Why Miso is Good For Health

Miso and soy sauce are indispensable flavoring elements in Japanese cooking. Nowadays, miso and soy sauce are used widely in various dishes not only Japanese, but also modern diet, such as in macrobiotics and other international dishes.

Miso is made of fermented soy beans and salt and some miso also contains fermented rice and/or wheats.   Nutrition contents per 100 gram of miso:

0.12 mg of vitamin B1

1.1. mg of vitamin E

130 mg of Calcium

440 mg of Kalium

4.3 mg of Iron

a good source of protein, amino acid, fibres and minerals.

Being a fermented food, miso has many health benefits, such as its effect on moderating cholesterol level, prevent cancer, improve digestion, anti ageing and positive effect on brain cell development.   Soy beans itself is known to contain flabonoid - which has a positive effect on the production of female hormones.

At home i use a lot of miso in cooking.  For example at every meal i always have miso soup and because i cook a lot of fish, miso is an easy to use flavor for seafood.

Miso soup is very easy to make.     All you need is a pot of broth (fish/chicken/pork), some vegetables or tofu or seaweed or any combination and miso paste.   My favorite miso soup in winter is made of tofu, seaweed and spring onions (negi/welsh onions).

Macrobiotics Follows Grandma's Recipes

Photo (left) from http://happynatural.jugem.jp/?eid=203

You probably already heard that celebrities like Madonna, Tom Cruise, supermodels to former President Clinton are fond of the so called "macrobiotics" diet.   Yes, macrobiotics has become a fashionable beauty diet in the past few years and leading to the birth of new businesses such as macrobiotics restaurants, cooking schools and seminars.   

You probably heard about 

macrobiotics from TV or magazines, featuring macrobiotics as the "healthy diet" and effective "weight loss" program.

Macrobiotics involves a natural diet based on grains, such as brown rice and vegetables and in principle to eat only seasonal foods that are locally grown in your area.   Recently Macrobiotics became trendy in Japan because of the patronage of overseas celebrities.   

It is amazing when you explore further that macrobiotics meals are in fact the same as those traditional meals prepared by a Japanese grandma from countryside, for example mainly using naturally farmed vegetables, boiled in broth, the old fashioned natto, brown rice, miso soup with seaweed - all of which are the basic of traditional Japanese cooking.

Who would have thought that an old grandma's recipes would became the internationally well known fashionable dishes of todays.   Here macrobiotics diet is known as the low calorie but expensive diet.    Hm, so Japan is re-importing its own traditional recipes home ....

Chicken Wings & Burdocks - (ref. Collagen February 9th)

Another easy to make recipe which has lots of collagen (chicken wings) and fibres (burdocks), especially good for women.   Burdocks actually is a good source of Iron and minerals - sometimes hardworking women lack these, so i make sure i cook burdocks for my own health at least once a week.

Serve 2 persons (at 336 kcal, salt of 3gram - excluding skin of chicken wings)

Ingredients:

6 chicken wings

100 gram of burdocks

1/2 onions (100 gram)

1/2 welsh onions (spring onions) 

30 gram of ginger (sliced thin)

350 ml of water 

2 tspb of salad oil

Sauce:

2 tbsp of miso

soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake (1 tbsp each)

How to make:

1. Break chicken wings to separate it into 2 parts

2. Cut burdocks into 4-5 cm slices and dip them in clean water to get rid of bitterness

3. Cut welsh onions into 4-5 cm slices and also slice ginger acccordingly

4. Prepare the sauce mixture by putting all the ingredients into small bowl

5. Heat the frying pan, put into the pan 2 tsp of salad oil and start frying chicken wings first

6. Boil 350ml water in the pot then put into the boiling water, burdocks, ginger, onions and welsh onions then the fried chicken wings.   

7. Cook for 5 minutes, then pour in the sauce mixture.  Cook with the sauce for 10 minutes at medium fire.  You do not need to cover the pot with lids.   When the chicken wings change colors and sauce mixture runs out, turn of the fire.

