet in a single layer. Add water almost to cover the daikon. Add the shoyu, mirin, and kombu. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to very low, cover the pan, and simmer the daikon for 30 minutes, or until all liquid has been absorbed.

Christopher’s Cauliflower Steaks

Christopher and I ordered this dish at a really fancy restaurant in New York. We both loved it so much that he started making his own version at home. It’s so simple and so good.

SERVES 4

1 medium to large head cauliflower

1 large fennel bulb, stalks and fronds removed

2 tablespoons olive oil

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Slice the cauliflower as you would cut a loaf of bread, making
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"- to
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"-thick slices per person. Arrange the slices on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Slice the fennel bulb, and arrange on the same baking sheet or use a second sheet if necessary. Brush the cut surfaces of the cauliflower and fennel with the oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Roast the vegetable steaks until they are light brown, about 15 minutes, then flip the slices, brush with more oil, and return to the oven until browned and tender, about 15 minutes.

Carrot and Burdock Kinpira

This traditional Japanese (and macrobiotic) dish should be eaten a couple times a week. Burdock strengthens and purifies the blood, while carrots are full of phytonutrients. Together they make a really strengthening dish that makes me feel grounded and energized . . . and it tastes really good.

SERVES 4

About 1 teaspoon sesame oil (toasted or plain)

1 cup burdock, cut into matchstick pieces

2 pinches fine sea salt

1 cup carrots, cut into matchstick pieces

Shoyu to taste

A few drops of ginger juice (grate a
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" piece of ginger and squeeze out the juice with your fingers)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

2 teaspoons chopped parsley for garnish

Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the burdock, a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring continually, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrots, another small pinch of salt, and cook, stirring continually, for 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Add enough water to just cover the bottom of the skillet to create steam. Cover the pan, and reduce heat to low. Simmer/steam for 7 minutes. Sprinkle
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to 1 teaspoon of shoyu on the kinpira, cover, and let cook for 4 minutes longer. The kinpira should be almost dry. Remove from the heat, add the ginger juice, and toss. Add sesame seeds and parsley, toss again, and serve.

Notes:
In fall and winter, make a longer kinpira, one that simmers for 20 to 30 minutes. This will make the vegetables sweeter, softer, and easier to digest. It will also be more strengthening and warming to the body. Follow the above directions, but add more water at the beginning and check the vegetables halfway through to make sure they’re not drying out or burning. Add small amounts of water throughout the cooking if necessary.

To make matchsticks, slice the vegetable (carrot or burdock) thinly on the diagonal. After making 6 or 8 slices, lay them down, slightly overlapping one another like fallen dominoes. Chop along the fallen slices lengthwise in order to get the longest matchsticks possible. Repeat until you have as much as you need.

Nishime

Pronounced Ni-
shee
-may, this is another traditional macrobiotic dish and it’s great for the stomach, spleen, and pancreas. The slow stewing of the vegetables in their own juices makes them fall-apart-in-your-mouth soft and sweet. The whole vibe of the dish is really calming and centering. I always feel good after eating nishime; it’s my new comfort food. Superheroes should eat nishime 2 or 3 times a week. Carrot and burdock is another yummy combination, but note that it will take a little longer to cook.

Here are my favorite vegetables to use, in order of how much I love them in this dish. But have fun and play with what you like best: kabocha squash, daikon, celery, onion, sweet potato, rutabaga, green cabbage, carrot, burdock, and lotus root.

Layer the vegetables in the pot beginning with the vegetables that cook in the least time and ending with those that take the longest. Cut larger chunks of vegetables in colder months and smaller chunks in warmer months. Try to use as little water as possible. The perfect nishime will have little or no water left at the end of cooking. Try to use 3 to 5 vegetables at a time. Three (not including the kombu) are ideal.

SERVES 4

1" piece dried kombu seaweed

1 cup red onion, cut into chunks

1 cup celery, cut into 2" pieces

1 cup daikon, cut into 1" rounds

1 cup unpeeled kabocha squash, cut into medium chunks

Shoyu to taste

Place the kombu in the bottom of a medium pot or Dutch oven. Layer in the vegetables one at a time, starting with the red onion, celery, daikon, and lastly the squash. Add about 1 inch of water. (Using as little water as possible will create a sweeter dish.) Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. The cooking liquid should be greatly reduced. Sprinkle with shoyu to taste, and cook 5 minutes longer, or until the vegetables are tender and the water has nearly all evaporated. Scoop the vegetables onto serving plates.

