Moroccan Couscous, and some thoughts on eating

For those of you generous enough to spend some of your time reading this blog, you know what I'm talking about. I mean, those of us who love to think about food, love to cook, and who find the scent of fresh herbs and spices thrilling, all share a common denominator. It's a sensory gene, I guess. One that finds some basic comfort and meaning in the preparation of food, as well as the pleasure of eating it - either alone or with others. (Preferably with others.) It is something that we all share - no matter what country we come from, no matter what the color of our skin is, or whether or not we believe in a God, many gods, or no God. Food is one of our common links.

I've been thinking about this subject for years. It's endlessly fascinating to me that all of us, regardless of where on this planet we may live, must find a way to feed ourselves and our families, and we do it in such diverse and interesting ways. In the U.S. and Europe, we generally eat with knife and fork. In other places, they eat with two sticks of wood. And in still other places, they rip apart bread and pick food up with it, making everything they eat either a "dip" or a "wrap". In the U.S., a hamburger, french fries and a coke is practically a national symbol. In India, a hamburger would be a sacrilege. Unthinkable.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had come back from India changed. I also said that I wasn't trying for sainthood, but rather attempting some sort of balance. My dilemma isn't about how to prepare chicken. Or fish. It's how to make a vegetarian meal that is substantial enough to be satisfying, and simple enough so that the idea of doing it appeals to this working woman. Tasty isn't a problem. I can make anything taste good.

So working within those parameters, I turned once again to Claudia Roden's recipe for Moroccan Couscous. It seems that I'm not alone this time. Ann, over at A Chicken In Every Granny Cart seems to be on the same page. But while she opted for the authentic approach, I went for the "down and dirty". Someday I will cook this grain in a more traditional way, using a colander (absent a couscousiere). But in the meantime, I used about a cup of couscous, poured boiling water over it slowly, watching for signs that it was swelling. When the grains began to swell, I made sure there was a little extra water in the pot and then I covered it, letting the steam do the rest.

Meanwhile, I added the following, mostly following Roden's recipe, but using no meat, and altering the rest of it to suit my whim:

2 1/2 TBS olive oil

6 pearl onions, halved

1/2 onion, chopped

1 can of chickpeas, drained

1 turnip, peeled and cubed

about 8 "baby" carrots, halved

large handful of dried, unsulphured apricots, chopped

1 tomato, skinned and chopped

about 2/3 cup green beans, halved.

about 1/2 cup chopped parsley

dash of ground ginger

healthy dash of cinnamon

healthy dash of Hungarian paprika

red chili powder to taste

salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oil in pan and add the onions, turnips, carrots and stir. Add spices and continue stirring. Add a small amount of water, salt and pepper, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes. Add the tomatoes, string beans, chickpeas and apricots. Stir and cover for about 10-15 minutes, or until the last ingredients are cooked. Add the couscous, stir and adjust the seasonings.

If I made this again, I'd consider adding some sliced almonds to it. However, I served this with the stuffed eggplant dish I wrote about in my last post, and the pine nuts were sufficient.

For health news, visit Mission Valley Acupuncture.

For a place to share what you've learned about vitamins, herbs, or other natural remedies, visit Second Opinion.

Vegetarian instincts revived and stuffed eggplant

My curiosity about health really began while I lived in New Mexico. Now, New Mexico is not a state known for their vegetarian cuisine. Not that you can't get a decent vegetarian meal there. You can. But what that state thrives on is chili and meat. In the winter, the chili and meat keeps you warm with all those flavorful calories you're burning. In the summer, the chili cools you off by making you sweat while you're chewing on your carnitas. But for some reason, I was drawn towards the notion that diet and health were related. (An idea I would now put in the "DUH" pile.) I began my journey with an experiment in macrobiotics.

Well, let's put it this way: with Toni's version of macrobiotics. In those days, you were supposed to have 7 days of nothing but brown rice to start with, to "cleanse" yourself. I decided that I would die of boredom before the 7 days were up, so I jumped into the second week's fare immediately.