Recommendation:

8. Turn over chicken wings to get an even color from the sauce.

Very Easy - Natto Recipe For Breakfast

If you have no time to prepare a easy & quick & healthy low fat breakfast, here is an idea - my favorite at home.   

Just prepare the following:

1 slice of wholewheat bread (or white if you can't eat wholewheat)

1 pack natto

30 gram of pizza cheese

1 slice of ham (if any)

How to make:

1. Mix natto well with the sauce (usually included in the pack) until it becomes sticky and spread it the way you would spread a jam on the bread

2. Cut ham into small slices and place them on top of natto

3. Then sprinkle pizza cheese evenly 

4. Grill it for 3 minutes

I usually have it with a glass of tomatoes juice with black sesame toppings and five strawberries.

This breakfast will give you not only the energy to start the day, but the lots of natural vitamins and minerals needed to keep you stay fit ;D

Natto & Sesame

Nato and sesame recipe  is one of the most popular dish among Japanese and very easy to make. It is commonly prepared as toppings on hot rice for a healthy breakfast.   For men, you can add "fresh raw"  yellow eggs, whcih will give an extra energy for the day.  

Serve 2 (containing 115 kcal, salt 0.9 g, vitamin B2 0.28 /person)

Ingredients:

Boiled spinach or other green leaf vegetables  80g

Processed cheese (cut into 5 mm blocks) 30g

Natto 40g (use sauce attached if any - see photo)

Soy sauce 1 tbsp

White sesame powder 1/2 tbsp

How to make:

1. Boil green vegetables for just a 1-2 minutes, rinse it with cold water then drain water

2. Cut boiled vegetables into 3 cm length

3. Put all ingredients in a bowl and stir well

Put extra soy sauce and a little salt to adjust taste if necessary

Tired or Exhausted

Well, i was the other day.   From early morning, making bento, then running myself from one activities at kindergaten to another meeting, then the PTA lunch, followed by invitation for afternoon tea, then picking up my daughter and driving her to ballet class, then cooking and washing, ....  

I finally had a little time to sit down to drink a cup of warm Honey and Vinegar drink, ...ah, felt good.   I would like to share this Honey and Vinegar recipe with you because here in Japan, there was a study and is now known by many that Honey and Vinegar drink is good to drink when you are tired or exhausted.    

Here is what they say:

When your body is tired, your body becomes acidic and vinegar is very effective in decomposing this acidic substances.  In combination with honey, it works even better because we all know honey is a good source of energy - so in short, Honey & Vinegar drink can get rid of tiredness and give you a little more strength.    

You can make this drink easily and fast: just put 1-2 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of vinegar (rice vinegar/apple vinegar) into a cup of hot/warm water (160ml).   And there! Cheers!

Having said that, there is nothing better than taking a good rest when you are tired/exhausted.

At Early Symptoms of Cold (Flu)

Your hands and feet are cold, you feel tired and weak or you sneeze many times, ....    when you feel one of these, it is best to drink something that gives you energy and makes your body warm.

I usually make myself a cup of "hot ginger brown sugar" drink.

What you need:

1 tbsp of grated ginger (or more if you prefer)

3 tbs of brown sugar (unrefined sugar)

hot water

Very easy and very effective!  

Why not try :D

Black Sesame in Juice

Another easy way to digest the already known healthy sesame - the source of vitamin E and other goodies.   Tomato contains vitamin A, B6 and C, a good source of fibre, Kalium and Iron.

I like to drink it in the morning.  

What you need:

a glass of tomato juice (preferably a fresh one)

1 tbsp of black sesame

Chicken Wings & Yam (ref. Collagen - February 9th 2009)

Serve 3 persons

Ingredients:

6 chicken wings

800 taro roots*

salt to wash taro roots 1 tbsp

1/2 tbsp of salad oil

3 tbsp of sake

For soup mixture:

400 ml of soup stock (chicken or fish stock)

1 tbsp of sugar

2 tbsp of mirin

3 tbsp of soy sauce

For measurement of tbsp & tsp, please check Important Measurement

For those with sensitive skin, please wash you hands after touching/peeling taro roots*, as the slimy substance can cause minor skin rash/itchiness.

