CONDIMENTS: Gomasio (Gomashio)
Gomasio (Gomashio)
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1. Place sesame seeds in a bowl and cover with water. Pour off the seeds that float to the top into a fine mesh strainer.
2. Repeat, covering with water and pouring out the seeds suspended in the water, somewhat like panning for gold. Continue adding water and pouring off seeds until just a few are left in the bowl. Check these last seeds for stones or pieces of sand. If there are more than two or three pieces of sand or stones, repeat this washing process again.
3. Drain the seeds in the strainer.
4. Heat a skillet and roast the salt, stirring, until the salt is dry and loose. The color may darken slightly.
5. Place the roasted salt in the suribachi and grind. Periodically, brush the salt out of the grooves of the suribachi with stiff bristled pastry brush. Continue grinding until the salt feels powdery and not “grainy”.
6. Dry the sesame seeds before roasting. Place in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven over a medium flame. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon, drying until the seeds no longer stick to the wooden spoon.
7. Heat a stainless steel frying pan over a medium flame.
8. Cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of sesame seeds. If the seeds start popping out of the pan and all over the stove top, reduce the heat.
9. Place a lid on the pan. Shake the seeds in the pan in a back and forward motion similar to popping corn. The seeds are done when you can crush a few seeds easily between the thumb and fourth finger.
10. Pour the finished seeds into the suribachi with the ground sea salt. Continue roasting the seeds as described above until all the seeds are roasted
11. Grind the seeds in the suribachi with the sea salt until about 2/3 of the sesame seeds are crushed.
12. Serve a sprinkling on grains as a condiment. Gomashio may be stored in an air-tight jar for about two weeks for maximum flavor and freshness.
CONDIMENTS: Watermelon Rind Condiment
Watermelon Rind Condiment
Here’s a novel way to make use of those otherwise discarded watermelon rinds
One of the principles of macrobiotics is “no waste.” This recipe let’s us put it into action.
2 cups diced watermelon rind (white part with the outside skin trimmed off)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon barley miso (or to taste)
1. Cut away the outer green skin of the watermelon. Dice the white part into 1/2″ cubes.
2. Warm the oil in a cast iron skillet.
3. Add the watermelon rind. Saute 2-3 minutes over medium high flame.
4. Add miso. Mix in until the miso melts.
5. Cover pot with a lid and cook until the watermelon rinds are semi soft.
6. Serve as a condiment for grain, bread, or pasta.
CONDIMENTS: Pumpkin Seed Sprinkle
Pumpkin Seed Sprinkle
1/2 pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup tightly packed dulse (yields about 1/4 cup
powdered dulse)
1. Unfold dulse and check for sea shells and stones
2. Spread dulse on a cookie sheet and bake at 350? for 10 to 15 minutes, or until dulse can be
crushed easily.
3. Place pumpkin seeds on another cookie sheet and bake at the same time for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Stir once after 5 minutes so the seeds bake evenly. The seeds are roasted when they puff out and
are slightly golden.
5. Place dulse in a suribachi and grind to a fine powder.
6. Add roasted pumpkin seeds to the powdered dulse and grind with the pestle until about 2/3 of the
seeds are crushed.
7. Serve over grains, porridge or creme soups.
VEGETABLES: A Simple & Delicious Pressed Salad
A Simple & Delicious Pressed Salad
Chinese Cabbage (napa cabbage), shredded or sliced thin
Red Radishes, cut into thin rounds
Sea salt
1. Wash and slice vegetables into very thin slices.
2. In a large bowl, mix vegetables and add about 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt per cup of chopped vegetables.
3. Mix gently by hand.
4
Transfer to a salad press and apply pressure to the press. If a press is not available, leave in a bowl and
place a small plate that fits inside the bowl, adding a weight on top of the plate.
5. Let the vegetables sit for 30?60minutes or more (depending on the vegetables, harder vegetables take
longer, leafy vegetables take less time) or until water is expelled from the vegetables.
6. If the vegetables taste too salty, quickly rinse under water.
7. Serve plain, with lemon juice, rice vinegar, or umeboshi vinegar.
• Nice pressed salads include: mustard greens or radish greens, chopped finely and pressed for 30 minutes; cabbage leaves, finely chopped, layered with sea salt, and pressed for 30 minutes; carrots, grated, shredded, or cut into matchsticks, pressed for 30 minutes.
• Ingredients may be pressed longer, up to a couple of days, to make light pickles.
• Brown rice vinegar, umeboshi vinegar, or shoyu may be used for variety in the pressing instead of salt.
VEGETABLES: Watercress with Sesame & Shiso
2 bunches of watercress
1 Tablespoon minced pickled shiso (the dark leaves in the umeboshi jar)
2 Tablespoons chopped roasted sesame seeds
1 sheet of nori, torn in 1/2 inch pieces
Pot of boiling water
1. Bring about 2 to 3 inches of water to boil in a cooking pot.
2. Wash, clean and drain watercress.
3. Place 1 bunch of watercress in the pot of rapidly boiling water
4. Cook about 5 to 7 minutes until watercress is tender but still bright green.
5. Remove from water, drain and allow to cool. Cook the second bunch of watercress.
6. Squeeze out some of the extra water from the cooked watercress.
7. Cut in 1/2 inch pieces and toss with the chopped shiso and half of the sesame seeds.
8. Arrange in a mound on a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining chopped, toasted sesame seeds and the pieces of nori. Eat immediately.