I did OK with it, and learned something about food combining in order to eat complete proteins. But eventually I loosened up a little, when I noticed that it was no longer easy (or sometimes not even possible) to eat with my friends. No one else I knew was even remotely interested in this kind of thing. And eating is, if nothing else, a social act.

So now I would consider myself to be an omnivore, once again. I tend not to eat a great deal of red meat, but I haven't banned it completely from my diet. Basically, though, my animal protein comes from chicken, fish, eggs, and cheese.

And then I went to India, where every restaurant offers both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals. We found ourselves eating quite a few vegetarian meals (and drinking almost no alchohol), and finding ourselves quite satisfied. So I came back with a desire to once again incorporate this kind of eating into my life. I'm not really looking for sainthood, here. I'm just experimenting with the idea of balance. Sometimes meat and wine, sometimes vegetarian fare and water. It's all good.

Now, as much as I love Indian food, I have not wanted to make it since I came back. It's about variety. So once again, I turned to my cookbook "A Book Of Middle Eastern Food" by Claudia Roden and found 2 recipes that interested me. Today's post will be about her stuffed eggplant dish called "Imam Bayildi", or "The Imam Fainted". I figured if this dish was so good that it caused the Imam to faint, I'd give it a try. Though I didn't faint, I definitely enjoyed it, and will be making it again for sure.

She gives 4 different methods of preparing the eggplant for stuffing. I chose the 4th method, as it seemed like the easiest to me:

Cut the eggplants in half, lengthwise. They may be peeled or not, as you prefer. (I didn't peel mine.)
Scoop out the centers.
Sprinkle the hollowed-out vegetables with salt, and leave to drain for at least 1/2 hour. Then rinse with cold water and pat dry.
Fill each hollowed-out half with filling and proceed according to the recipe.

Filling: (I used only one eggplant, and so I dramatically cut down on the ingredients here)

3/4 lb. onions
4 TBS olive oil
2-3 large cloves garlic, crushed
A bunch of parsley, finely chopped
3/4 lb. tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
Salt

Slice the onions thinly. Soften them gently in olive oil, but do not let them color. Add garlic and stir for a minute or two until aromatic. Remove from the heat and stir in parsley and tomatoes. Season to taste with salt, and mix well.

(I added some pine nuts, because I had them and thought they'd be good.)

Preparation:

This is a Turkish specialty.

6 long medium-sized eggplants
Filling (described above)
1/2 C olive oil
1 tsp sugar, or more
Salt
Juice of 1 lemon

Prepare the eggplants as described above. Stuff them with the filling. Arrange the eggplants side by side in a large pan. Pour over them the oil and enough water to cover (she says about 1/2 C, but I needed a little more). mixed with a little sugar, salt to taste, and the lemon juice.
Cover pan and simmer gently until the eggplants are very soft, about 1 hour. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Turn out onto a serving dish. Serve cold.

For health news, visit Mission Valley Acupuncture
For a place to share what you've learned about vitamins, herbs, or other natural remedies, visit Second Opinion

India, Indian Food and Jet Lag

How does one "return" from India? Changed. And I suspect it will take quite a bit of time for me to truly return. I'm not just talking about jet lag here (it's on the opposite side of the world, minus 1/2 hour), but I'm talking about something much deeper: my internal "map" of the world. It has been re-ordered. I will give a brief explanation later, but to start with an overlay of our trip might be useful.

I met my brother and his wife, and my sister in Chicago on April 2nd. We spent that evening together celebrating Passover with his daughters and other family members. The next evening, we flew to Delhi, arriving on the 4th at around 8:30 in the evening. Our trip included the cities of Delhi, Varanasi, Khajuraho, Agra, Jaipur, and a small town called Junia, which no one in India has ever heard of. We went there to satisfy my brother's need to see a bird called the Great Indian Bustard. As a retired pilot for American Airlines and a fanatical bird watcher, he travels all over the world to see birds. This one was about the size of an ostrich and quite beautiful. And the hunt for it brought us to a place which isn't on the tourist trail, which is always fun. From there we drove back to Delhi, and my sister and I flew home. My brother and his wife are still there, bird watching.

