I will introduce you to one more traditional Japanese vegetable side dish which is called “Braised Eggplant”. This is also from Buddhist cuisine. It is very delicious, healthy and low-calorie!
If you like eggplant, I highly recommend you try this! You can enjoy the flavorful, tender, and yummy eggplant. The recipe is very easy and very traditional. I simmer eggplant in Japanese Dashi stock, soy sauce, cooking Sake and Mirin. If you like the flavor in Japanese dishes you should keep soy sauce, cooking Sake, Mirin and Dashi stock on hand (here is my Dashi stock recipe in PDF: Homemade Anchovy Dashi Stock, Kelp Dashi stock ) (also some Asian markets carry useful Dashi stock powder). If you want to try more healthy dishes but you are not a big fan of Japanese flavors, you can just simmer the eggplant in vegetable stock and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. This is also a healthy and low-calorie dish. Unfortunately, however, if you cook it this way you will not get the protein that we get from soy sauce. In fact, my family doesn’t eat soy beans often, we usually get the soy nutrition from soy sauce, Tofu, Miso (soy bean paste), Natto (fermented soy beans), soy milk and so on.
In this recipe, I didn’t peel the eggplant because one of the important nutrients, Anthocyanin (antioxidant), is found in high amounts in eggplant skin. If you don’t like the gooey texture that the skin adds you can peel the eggplant.
Categories: Braised, Eggplant, side dish | Tags: anthocyanin, antioxidant, braised, Buddhist cuisine, cooking Sake, Dashi, Delicious, Easy, Eggplant, gluten free, Healthy, Homemade, Japan, Kelp, Low calorie, Low fat, Mirin, Nutrition, recipe, soy sauce, Traditional, vegan, Vegetable, Vegetarian | Permalink.
This is the quickest, easiest, healthiest summer time side dish. It’s just cold Tofu with green onion and ginger.
Tofu has a lot of nutrition. As you know, tofu is high in great protein so it is often used as a meat substitute for vegetarians. Also tofu is low calorie (33 kcal / 2 oz.) so it is good food for people who care about their’ diet.
Ginger is used as a medicine (we call it Kampo) in Eastern Medicine. It may improve our immune system and also has antibacterial and antioxidant properties.
Green onion is high in vitamins and carotene. It also has antibacterial properties. So These two vegetables are great to make you more energetic and healthy.
Cut washed tofu into small size and transfer to a plate.
Add green onion and ginger on the tofu.
Categories: Tofu | Tags: carotene, Digestion, Easy, Ginger, gluten free, green onion, Healthy, Japan, Low calorie, Low fat, Nutrition, protein, Quick, recipe, simple, Tofu, Traditional, vegan, Vegetable, Vegetarian, Vitamins | Permalink.