Secrets to Staying Slim: Japanese Students Like Seaweed & Pressed Salads

Posted by: Christine on: 22 September 2009

• In: Asian | Food & Recipes | Students
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More than a few Megumis, an Asami, Koko, Miyuke, Reko, and several Hirokos have sat around the dinner table with us here in Cambridge. We like to make the girls feel at home, so Matt and I mastered chopstick usage.  The chopsticks quickly evolved to be more comfortable eating utensils than forks.  So now, everyday–unless we are eating spagetti– we set chopsticks next to the dinner plate. (When I travel I even pack a couple of sets in my suitcase so I don’t get stuck with having to use a fork.)

Our Homestay students, who are not Asian, have a choice but they usually opt to learn how to use the chopsticks. Dani, a Mexican was dumfounded. “I never thought a person could pick up a bean with a chopstick!” she said.

I have to remind the students that not all American families use chopsticks or serve rice and seaweed. They sure are glad I do: after a couple of weeks in the States all their classmates gain weight because they are eating the typical American fare of pizza, burghers and macaroni and cheese.  My girls stay slim! (recipe follows)

For the past ten years, I have kept a “mostly” macrobiotic household–eating whole grains and lots of vegetables. Macrobiotic food stems from a Japanese philosophy of yin and yang. Without too much explanation, I provide a simple explanation: peasant foods, noting exotic or highly spiced , oiled or sweetened.

I prepare arame and make quickly pickled salads. The seaweed keeps metabolism up to snuff and the enzymes in the pressed salad (like pickles) aid digestion. What better foods could you ask for if you want to remain slim and trim like the lovely Japanese girls who have graced my life?

Seaweed and pickles: secrets to slimness

ARAME WITH SUNFLOWER SEEDS

2 handfuls of arame, wash to remove any shells that might still be attached ( I never find any) and soak for a few minutes.

3/4 cup apple juice

1 cup sunflower seeds, washed and toasted in a cast iron skillet; you will put half of the sunflowers in a suribachi (and grind by hand. If you do not have a suribachi you can use a food processor but do not grind seeds to total smoothness)

1 teaspoon shoyu

1 teaspoon wasabi

1/2 cup chopped chives, or scallions if chives are out of season

Drain soaked arame and place in saucepan with apple juice. Simmer 15 minutes. When cooking liquid is gone, add the shoyu, wasabi and chives. Stir. Add the sunflower seed paste and the sunflowers. Garnish with parsley sprig.

Serve as a side dish.

PRESSED SALAD

1/2 cup sliced cucumbers

1/2 cup sliced Chinese cabbage

1/2 cup sliced radish

1/4 cup sliced celery

1/4 up red onion

1 teaspoon sea salt

Mix all chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Add salt and gently massage the salad until they begin to sweat, turn shiny and release liquid.  Place a weight on the vegetables: I use a dinner plate that fits inside the bowl, then I put a few rocks or canned goods on top of the plate so that pressure is exerted on the vegetables. Allow the salad to sit under pressure for 45 minutes to 3-4 hours.  A significant amount of water will be released.  Discard the pressing water. Rinse off the vegetables so that they do not taste salty.  Squeeze out extra water.

Serve plain, or sprinkle with lemon juice, rice vinegar, or a simple dressing made with sesame oil, a tiny bit of shoyu and rice vinegar. Of course,you can use bottled dressing but just a little so as not to override the healthy developed enzymes with fat.

Tags: arame salad, Christine Palamidessi moore, japanese food, japanese homestay students, pressed salad, staying slim, weight loss