People have asked me, "What was the highlight of your trip?" I think they're expecting the answer to be "the Taj Mahal". And it's true that no matter how many pictures you've seen, it still has the power to fill one with awe and wonder. It is, in short, spectacular. Especially at dawn, which is when we saw it, and, I imagine, at sunset. However, it wasn't, for me, the highlight. The highlight was Varanasi. Hands down.
Varanasi (which is also called Benares), situated on the Ganges river, is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, and is considered to be the holiest of the 7 holy cities in India. According to legend, it was founded by Shiva, which makes it pretty special. There are 4 universities in the city. Also, Hindus believe that if you die in Varanasi, are cremated there and have your ashes go into the Ganges, you will be free of the cycle of life and death. You no longer need to be reincarnated. So it is known as the city of "learning and burning".

There's really no way to describe what it was like. At one point, I turned to my family and said "This place is not on my 'map'." It is the only place I've ever been (and I've traveled extensively) where spiritual life and daily life, where life and death, are not separated. Every morning, thousands of people go down to the Ganges to bathe. This is not just about cleaning - it's a deeply spiritual act as well. Every evening, they cremate about 100 bodies in front of the temples on the river. These cremations are done the old fashioned way - with wood. You can be walking down one of the narrow alleys of this town when suddenly, around the corner, will come a group of men, chanting, ringing bells, and bearing a body, covered with flowers. People step aside to let them by, and when they pass, life goes on. Buying, selling, sipping tea, talking on cell phones, stepping aside to let the cow go by.

How do you process this? I'm still working on it. It is, as a friend of my sister's said, life altering.

The rest of the trip was fantastic, too. The other cities were exotic and interesting, and saturated with color. Jaipur, "The Pink City", was the most sophisticated. And oh yes - the food. Personally, I loved the food. You could be an omnivore, like me, or vegetarian or vegan and do quite well in India, as long as you don't mind spicy food. My sister-in-law, who cannot deal with spicy food, had a much harder time. But for me, spicy works. Walking down the street, you can catch the scent of cardamom, ginger, fenugreek and other spices. Spices are the perfume of India. (Laced with other scents, which we won't mention.)

India is not for the beginning tourist. If you're from the U.S. and you've never traveled, I would say "Go to Europe." It's easier to grasp. But if you've seen Europe and the Americas and are looking for something more exotic, more adventuresome, then turn your eyes to Asia. For color, spice, warmth, vibrancy and life, go to India.

For health news, visit Mission Valley Acupuncture
For a place to share what you've learned about vitamins, herbs, or other natural healing methods, visit Second Opinion

Off to India

Cameras stuffed in case. Passport - musn't forget that. Hold the mail. I'm off to LA tomorrow to spend the night at my brother's house. Must be at the airport a little before 5am. Keep fingers crossed that I can get on the early morning flight to Chicago. (I'm flying standby). From there.....

I'm off to India!

Praise the cat sitter!

Shiitake Mushrooms and Cancer Prevention

It's always been interesting to me to see what people have in their grocery carts. I don't shop in big, chain supermarkets all that often - only when I need some ingredient that isn't carried elsewhere. So when I do drop by the local mega-chain grocery, I often feel like an alien from another planet. I try not to let it show on my face. But for what people spend on those pounds and pounds of ground beef and sodas - diet or otherwise - plus all the other pre-packaged, processed foods, it seems to me that they could be spending less, eating healthier and helping to fight off diseases.

I heard a story once, which sounds like it could very well be true. Supposedly, during WWII, when the Nazi's invaded Belgium, they comandeered the butter, eggs and cheeses, as well as much of the red meat for their troops. The people were left to eat their meals without such luxuries. According to this story, the heart disease rates for the Belgians went down significantly during this period of hardship. After the war, when they were able to access the high fat diets they were used to, their heart disease rates went back up to where they had been before the war.

Is this story true? I don't know. What I do know is that what you put into your body has something to do with what you get out of it. I don't know anyone who would consider putting 30 octane gas in their car, but I see lots of people putting the equivalent in their grocery carts. And what boggles my mind is that it isn't based on cost.

