LAYERED VEGETABLE MISO SOUP

This is my all time favorite recipe. I never tire of preparing it on any day of the week. It is the first recipe that my first teacher taught me in my first macrobiotic cooking class. (This soup is suitable for any time of year)
UTENSILS NEEDED
Scissors,                        Soup pot with lid
Bowl or suribachi,            Pestle
INGREDIENTS
1- 2  inch piece of wakame  ½ onion
3 or 4 leaves of cabbage    1- 2 inch  of daikon
2 to 3 scallions,               4 cups  spring water
2 tsps. of barley miso

First, cut the wakame into small pieces with the scissors and put it in the bottom of the soup pot. Peel the onion. Cut it in half and slice it into half moon slices. Take off 3 or 4 leaves of cabbage from the head, flatten them on the cutting board and cut them in half. Then lay one half on top of the other and slice into bite sized slices.
Wash the daikon under running water with a vegetable brush to remove any surface dirt. Cut it in half lengthways and cut each half into slices making half rounds. Slice the scallions into diagonal slices.
Layer the onion, cabbage and daikon in the pot in that order. This preserves their energetic quality while they are cooking as they are listed in order from the most expansive in energy to the most contractive or condensed.  Add only enough of the water to almost cover the vegetables. Place the pot on the stove,  cover and bring the water to a boil.  Lower the flame and simmer, with the pot covered, until the vegetables become tender.  Add the remaining water to the pot without stirring.
Put the miso in the bowl or suribachi and add 1/4 cup of the broth from the pot. Puree the miso in this broth using the pestle to make sure that it is all dissolved. Add the pureed miso back to the pot and simmer (don't boil it)  for a few more minutes. 
Serve, garnished with the sliced scallions.
If you are in a hurry, this soup can be made by putting the cut up wakame and the water in the pot. Put the pot on the fire and, while you cut up the vegetables, let it come to a boil. Add the vegetables, as they are cut up (in the order in which they are listed in the recipe (to preserve the energetics of the soup), reserving the scallion for garnish,  Simmer, covered , until the daikon is tender, then puree and add the miso.  Simmer for an additional few minutes (not less than three) to be sure that the salt in the miso is cooked, and then garnish with the scallions and serve.
Be careful not to boil the soup after the miso is added, as that will destroy the enzymes in the miso.
Miso is included in this, and all the other, soups for three reasons:
    first, it adds a savory, salty flavor to the dish,
    second, being fermented, it is a great source of enzymes, those little  aids to the digestion so needed to help the friendly bacteria in your system process your food into energy, and
    finally, soy beans, the basic constituent of miso, are the highest  of  all beans in protein. Thus, miso is an excellent source of protein, which is  the building blocks of the body’s cells.
Use only about ½ teaspoon of miso per cup of liquid. The soup should taste rich and flavorful. If it tastes salty you have used too much miso add a little more liquid to the soup and use less next time.



                          DESSERT
                         APPLE GEL
                (Macrobiotic Apple Jell-o)
UTENSILS NEEDED:
2 quart sauce pan        Baking dish or mold
INGREDIENTS
4 cups of apple juice    3 TBSPS of  agar  flakes
 (Agar-agar is a sea vegetable that is both colorless and tasteless. It is high in minerals.  It's quality of jelling makes it most useful for desserts. The Japanese name for this is “kanten” and you will find many references to “kanten” dishes in the literature.)
A pinch of sea salt

Put the juice and the agar flakes in the saucepan, add the sea salt and bring it to a boil.  Watch to avoid foaming over.  Simmer until the agar-agar completely dissolves, about 2 - 5 minutes. 
Transfer it to the baking dish or mold to jell This will take about 2 hours at room temperature, or half that time in the refrigerator.
In this or any of the following recipes you may substitute ½ water and ½ apple juice for a less sweet dessert.
If you are restricted in the amount of fruit sweetener you can use this dish can be made with 4 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of rice syrup. In that case bring the water to a boil, dilute the rice syrup in the boiling water and the add the agar-agar flakes.