How to make:

1. Prepare soup mixture in a separate pot and put it aside.  

2. Peel the taro roots* and wash it with salt in order to get rid of slimy substance attached.

3. Put oil in the frying pan and get it ready to fry the chicken wings

4. Pour chicken wings and clean taro roots* into the soup mixture in the pot

5. Cook with medium fire until it boils for a few minutes, then continue cooking with low fire for another 20 -25 minutes.

Check to make sure that the taro roots* is soft enough and when the liquid runs out, you need to turn off the fire.   

I hope you enjoy another variation of chicken wings recipe - happy cooking is healthy cooking!

*Thanks for the inputs!

Tofu, Natto & Chinese Chive

Serve 1 person

Ingredients:

1/4 of block tofu (hard type)

1 small pack of natto

40 gr of Chinese chive

1/4 Advocado 

Warm rice (freshly cooked)

Sauce:

2 tsp of soy sauce

1 tsp of white sesame

1 tsp of mirin

Alternative of mirin is a mixture of sake + sugar, where you heat the mixture to get rid of alcohol in sake.   Mirin has somewhat more flavor than the mix of sake and sugar, simply because the sugar in mirin is produced naturally during the making of mirin.

How to make:

1. Drain water in tofu by putting the tofu on a strainer and lay a bowl on the top.

2. Boil the chinese chives for a 1-2 minutes, when it changes color, take it out and rinse it with cold water.

3. Slice the advocado and tofu into 5mm cubes

4. Prepare natto by stirring the natto well using a chopsticks or fork.   Natto actually tastes better after stirring as it becomes more sticky.  This sticky substance contain a lot of amino acid, which is good for our taste bud and our health

5. Mix the sauce with the other ingredients. 

6. Pour the mixture of a warm rice ready to eat.

If you have dry "ready to eat" seaweed (=nori) you can cut it into thin slices and use it as toppings.

Natto (Fermented Soy Beans)

I am not sure if you have heard of "natto" (or fermented soy beans) which is a traditional Japanese delicacies, which originally came from China.   Those who have bought or seen natto before may initially  wonder why people, especially the Japanese, eat such a peculiar food - it is sticky, slightly smelly and fermented.

I was one of them.  Not only that i think it is a strange food, i used to dislike it.  

The first time i ate natto was at my mother in-laws's house.   One of the Aunties called me to the kitchen to try her hand-made "natto".    She used a chopsticks to mix the natto with a little soy sauce and handed a small bowl of it to me.    "Try...  women in Japan loves this food" she said.    I thought to myself then, "... yeah, well, i am not a Japanese..." but i forced myself to gobble one spoon, and then politely said "Hm.. thank you, i think i tried enough". 

A few years of living in Japan taught me that only a few Japanese make natto at home - which means she meant well introducing me to a very rare food.   It took me another few years to realize how good is natto for health, especially women.   I saw a program on TV about the health benefits of natto.   I then went to the library to double check.   Here is what i found:

1. Because it is a fermented food, the living culture in natto works in our stomach to attack bacterias or other germs that enter our body.

2. It contains a lot of vitamin B2, B6, A and C, proteins, protease, amylaze, katalaze and substances that are only found in natto which works effectively to improve blood circulation

3. Reduce the risk of stroke & heart attack because of its positive effect on improving quality of blood and its circulation

4. It helps to improve fertility as it helps the activity of organs during the production of female hormones

Nowadays, i eat natto at least once a week  ( i should eat more, really).   I have been searching for more recipes using natto and realized that it is not only nutritious but delicious food.   The smell of fermentation can be reduced by taking an extra steps to process the food.   You will be surprised that it does not take a lot to prepare it.

Why not check out a Japanese shop near you and see if they sell natto.    My favorite yummy "natto" recipes are coming soon!

FYI: The photo of a woman on the right is Yoshinaga Sayuri, a 63 years old actress.   I also saw an interview of her on TV about her favorite food and the secret of her youth: yes, she loves natto!   