I know that it's difficult sometimes, to connect our daily habits when we're, say, in our 20s, 30s or 40s, with the chronic ailments which often show up in our 60s and 70s. But just as the genetics of a tree, plus the nutrients in the soil and the water that helps it grow, creates a healthy tree or one that attracts disease and insects - so our genetics and our nutrition help us grow healthy or create disease.

So when I saw that Chris over at Melecotte was doing a Cooking to Combat Cancer event, my knee jerk response was: "I'm in!" I mean, as a healthcare professional, I find myself talking to my patients every day about healthy diet and exercise. But Chris' event is strictly about cancer. So I dug into my memory bank to come up with something that would be specific to cancer, and remembered shiitake mushrooms.

All mushrooms seem to have some cancer-fighting abilities, but shiitakes are the champions. Or should I say champignons? Sorry. Couldn't help myself there. Anyway, shiitakis have a polysaccharide called lentinan, a (1-3) β-D-glucan, (why does science always have to sound complicated?) as the active compound responsible for the anti-tumor effects. Shiitakes have many other health benefits, too, but mostly I cook with them because they're absolutely delicious. I buy the large bag of dried shiitakes from Costsco, and keep them as part of my larder.

I was tiring of chicken and not really drawn to another meat dish. What could I cook with the shiitakes? Fish. Any version of it would do. My mind scoured the fish layed out in our local Whole Foods market, and settled on the shrimp. Yes! That's what I started to crave - shrimp with shiitakes. And then snow peas begged to be let in. And, of course, scallions. OK....That should be easy enough. Since I wasn't in a rice mood, I decided on some Pancet (Pancit?) noodles from a local Vietnamese market.

I like to walk to the market. It's about 9 blocks away, and a brisk walk there and back, carrying groceries, is sometimes what constitutes my exercise for the day. Frankly, I prefer that to a stairmaster or a treadmill. (Exercise - another good disease-fighting technique!)

But I digress.

Arriving home, I began to concoct the following dish. Since I never measure, all measurements are approximate.

Shrimp With Shiitakes, Snow Peas and Pancet Noodles


1/2 pound shrimp - any size that works comfortably with chopsticks
1 large handful snow peas
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 C sliced scallions - I use most of the scallion, including the green part.
1 large handful dried shiitakes
1C boiling water
diced garlic to taste
diced ginger to taste
Oyster sauce
approx. 2 TBS oil - not olive. Canola or peanut work well. You can also use sesame oil.*
1 pkg. of pancet noodles.**

Rinse the shiitakes, place them in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soften while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Slice the onions and the scallions
Peel and dice the garlic and the ginger

If you've bought raw shrimp, you will want to shell and devein it first. If you've bought cooked shrimp with the tail on, you will want to remove the tails first, before cooking. Wash the shrimp and let them soak in cold water till you're ready to use them.

At this point, you will want to remove any tough stems from your shiitakes, squeeze out any excess water and put them in a bowl. Save the soaking water.

Pour the oil into the pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for about 30 seconds. If you're using raw shrimp, add them now. If you're using cooked shrimp, you will want to wait.

Add the shiitakes, snow peas and scallions and stir for about 1 minute. Add the pancet noodles after you've cut the noodles in half. (Easier to eat that way.) Reduce heat just a bit, and continue stirring for another couple of minutes. Add shrimp if you're using cooked shrimp, the water from the mushrooms, and a good slosh of oyster sauce. Stir so that everything is coated, reduce heat, cover pan while you set the table. Remove cover and serve.

Enjoy!

*I've read recipes that say you should add sesame oil by the drops - as in "Add a few drops of sesame oil for taste." This makes it sound like sesame oil might be a little overwhelming if you added more than a few drops. I have never found this to be true. In fact, quite the opposite. Unless I use at least 50% sesame oil, I don't really taste it.

**Pancet noodles can be found in Asian grocery stores. They look like hefty spaghetti. Not flat, like linguini, but round like spaghetti. If you cannot access this kind of noodle, I'm sure you can use any kind you might have on hand. Or substitute rice for noodles and just serve it on the side.

For more health news, visit Mission Valley Acupuncture

For a place to share what you've learned about vitamins, herbs, or any natural medicine, visit my other blog Second Opinion.