The following are variations on the agar-agar theme:

                               BLUEBERRY  GEL
UTENSILS NEEDED:
Strainer,                                  2 quart sauce pan
Wooden spoon,                        Vegetable grater
Dish,                                       Baking dish or mold
INGREDIENTS
1 cup of blueberries ( If you add a cup of cantaloupe cut into cubes with the blueberries you will have a very colorful and delicious dessert.)
1 quart of apple juice,                      1 lemon
5 TBSPS of agar-agar,                        A pinch of  sea salt
½ tsp. of corn oil

Rinse the blueberries in the strainer and let them drain.
Place the juice and the agar-agar in the sauce pan,  add the salt and bring to a boil.  Stir with the wooden spoon, lower the heat and simmer until agar completely dissolves, about 3 minutes. 
Grate the rind of the lemon with the smallest holes of the vegetable grater into the dish, being careful to get only the yellow outer skin and none of the white under layer. This white part is bitter. You will need about 1 teaspoon of this zest.
Add the blueberries and the lemon zest to the boiling liquid and transfer it immediately into the baking dish to jell. If you are using the  mold, lightly oil it first for ease in removal.

 Apples, pears, raspberries, pitted cherries  or any other fruit can be substituted for the blueberries.



BASIC PRESSURE COOKED OR BOILED
                   BROWN RICE
UTENSILS NEEDED:
White plate or counter top
Pressure cooker Strainer
Flame tamer  Bamboo Rice Paddle
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of organic short grain brown rice
1 1/4 to 1 ½ cups of spring water  per cup of rice
A pinch of sea salt per cup of rice

Look through the grain carefully and discard  any foreign matter. The simplest way to do this that I have been able to discover is to place the grain on a white dinner plate or other contrasting surface and sort though the grains, putting all foreign matter, stones or the like to one side and discarding them.
When all of the foreign matter has been eliminated, rinse the grain. You can put the rice grains in the pressure cooker  as the foreign matter is  sorted out. Add water to the pot. Stir the grain to rinse it thoroughly, and then pour off the water. The extra hulls and other lighter matter that rises to the top can be poured off and discarded as well. Catch the grains in the strainer as the last of the  water is poured off, draining the grain completely. Then put it back into the pressure cooker.
Then add the water for cooking. Experiment with the amount of water by using your finger as a measuring device. First add 1  ½ cups of water per cup of grain. Check to see where the surface of the water is when you place the tip of your index finger on the top of the grain. About the first joint is right for me.
Put the pressure cooker on the fire  over a low heat. Cover the pot. Do not secure the pressure lid yet.  When the water comes to a boil, add the salt.  Salt is a necessary ingredient, not only for flavor, but also to make the rice  more easily digestible. However, you want the water to come to a boil unsalted, and then add the salt. The heat necessary to bring unsalted water to a boil is different than the heat needed to bring salted water up to that point.
Now tighten the cover of the pressure cooker securely, and bring the pressure up to full. Put the pre-heated flame tamer (heat disburser) under the pot. Turn the heat to the lowest point where pressure can be maintained, and cook for 45 to 50 minutes.
When the rice is done, remove the pressure cooker from the heat and allow it to stand until the pressure comes down by itself.  If the rice is very wet, put the pot back on the heat with the lid off and cook out some of the water.
Wait about 5 minutes for the excess moisture to rise out and then remove  the rice using a rice paddle. Distribute the heavier rice at the bottom and the lighter, fluffier rice at the top evenly.  Alternating scoops in this way makes for a more balanced bowl of rice in which the energy from the more condensed rice from the bottom and the more expanded rice from the top are evenly mixed.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, and are not ready to acquire one (although we recommend that you consider doing so) the recipes for making any of the grain dishes calling for a pressure cooker is much the same. Use a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, and a little more water, as some of the water will be boiled off if the pot used is not equipped with a pressure tight lid.