Tofu Salad With Sesame Dressing

Another easy to make side dish, tofu salad with white sesame dressing.   Check older post (January 20, Sesame 4 Breakfast) for health benefits of sesame.  Serve 2 persons

Ingredients:

1/2 tofu (well drained)

1/2 advocado

1 tbsp of sesame powder

1 tsp of grated ginger

1/2 tsp of salt

How to make:

1. Drain tofu by laying the tofu on a strainer and if the tofu is firm enough, you can put a bowl on the top for a faster result.  Leave it there for 20-30 minutes.   It is best when the tofu is fresh as you will not boil it.

2. Slice advocado into cubes

3. Once drained, you can cut tofu into cubes (you will find less water dripping from tofu this way) and arrange them into a bowl.

4. Put the other ingredients and mix well gently or the tofu will crumble.

My other favorite dish to eat along with this tofu salad:

Health Secret of Cocoa

We know that wine contains polyphenol, which is good for our body.   Apparently so is cocoa, we know it as "cocoa polyphenol".   Click here for more explanation about polyphenol & its varieties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphenol).

100 gram of pure cocoa (analysis based on cocoa from Ecuador) contains 3.98 gram of cocoa polyphenol.   Cocoa polyphenol is known to have an antioxidant benefit that works to strengthen arteries (prevent arteriosclerosis) and as an antioxidant it also works positively to prevent cancer, high blood sugar level and ageing.

Like any other food, just because it is said to have health benefits, we must try not to over consume or it will have drawbacks on our body.  Recent research also showed that polyphenol can bring positive benefits only if consumed correctly.   For example tea polyphenol is found to have drawbacks when consumed at large dosage.   http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Scientists-question-benefits-of-polyphenols

Please note:

This may be a good news for chocolate lovers, however, chocolate is made of other things than cccoa, sugar, oil, solid milk and flavors.   

The health benefits are found in cocoa polyphenol specifically, not in chocolate.   It is wise to check the content of cocoa in chocolates before consumption.

Chocolate Ramen (Valentine Day Special)

Serve 1 person (850 kcal)

Ingredients:

2 cups soup (chicken stock or pork stock)

1 tbsp miso paste

1 tbsp sake

1 whole onion (grind finely)

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp to-ban-jan (chilli paste used in Chinese cooking or chilli oil)

1 tbsp grind sesame (black preferred)

1 tbsp grated chocolate (milk chocolate preferred)

1 pcs of block chocolate (milk chocolate preferred)

green vegetables (any vegetable you like)

½ banana

A little salt and vinegar (adjust according to taste)

How to make:

1. Prepare soup stock. Grind onion and boil together with the soup stock. When the onions change color, take out the onions, leaving the soup clear.

2. Put in sake, miso soup, oyster sauce, chilli paste and mix them well. Adjust taste with salt & vinegar

3. Boil noodles & vegetables separately. Once boiled, drain the water using strainer.

4. Slice banana thin and prepare chocolate toppings

5. Put the soup into a bowl, then put in boiled noodles. Decorate with vegetable, banana and chocolate toppings. Last, sprinkle with grind sesame for rich flavor.

Please read these 4 items before cooking/eating:

1. Remember that someone has spent so much time and effort to prepare this dish

2. What others like to eat may not necessary be the same as what you like.

3. It is a new experience and a good stimulation for your taste bud.

4. This is the only extraordinary recipe you will find in my blog, the rest are normal.

Important Measurement

The term; cup, tablespoon (tbsp) and teaspoon (tsp) used in recipes here refer to important measurement.   Enjoy cooking!

1 cup = 160ml 

1 tbsp = 15 cc (See below)  - or you can use ordinary tablespoon at home if it is 15cc equivalent

1 tsp = 5 cc (See below)  - or you can use ordinary teaspoon at home if it is 5cc equivalent

Sesame 4 Breakfast

Black and white sesame are good source of vitamin E and they also contains an important substance, that works to prevent ageing.   A few years ago when the announcement of its health benefit was made on TV in Japan, there was a rush buying of sesame that cause a sudden increase of demand and thus price in sesame.   

