Three Bowls of Noodles

Here are some noodle dishes:



Black rice noodles with veggies in a miso broth


This was awesome.  It hits the spot when having a later meal on a chilly (Arizona winter) evening.

The noodles color comes from black rice.  They are sold at Asian markets, and cook pretty quickly.  It is usually suggested that once you put the noodles in boiling water and bring back to a boil, to add a little cool water while cooking.  You can actually put a lid on it once it boils and let it finish cooking covered with the heat off.

Drain and rinse in a colander in cool water.  This will prevent sticking.  When ready to serve, you can drain the water into a bowl and keep it covered to retain the heat.  Drop the noodles in briefly prior to serving to reheat through.  Or just pour hot water from a tea kettle over the noodles in the strainer.

In a small pot, add some water (or veggie stock) and a few dried shiitake mushrooms.  These flavor the stock, and are really beneficial for our health.  You can also toss in some pieces of kelp, wakame, or Dulce seaweed as well.  Once the mushrooms have had a chance to cook and get soft, take them out with tongs and slice them carefully, then return to the pot. 

Add any other  veggies you have on hand that you feel like including, fresh or frozen.  Start with heartier veggies like carrots and onion first, adding more as you go.  We cooked a little onion, carrot and turnip.  I have made a similar soup with a little frozen corn, spinach, frozen Asian veggie medley, or other thinly sliced greens like lacinto kale. 

Once the veggies are all soft, it's ready.  Place a tsp. of miso (barley or red for stronger taste, or a blend of red and a mellow miso like white, or chickpea is good) in your serving bowl.  Ladle a little broth in the bowl, and mash in the miso paste.  Top off the bowl with noodles that you quickly reheat and soften if needed by dunking in the cooking water, or pouring boiling water over the noodles while in the colander.  Add more broth to fill the bowl.  Garnish with scallions, and a little Thai chili paste or few drops of toasted sesame oil if desired.  If you want more substance, add cubes of x-firm tofu, or any of the vegan mock chicken tenders.  This can be a side dish or a main meal.  Slurp and enjoy.
 

 

Vegan and gluten-free spaghetti and meat-less sauce with shiitake
mushrooms, Italian soy sausage, beets, & carrots

I love making spaghetti.  I didn't eat it for a long time, avoiding grains, minimizing carbs, or trying to avoid food combinations I thought may be troubling.  A teacher I had at my acupuncture school in Santa Fe has written  Ayurvedic cookbooks, and cautioned us about the acid-starch combo...which is in a lot of standard American fare.  Think chips and salsa, spaghetti with tomato sauce, pizza.  She was one of my favorite teachers.  Her name is Amadea Morningstar, and she wrote The Ayurvedic Cookbook, and Ayurvedic Cooking for Westeners.

I tried so many different ways of eating over the years.  Now, I just eat.  I have consumed very little animal foods since September.  During our once per month 12 hour Zazenkai that we participate in , we are generally served an egg, and milk on our fresh cooked oats.  The condiments include honey, or brown sugar.  My favorite way of eating oats was always with brown sugar, so this once per month feels like a wonderful treat. 

I have been enjoying creating a vegan sauce for our pasta dinner which we often have as a weekend dinner.  Each batch is different.  I just use what we have.  You may see this as a trend.

 In this batch I used:

• Shiitake mushrooms, about 3 dried, soaked or cooked, then sliced
• 1/2 small yellow onion diced & 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 beet diced
• 1 Tofurky Italian sausage, cut in quarters length-wise, then into bite -sized pieces
• Tomato paste ~ Around 3 Tablespoons, give or take
• Water or stock
• Balsamic vinegar ~ about 2-3 tsp.
• Pinch of stevia (any sweetener)
• Seasonings:  Dried basil, garlic, sea salt or tamari, black pepper, and red chili flakes

I made the above sauce by starting like the soup above, but in a pot with less water, by cooking some dried shiitakes.  Fresh are fine, you can just water-saute with some finely diced onion and minced garlic to start.  If you want to add sausage, dice it and add it to the pot.  If I have shredded carrots (from my salad bar in a jar) I add them to the pot.  This time I also added diced beet.  Shredded carrot, beet, and zucchini are all great additions.  The beet sweetens, and can be used entirely as a substitute for tomato sauce if someone doesn't tolerate tomatoes.  Keep stirring, adding a little water as needed.  (You can add some of the starchy pasta cooking water for flavor and added creaminess.)I added the tomato paste and stevia (any sweetener) and vinegar, and a little more water, along with the seasonings, then turned it to a med-low heat with a cover to simmer.

