So it's been awhile. Life has come along and rendered me incommunicado due to traveling, studying and moving house, but now I am free! Free of study for the semester and almost settled into the new place, so it's time to give y'all the most amazing, healthy, delightful and healing recipe in the world, The Dragon Bowl! Trust me my friends, you will not be disappointed!
Dragon Bowls are macrobiotic by nature and follow the basic principles of balance, taking into account the basic food groups which acheive said ultimate balance naturally: (in order of greatest portion size first) whole grains(rice), vegetables(salad, radish coleslaw, yam), enzymes(pickles, miso soup), minerals(seaweed, vegetables), Beans(tempeh), condiments/oils(gomasio, sesame paste or tahini sauce). (see the bottom for the Macrobiotic food pyramid and some other great links).
This recipe may seem involved, but once you gather all of the bits and pieces it really is a matter of assembling. So with the main bowl of food, you need some condiment (which contains your oils/salts/minerals), so I made a delicious sesame paste which you may like to try. If you are not into it, you can make some tahini cream or even just use Tahini as your condiment. Either way both are full of sesame which is full of calcium. And, delicious.
Sesame Paste:
- 4 Tbsp Black or white(or a mix) sesame seeds(pre dryroasted)
- 1.5 tsp Tamiri
- 1 tsp Mirin
- 1 tsp rice vinegar (or use sushi vinager but hold the mirin)
- 1/2 tsp rice syrup(or sugar)
- Bit of water if needed
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| Black and white Sesame paste
Dragon Bowl Ingredients
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Method
Grind sesame in a mortar and pestle until squished but not completely powdered. Mix in the liquid. If too chunky, add a little water. Yum and easy.
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| All ingredients set out and ready for assembly |
- 1 or 2 cups of cooked rice(1 or 2 depending on how many you are cooking for. I used red rice, but feel free to use brown, black or wild, but steer clear of white please)
- 1/2 block of Tempeh (cut into small chunks and gently fried with a few drops of tamiri and Yam below)
- 1/2 large Yam (red,purple, white - cooked with tempeh, as above)
- Bowl of coleslaw (purple Cabbage, purple/orange carrot and daikon, chopped/mixed no condiment)
- 2 sheets of Nori, torn into little bits
- Miso soup (1 serve per person. I like the Sprial foods organic Miso soup)
- Organic or homemade pickles. I've used the Spiral foods pickled ginger.
- Handful of Shitake mushrooms (Use dry ones, soak in hot water for about 30 minutes. Drain off water)
- Seaweed salad mix. Made as per package instruction. Try to get one that is only sea vegetables and no added extras.
- Bean spouts
- Salad leaves
Once you have all of the ingredients cooked and set out, the hard part is over! Let the assemblage begin!
Assemble your Dragon Bowl
Step one: Take a nice sized bowl and quarter fill it with room temperature or luke warm rice (not piping hot and not cold from the fridge). Start to add small amounts of all of your salad like ingredients on top of the rice. This includes the sprouts, pickles, coleslaw, mushrooms, nori and seaweed salad. Place each ingredient in a circle around the edge of the bowl leaving a space in the middle.
Step two: Add the cooked tempeh and yam into the middle space, as though they are the main attraction.
Step three: Line the edge of the bowl with salad leaves, so you can still see the main attraction poking through.Serve with a mug of miso soup and a dollop(or two) of the delicious sesame paste. Now Eat it!
And there you have. The amazing, seemingly complicated but actually easy, Dragon bowl. I cannot say that you will be spitting flames after eating this, but I can say you will feel like you can fly!
Fly free little Dragons! Fly Free!
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The following is the Macrobiotic food pyramid:
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| Macrobiotic Food pyramid -The kushi Institute Macro Links: http://www.kushiinstitute.org/ http://www.macrobiotics.co.uk/ http://hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/ http://www.macrobioticcooking.com/ |
