Sushi Salad

A member at the Dr. Fuhrman website passed along this great lunch idea; as usual, we stole and ran with it.   Two of our family members love sushi, but it's expensive to buy and time consuming to make.   This salad is an easier way, maybe, to get the same taste at home.  

It's a very versatile dish, and the time involved in making it can range from just a few minutes to a half hour or more, depending on your ingredients.  If you use just a few, raw, chopped ingredients, then it's a quick throw together meal.  Or, if you want more depth, using cooked and raw ingredients, tofu, and so on, then it can take a bit longer.   My solution is to take the extra time to make it, but to make enough to last a few days.   Then, I'll wait a couple of weeks before making it again so as not to burn them out on it. 

Possible ingredients - choose your favorites:

• Cooked brown rice or sushi rice (I used short grain brown rice, but any rice, black rice, wild rice, or even out of the box ideas like red quinoa or even a combination of all the above will work.  Or, noodles, but then we're off into other territory. 
• Nori - seaweed sheets.   Or, you can add kelp.   I baked the nori with a spray of olive oil (or an oil rub down with a paper towel) and seasonings until it was crispy, then sliced it into thin ribbons.   However, an easy sub is just to tear the nori into strips and toss it in as is. 
• Sesame seeds - toss this unhulled sesame seeds into the salad either raw or toasted in a pan on medium for just a few minutes. 
• Tofu - an optional ingredient that we used for a protein boost.   You can season, then boil, bake, or pan "fry" this and toss the cubes into the salad. 
• Raw vegetables - avocado slices, cucumber slices
• Cooked or raw vegetables - carrot shreds, mushrooms (cooked!), cabbage, green onions, spinach, edamame, and so on.  (The spinach, I just wilted in a warm pan very briefly but raw is fine, also).

Dressings:

We converted a few favorite dips into dressings - very simple ones.   Soy sauce and wasabi are their most used dips.   One dressing uses soy sauce, wasabi, ginger, honey, tahini, and a splash of rice vinegar.   Another uses soy, wasabi, and water.  A third is wasabi, rice vinegar, tahini, soy, pepper and garlic   If the dressings are too thick, they can be watered down to spread more easily.

General Tso

Another favorite chinese restaurant order, made over.    It disappeared too fast to take a picture, so next time we will both double the recipe and snap a picture quickly.    There's no getting around that this one is high in sodium, so either budget for it or reduce the higher sodium ingredients.


Ingredients:

1 pound extra firm tofu (organic, sprouted tofu)
1 pound bag frozen vegetables (asparagus stir fry mix or broccoli florets, etc).
1 teaspoon oil (optional)

8 dried red chilis or 1/4 tsp dried red chili flakes
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thin sliced
1 tsp white sesame seeds (optional)

Sauce:
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tsp hoison sauce (or oyster)
2 tsp chili sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tablespoons sweetener (honey, date syrup, etc)


Rinse, drain the tofu then cut into cubes or thin slices.  Pan "fry" it or bake it until firm.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Cook the frozen vegetables (stove or microwave).   You can steam the equivalent amount of fresh vegetables, also.  We use frozen for the convenience and because fresh vegetables disappear too fast here.

Prepare the sauce:   1 a small bowl, stir together ingredients. 

In the tofu pan, add the dried chilis, garlic, ginger, and white scallion pieces and stir fry until fragrant, about 40 seconds.  Then, add the sauce and stir until thickened, about 1 minute.  Add the cooked tofu into the sauce and toss to coat.   

Serve the sauce over the broccoli, toss gently to coat the vegetables with the sauce and sprinkle the scallion greens and sesame seeds over the dish.    Serve this over cooked, brown rice or even over steamed greens. 

Vegan Pho

We are addicted to Pho and have been for years, many years before our switch in eating style.  As is true with many recipes, this one is a work in process that may never have an end.   Nonetheless, here is our latest attempt, pictures to follow later.

Vegan Pho

Broth:

1-2 large onions, chopped

2 inch piece ginger root, minced and peeled
½ - 1 lb mushrooms, chopped
2 garlic bulbs, minced
5 large carrots, shredded
1 cup white cabbage, shredded  

Water saute the above until it starts to get soft (onions translucent) and mushrooms release their water, then add 6 cups water or vegetable broth.    Add seasonings (below) in a seasoning ball/strainer or just pop them in and be prepared to fish them all out. 