Adjust the tomato paste, sweetener, sea salt, and spices along with the added liquid to your desired taste and thickness.  I served this over brown rice spaghetti I buy from Sunflower Market's for $1.99.  It just has brown rice flour.  I have seen several new brands lately sold at Whole Foods that look like they would taste great, but they are pretty expensive, and sold in smaller packages.  The brown rice spaghetti at Trader Joe's is equally good and cheap.  Rinse pasta in cool water after cooking.  To serve, pour hot water over it to loosen and reheat.

Alternatives: 

• Use red wine for some of your cooking liquid
• Try canned pureed tomatoes, tomato sauce, petite tomatoes or Italian plum tomatoes in a can or carton.  Throw them into a food processor with a little miso, garlic cloves, Italian herbs, tamari or sea salt, pepper, a bit of balsamic or red wine vinegar, and a little stevia powder or other sweetener.  Then just heat as is, or water saute in very little water the onion and any other mushrooms or veggies and you're set.
• 'Beef' it up with any of the frozen mock ground beef crumbles.  Let them simmer in the pot for about 10 minutes.  It's actually just as easy, and cheaper to use TVP crumbles which comes out tasting like a meaty sauce.
• Freeze tofu that you have pressed the liquid out of.  Take it out, let thaw enough to grate or crumble in a food processor.  Use that to add a meaty texture and beef up the protein.

If you want to use just the beets and carrots, you can thicken the sauce with a little arrowroot, tapioca, or cornstarch.  Dissolve 1-2 tsp. in cool water, then add to pot, cooking until thickened.

Go tomato sauce-free...that next! 

Ingredients:

A bunch of your favorite greens...collards, Swiss chard, kale, braising greens, turnip and beet greens or a medley.  Cut in  chunks and steam separately, or cook in a deep pan that can also be used to cook the noodles first.  Drain noodles after cooking, reserving liquid in a heat-proof bowl.

Asian buckwheat or other favorite noodles.  Try soba, or any type that looks interesting.  There are many varieties available at a good Asian market.

Any of the following diced veggies, or add your favorites:  Red bell pepper, scallion or onion, julienne carrot, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, etc.

Ginger and garlic, Thai chili paste, rice vinegar, tamari, toasted sesame oil, arrowroot or cornstarch to thicken, or try miso paste with any of the above, omitting the tamari.

Steam the greens.  Cook the noodles.  Mix the above in a small bowl by first cutting about an inch big piece of ginger, peel, grate, and squeeze the juice into the bowl.  Mince or press the garlic.  Ad the rest.  If using a thickener, mix that up first with a little cool water, then add the miso paste if using, and mash it all up.  Add the rest.  Use a little of the noodle cooking water to make a sauce.  Heat it for a few minutes with the diced pepper, or just toss it all with the noodles if not adding the thickener.  Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, pine nuts, scallions, cilantro or parsley, or toasted chopped almonds.  Anything goes. 

Alternatively, blend some almond or peanut butter in a food processor with a little water, rice vinegar, ginger, Thai chili paste, and brown rice syrup or honey, and a little tamari.  Great with rice or noodles.

Noodles are soft, easy to digest foods that fortify Spleen Qi in Chinese medicine.  Spleen qi is best supported by eating bland, sweet, easy to digest foods like whole grains.  If you eat regularly, especially warm cooked soups, grains, stews, and porridge's, you can warm up, and regulate your energy and blood sugar.  Deficiency of the spleen energy is seen as tiredness after meals, bloating, gas, and possibly loose stools, or having cold hands and feet. 

Over-thinkers and worry-warts drain their vital energy which especially effects the spleen and digestion.  It can actually make you lose your appetite, similar to how while concentrating and studying for long hours for a project or exam can cause you to even forget to eat.  They are also seen as appropriate foods to eat for those following the glycemic index scale. 

Noodles are warm comfy foods that fit your pocket book, and can be made in a variety of ways to please all pallets...including kids.  Find some fun new types of noodles.  Be adventurous.  Add some ginger and spice.  I especially love the Thai chili garlic paste.  Enjoy and feel warm and comforted from the inside out!