( Maybe, we should keep this recipe a secret ... ssshhh!! :-X )

How much do you need to take a day?  For adult 10-20gr (1-2tablespoon) of sesame is enough supplement for the day.   This is not easy to do if you only take sesame in meals, therefore i recommend an easy to eat "sesame at breakfast"

What you need:

1 cup of yoghurt ( i prefer plain )

10-20 gr of sesame (black or white, i prefer black)

1 tbsp of honey (alternatively you can put jam/any other sweet syrup)

How to make:

1. Grind your sesame so it becomes powdery - this is important because apparently the goodness of sesame can be easily digested in the stomach when it is a fine powdery type not when it remains as seeds.

2. Pour it onto your favorite yoghurt

3. Put some toppings, such as honey, fruits or others

You can have it as an extra dish for breakfast every day.    

Chicken Wings and Potatoes (ref. Collagen - February 9th 2009)

Ingredients:

10 Chicken wings (alternatively chicken feet*)

5 Potatoes 

2 tbsp of soy sauce

1 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of mirin (check out local chinese/japanese shop)*

150 cc of Water

*alternatively make your own substitute for mirin (=sake+sugar)

**if possible use a ceramic/glass cooking pot with heavy lid 

How to make:

1. Peel potatoes and cut them into cubes (edible size)

2. Put potatoes and chicken feet in a pot** (alternatively use ordinary stainless pot, but cook at lower fire - i.e. cook slowly for better taste)

3. Pour all the ingredients necessary and boil until all the sauce is absorbed in the meat and potatoes.   Use medium fire in the beginning then adjust to low fire towards the end.

Enjoy!

Easy & Cheap Ways To Health & Beauty

Most of us already know that health and beauty go hand in hand, 

however we sometimes forget to practice a healthy lifestyle or some 

of us find it hard to continue healthy lifestlye because we have no 

time or simply it just takes so much effort and such a hassle.

Yes. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle seem to involve a lot of work, 

cost money and not easy. Such as doing a regular exercise, eat well 

balanced diet, take enough nutritions, sleep enough, no stress ...  

the list can go on.  

If there is a way to maintain health and beauty in an easier way, 

the natural way, cheap and proven to work (well, it works among 

women here), would you like to try?

First, here are the keywords to remember:  

*Collagen, *Black and White Sesame, *Royal jelly

Collagen

Most of us know that it keeps our skin & bones healthy. We also 

know that as we get older collagen level drops, therefore we need

to take special care to maintain collagen in the body to maintain 

skin health and prevent ageing (wrinkles).

Here is an easy to get and cheap food that contains lots of 

collagen: chicken wings, minced pork,　lever (pork), spare 

ribs, prawns and the less commonly available at supermarket 

and may be slightly offensive to some of us, chicken  feet, pork

hand/pettitoes (!) and sharkfin.

Black & White Sesame

Sesame, which contains a lot of vitamin E, is more widely known as a health supple ment than beauty supplement. Also, most people are more familiar with sesame oil 

than sesame powder. There is a limitation intake when it comes to sesame oil because most people are concerned with calories intake. However, in Japan black and white sesame are widely used in various dishes, especially 

Japanese sweets. Check out: "Breakfast With Black Sesame"

Royal Jelly

The common royal jelly you will find are available in tablets and often expensive. The best and reasonable

substitute of royal jelly is actually pure honey.  Honey also contains the benefits similar to that of royal jelly.

Do you know that the use of honey for beauty treatment

was known from long time ago, even during Cleopatra 

era?

Easy to make recipes containing collagen, using black/white sesame

and honey are coming soon.

What Do You Know About Welsh Onions?

In the old days welsh onions, or in Japan we call it "negi", is used as a medicine to treat sick people and some people even believed that negi can bring the dead alive - the last one might be a wrong belief.    

The use of negi as medicine is not only well known in Japan but also in China - for herbal medicine.  

Nowadays scientific research has shown that "negi/welsh onions"  has the following health benefits:

*boost absorption of vitamin B1, therefore helps body to restore strength 

*proven to work for better blood circulation, make body feeling warmer

*also help to boost appetite and improve energy when you suffer from summer lethargy (heat exhaustion)

When you cook "welsh onions" or use it raw in Chinese/Japanese dish, do not throw the green part.   The green leafy part of welsh onions contain a lot of vitamin C, beta-carothene and calcium which are, needless to elaborate, very good for our body.