Sunday Morning and Eggs

It's hard getting up early on Sunday. But I love that, because I have time to curl up with my cat and stroke her and tell her how beautiful she is. (She knows.) But eventually my phone will ring or my stomach will call, and it's time to start my day.

Mornings here in San Diego are gray. The morning clouds and fog lift by 11am, but until then it's usually gray. On a gray morning, (or any morning, for that matter!) I want my spiced chai. (See previous post). My cat (Boo) wants toy time. Have you ever tried to make tea and keep a cat amused with one of those "fishing poles" with a "mouse" on the end of it? It's not easy. It's even harder to do the simplest thing, like boil and egg. But that's what I do on Sundays. In fact, I've taken to doing that during the week, to make my "Curried Egg Salad", which is my entry into Sig's Weekend Breakfast Blogging event over at Live to Eat.

This dish is abysmally simple, but one of the nicer ways to start your day. I always keep some hard boiled eggs around, just in case I get the urge.....

1 hard boiled egg

3/4 teaspoon mayonaise

curry powder to taste

I usually take out half the egg yolk for my lower fat version, but you don't need to.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mash.

Put on top of some bread and add salt and pepper if your curry powder isn't salty enough.

Enjoy!

For health news visit Mission Valley Acupuncture

For a place to share what you've learned about vitamins, supplements, herbs, or any other natural health remedy, visit my other blog Second Opinion

Meema's Noodles and Cabbage

We all called my mom's mom Meema (pronounced "mee-mah"). I don't remember which of the grandchildren came up with that one, but it was a child's attempt at "grandma" that came out meema, and the name stuck. My mom was so happy when her first grandchild began calling her meema - her eyes just glowed!

Meema was originally from Roumania, and came here at the end of the 19th century. This was way before health food, and the recipes she carried with her had the earthiness of fresh ingredients cooked over a slow fire. She died when I was 4 or 5 years old, so I know her more as a family legend, rather than as a grandmother. From what I can gather, she was a force of nature. I try to reconcile this image of her as a strong-willed immigrant, with the black and white photo of her that always sat on my mom's desk. There stood a woman in a dark dress with small, light colored flowers all over it, wearing a stylish hat with a small black veil that came down over her face.

The stories of meema didn't involve the kitchen, they involved the living room, where she would entertain guests. Her home would always have a piano, and her children were quite accomplished at playing it. Someone was always singing. Music seemed to be her centerpoint, more than food. She loved opera and Broadway, and probably jazz, though I don't know that for sure.

So it's surprising to me that her daughters and their daughters took to the kitchen so readily. And it's also surprising that the one thing which every one of us carries with us as her legacy should be this rather simple dish. Simple, yes. But in my family, this dish carries the family's DNA. This is the dish that unites us - the one none of us can resist, no matter what our cholesterol levels might be. Unfortunately, I have no digital images of my grandmother. Or my mom, for that matter. Meema lived well before the digital age. My mom thought computers were dangerous. So while my 3 siblings and I all have photos, they all reside in frames.

When I read about Ellie's Nostalgia event over at Kitchen Wench, there was no doubt that I would be making noodles and cabbage. In my family, we usually reserve this dish for Thanksgiving. But hey! I'm ready to give thanks today. And tomorrow. The advent of the food processor makes this dish much easier.

1 green cabbage
1 stick of butter
1 package of wide egg noodles - the widest ones you can find.

Melt the butter in a large pot.
Using a food processor, cut the cabbage into small pieces.
Add the cabbage and stir.
You may keep the heat on medium while you're cleaning up the kitchen, but then turn it down to low.

Find something to do. Anything. This cabbage will be cooking for the next 2-4 hours on low. You will need to remember to stir it from time to time so that the cabbage doesn't burn, but other than that, you're free to do what you wish. When it's ready, it will be a lovely, toasty brown color and soft.
When the cabbage is almost done, cook the noodles according to the directions.
Drain the noodles, add the cabbage.

In my family, we add more butter at this point. And salt. See what I mean? This is not health food!

For health news, visit Mission Valley Acupuncture

For a place to share what you've learned about vitamins, herbs, or any other natural remedy, visit my other blog Second Opinion