Note:
If there is still a lot of water left in the pot when the vegetables are cooked and tender, lift the cooked vegetables out of the cooking water and place in a serving dish. Dissolve 1 tablespoon kuzu in 2 tablespoons cold water. Add the dissolved kuzu to the hot cooking liquid, and bring to a boil. Pour this “gravy” over the vegetables, and serve.

Vegetable Tempura

People tend to freak out about fried foods, but here’s the deal:

• Deep-fried food that is cooked properly is not fatty. Most of the oil should drain off of properly cooked, crispy tempura.
  
• As long as you are using good-quality oil, deep-fried food is a healthy part of a healthy diet. It helps to keep the body warm and supports strong physical activity—great for kids and athletic grown-ups.
  
• Tempura or other deep-fried food once a week on a Superhero diet will not cause you to gain weight. If anything, it will make you feel satisfied and happy, which will help you stick to the diet. So enjoy a few pieces of tempura!
  
• Always serve tempura with a tablespoon of grated daikon and eat it as you go; this helps to counteract any excess oil you might be getting with the tempura.
  

These are my favorites, but choose whatever vegetables you like. It’s best to make the batter in small batches, so if you plan to serve more people, make multiple batches of batter.

SERVES 2

Tempura Batter

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or
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cup each whole wheat pastry flour and rice flour

1–2 tablespoons kuzu or arrowroot

Pinch of fine sea salt

Dipping Sauce

1 teaspoon shoyu

3–5 drops ginger juice (grate 1" fresh ginger and use your fingers to squeeze out the juice)

Safflower oil, enough to fully cover vegetables while frying

2–4 (
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"-thick) slices onion

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"-thick slices carrot, cut on the diagonal

2–4 (
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"-thick) slices unpeeled kabocha squash

2–4 small broccoli florets

2–4 (
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"-thick) slices burdock, cut on the diagonal

1 tablespoon finely grated daikon per person

To make the batter, stir together the flour, kuzu, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in 1 cup of water, and mix just until combined. If the batter is very thick, stir in another tablespoon or so of water; if it is too loose and runny, add a touch more flour. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes; don’t let it stand too long, or it will become too thick.

To make the dipping sauce, combine the shoyu and ginger juice with
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cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

Pour 2 to 3 inches of oil into a deep skillet or small, deep pot. Heat the oil slowly until very hot and a drop of the batter sizzles on contact with the oil.

One at a time, dip a vegetable slice in the batter, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl, and carefully lower it into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. Cook until the batter becomes crisp and is just starting to look pale golden in places, and the vegetable floats to the surface of the oil; don’t let them brown. Use tongs to transfer the finished tempura to a plate lined with paper towels or clean dish towels.

Serve hot with the dipping sauce and grated daikon.

Note:
You can refrigerate the used oil and reuse it once or twice.

Squash ’n’ Onions

As a die-hard squash lover, it was difficult to select my favorites from among all my squash recipes. But in the end, this dish won out. Simple and lovely, it’s good for Flirts, vegans, family dinners, parties—you name it. To find the sweetest butternut squash, look for one that is a darker beige in color and heavier in weight.

SERVES 4

1 medium butternut squash (about 1 pound but weight doesn’t really matter), preferably organic

2 medium onions

1 tablespoon olive oil

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teaspoon dried oregano

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teaspoon fine sea salt (optional)

Wash and scrub the squash, but don’t peel it unless it’s not organic. Cut the squash into 2" pieces. Peel the onions, halve lengthwise, and slice crosswise in
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" slices.

Heat the oil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the onions, and sauté until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the squash and oregano. Sauté for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add
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cup of water to the skillet and, if using, the salt. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 25 minutes.

Radish Umeboshi Pickles

Pickles are magic foods that aid in digestion, deliver good-quality enzymes to the body, and add a colorful, crunchy element to your meal. A few slices of pickles (about 1 tablespoon total) every day is perfect. Just eat them at the end of your meal, or feel free to cut them into tiny pieces to sprinkle on your grain or to just chomp on. If the pickles taste really salty, you can rinse or even soak them for a few minutes.

SERVES 12

6 red radishes, washed and thinly sliced