 

Seasonings:

Star anise – 1 or 2
Cinnamon stick – 1
Cloves – 1-2 Tbsp
Corriander seeds – 1 tsp
 
Cook broth and seasonings in the crockpot on high 4 hours or on the stove, simmering for 45 minutes.   Add vegetables, additional mushrooms, or tofu cubes as desired. 

Possible vegetables:

Sliced into ribbons – collards, bokchoy, cabbage, broccoli slaw greens, other greens

Continue to cook until the vegetables are finished, then remove the strainer ball. 

Serve over spiralized zucchini or other noodles;  rice noodles are traditional but not really nutritarian.  

 

Garnish with :

Lime wedges

Bean sprouts
Green onions
Serrano chiles
Ciliantro
Basil
Sriracha sauce, optional  

Note:  many sauces are high sodium, high sugar, and non-vegan.   It is possible to replicate the taste of these sauces in many ways depending on your personal sodium intake needs.   

 

 

"Not Beef" & Broccoli

My old chinese food favorite was Beef & Broccoli; this is our version of a Not-Beef & Broccoli that has the same flavors without the meat.   (Will update with pictures as soon as I can.)

Serves about 6 as a main dish


Ingredients:

1 pound mushrooms
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 pound broccoli florets, raw or frozen
1 cup carrot sticks or chops
1 cup sno peas, asparagus, or other vegetable
Vegetable broth
Brown rice or quinoa, cooked

Water saute the mushrooms, onion, garlic, and bell pepper in 1/4 cup of water, adding more water as needed.  Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms start releasing their water.   Add 1 cup of no salt added vegetable broth.

Meanwhile, steam the broccoli and other vegetables until brightly colored, well before they get soft.  Add to the saute pan and toss with the sauce, recipe below.  

Serve over cooked brown rice, quinoa, or a bed of chopped broccoli slaw, cooked greens, raw greens....the possibilities are endless. 


Sauce:

1/2 cup onions, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced

Saute these in a small pot with 1/4 cup of water or a half teaspoon of olive oil until onions are translucent.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix 3/4 cup red wine with 1 TBSP cornstarch until dissolved. 

When onions are cooked, add the wine sauce to the pot as well as 1 TBSP oyster sauce or hoison sauce and 2 TBSP lower sodium soy sauce or Braggs or a soy sauce replacement (vinegar, onion powder, molasses).   Cook about 5 minutes on medium/low until it thickens and flavors merge.  

Stir Fry and "Fried" Rice

We've come to prefer this far healthier version of our favorite chinese food order. It's easy enough to have it hot and ready to go at about the same time it takes the delivery guy to work his way to your house. The sauce takes the longest, so start it first if you use it.   It is not very low sodium though, so you will have to adjust the ingredients in the sauce a bit to make it so. 






Stir Fry

Sauce:

1/2 c red wine
1/2 c or less low sodium soy sauce
1 Tb oyster sauce or hoison sauce
2 tsp corn starch to thicken

Saute minced onion and garlic in a bit of water or oil until soft. Combine corn starch and red wine and stir until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir, then add to onion and garlic mixture. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. Pour cooked vegetables into the pan, stir to coat them, and cook until vegetables are heated through.

Ingredients

1 bag frozen asparagus stir fry vegetables
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
optional - another bag of frozen sugar snap peas or other of your favorite vegetable

Cook according to package directions - steam or microwave just until defrosted, while it's still brightly colored.




"Fried" Rice
Ingredients

Cooked brown rice
1 cup shredded broccoli slaw
1/2 pound mushrooms
1 large onion
6-8 Garlic cloves, minced

Chop onions & garlic and saute in a bit of oil or water.    Add broccoli slaw or individual ingredients (finely chopped broccoli crowns, red cabbage, shredded carrots, and so on).    Cook until vegetables start to soften, then add mushrooms.    

Season with pepper & garlic powder, then sprinkle with low sodium soy sauce (to taste).   Add 1-2 cups brown rice and stir all together. 

*This is also the filling for the cabbage rolls. 


 

Cabbage Rolls

Instead of egg rolls with our chinese food, we decided to try to use a healthy wrapper instead.   We'd already improved upon the filling, so the wrapper was all that was left.   The filling is the "fried" rice from the chinese food post here. 

Take a large collard green leaf and wash it/rinse it off.    Then immerse it in boiling water for 30 seconds or so.    Remove it with tongs and lay it out flat.    Fill it with the "fried" rice filling and roll it up.   

At this point, you could just eat it as is, or you could pop it in the oven and bake it.  Serve with a dipping sauce or soy sauce if you like - but it's pretty good as is.