Easy to Make Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki is best cooked at home since you can select the best ingredients and feel more comfortable eating at your own pace.   Here is my way of cooking sukiyaki.   Very simple and easy.

What you need:

1 medium/large size frying pan (if possible not a wok, but a non stick frying pan)

1 small bowl for the egg and 1 medium bowl to serve sukiyaki (2 bowls for each person)

Photo (left) - white stuff on the beef is sugar - some prefer putting sugar separate from sauce*

Ingredients:

300 gr Thinly sliced beef (any types of beef will do, but beef for roast type is best)

2 Welsh onions

1 Tofu

4-6 pcs Shiitake mushrooms

Green vegetables (garland chrysanthemum if possible, alternatively spinach or any green leaf vegetables)

Vegetable oil (a little)

Eggs (1 egg for 1 person, adjust accordingly)

Other ingredients (not a must have but good to have):

Konyaku (if you can get the noodle type konyaku, otherwise, get a block konyaku and grate it thinly or slice it into smaller pieces)

For sauce* to cook ingredients:

1 cup (160ml) Water (or i usually use fish/beef broth - please do not add MSG)

3/4 cup of soy sauce

2 tbsp sugar*

1/2 cup of mirin

How to cook:

1. Put sauce mixture into a separate pot and bring it to boil.   Once boiled, put it aside.

2. Prepare vegetables.   Cut tofu, welsh onions and other vegetables into edible slices. 

3. Put 2 tsp of vegetable oil into the large frying pan and heat the pan, then put the slices of beef to fry.   

4. When the beef start to change color, put the beef on one side of the frying pan, while you arrange all the vegetables on the top (see photos)

5. Pour the hot mixture of sauce into the frying pan and bring it to boil once again.   Cook at medium for the first 10 minutes then change it to low fire until all vegetables are cooked.

How to serve:

Break raw egg one in each bowl and shake them well.     Pour sukiyaki into separate bowl.   

How to eat:

Dip your sukiyaki into the raw egg, before you eat.   The strong taste of sweetness and flavor of beef becomes mild with the mixture of eggs.

For those who prefer not to eat raw eggs:

Towards the end of cooking, pour raw eggs into the hot sukiyaki mixture in the frying pan and cook them as well before serving.

Hot Days & Cold Days

There is a study here that showed banana has a cooling effect, whereas cocoa and ginger has a warm effect on our body.   So here is an easy to remember recipe for hot and cold days.   For those with milk allergy, replace milk with soy milk.

Note also that drinking too much milk a day is not recommended for adults, since it will lower the absorption of calcium in our body.   Milk contains a lot of calcium which can easily absorbed by our body.  However, at the same time being easily absorbed in our body, the system recognizes the high level of calcium as an alert mechanism to get rid of calcium already maintained in the blood.   As a result, too much milk consumption can actually cause calcium defficieny such as oesteophorosis.

"... there is a higher percentage of oesteophorosis incidence among women who drink more than 1 cup of milk a day than among those who do not consume milk at all..."

"... here in Japan calcium intake for adult is recommended through eating fish, seaweed, soy beans (milk)..."

Yoghurt Banana Juice

Ingredients:

Banana 1/2 (50gr)

Plain yoghurt 2 tbsp

Milk 1/2 cup

Serve 1 person (131kcal, salt 0.1g)

Just put all ingredients in a mixer 

Mashmallow Cocoa

Ingredients:

Milk 3/4 cup (hot milk)

Cocoa powder 3 tbsp

Marshmallows 

Serve 1 person (185 kcal, salt 0.2gr)

Make a cup of cocoa milk (by heating the milk first) as usual and then put marshmallows on the top.  Adjust with sugar if necessary (extra calories).

Ginger Honey

Ingredients:

Grated ginger (or just take the juice)  1tbsp (or adjust for taste)

Honey 1tbsp

Hot water water (1 cup)

Serve 1 person (130 kcal, salt 0.1gr)

Mix them well