Soup is a big subject. Everyone loves soup. It can be a start to a meal or just a banquet depending on its contents.
It would be good to enjoy soup every day, somehow.
Barley Miso Soup White Miso Soup
Kombu Dashi is an excellent base broth to use in place of water for extra flavor and nutrition.
(Kombu is a sea plant)
Sesame Seeds and Gomasio
An essential seed is the sesame seed. It has so much value in the tiniest little package. It is also a way to introduce sea salt to your metabolism by making sesame salt, a.k.a. Gomasio in Japanese. This process makes the salt cooked. It is easier to metabolize salt with the oil from crushed sesame seeds.
Gomashio with spoon Raw and Toasted Sesame Seeds Suribachi Bowl and Suri Koji
Cast Iron Skillet Wooden Spoon Stainless Steel Strainer Grinding Mortar and Pestle
There are many recipes to make sesame salt/Gomasio. It very much depends on the volume of salt you wish to use. It all goes by a ratio of salt to sesame seeds, one part salt to however parts of sesame seed.
Recipe:
1 Tbsp. sea salt
12 to 20 Tbsp. whole organic sesame seeds (unhulled)
One part sea salt to eighteen parts sesame seeds (recommended)
Wash the seeds in a bowl, and swirl around with your hand.
Please put them in a fine-mesh strainer to drain for about 20 minutes.
Warm up a cast iron pan for about 5 min. Then add salt. Toast on medium, stirring continuously. Use a wooden spoon until it starts to change to a light grey color.
Transfer salt to a grinding bowl, such as a Suribachi, a Japanese grinding bowl. Place the bowl on your lap or a stabilizing surface with a towel under the bowl so it does not slide. Hold the grinder with one hand in the center of the pestle. Rest the palm of your other hand on the top of the pestle using no pressure.
Begin to grind in a counterclockwise circular motion until the salt is softly ground.
Toast the drained sesame seeds carefully over medium to high heat, continually stirring with a wooden spoon in one direction.
Use a potholder and hold on to the pan; give it a shake to keep the seeds uniformly cooking. They should begin to pop like popcorn and adjust the flame to low, so they do not burn.
The trick is to keep them moving. Once the seeds stop popping, turn the flame off. Use the pan's heat and keep stirring.
It is a quick window to catch them when they are done or overdone. Practice is key. You can taste or place them between your thumb and baby finger; they easily pop for doneness.
Have a bowl ready to pour them in and allow it to cool. Store in a covered jar.
Tempeh
A nutritious soybean by-product made.
At Mary's Restaurant in Philadelphia, we always had tempeh on the menu at my restaurant. We were from 1988 to 1997. The preparation I found to work best as a base for keeping tempeh for several days and readily used in many recipes was as follows. We would deep fry the tempeh in superior quality organic oil, drain, rinse, and low boil in water for 20 minutes, lower to a simmer, add soy sauce and cook for another 30 to 45 minutes. This preparation allowed the tempeh to hold for several days in the refrigerator. We had to prepare tempeh this way every few days since it was so popular. Our Sunday brunch was bustling, and we would serve tempeh bacon made fresh. We had a spinach salad on the menu with tempeh bacon, a big seller.
Spinach Salad at Mary's Restaurant
Freshly washed spinach, grated carrot, toasted sesame seeds, homemade bread croutons, tofu cubes, slivered red onions, sliced tempeh bacon, scallion garnish.
Tempeh Bacon
Slice tempeh prepared tempeh into thin slices and line them in a row on a baking sheet. Mix soy sauce, maple, or rice syrup, toasted sesame oil, and water. Cover tempeh with marinade.
Broil on medium until the first side is golden brown; turn over and broil again until crispy.