macrobiotic

Red + Yellow = Orange

I added a beet to my turmeric soup, and it turned orange. OK, maybe it turned a brighter redder orange from the pale yellowy turmericky orange it had been before?

Turmeric Soup

Baila’s got a whole bunch of recipes at the latest Kosher Cooking Carnival.

I’ve been playing in my crock pot again, and this time it’s called Turmeric Soup. It doesn’t look terribly different than my Farmer’s Market Soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
• Turmeric, about 1 tsp.
• Pepper, about 1/2 tsp. and salt to taste
• 1 sweet potato or yam
• 1 can of beans (I used cannellini, but chickpeas or northern beans will work, too)
• 3 leaves of kale

Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Sprinkle generously with turmeric, pepper and salt. Put chopped sweet potato in crockpot. Put in the can of beans. Put in the sauteed onions and garlic. If you feel up to waiting just before it’s almost ready, you can add the kale right before everything is tender. But if you are lazy like me, just add it at the same time as the other ingredients.

I let it cook for about 4 hours, and it tasted delicious.

Turmeric

Any of you like turmeric?

This spice is discussed in Anticancer: A New Way of Life, the book I reviewed yesterday. It has been shown in cell cultures to be effective against cancer cells. However, it must be mixed with pepper in order to be effective. Ideally, it should be dissolved in oil (olive, canola or linseed oil, preferably).

Anyone have some good ideas of what to do with turmeric? I mixed with some kasha (also had mushrooms and onions) that I made on Sunday night, and it tasted delicious.

Lentils

I have been making lentils in various forms this fall. The lentils in the bowl above were made overnight in my crockpot.

Lentil Soup with Curry

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. lentils
• 3 cups of water
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 slice of ginger root
• Salt, turmeric, cumin to taste

Put all the ingredients except the spices in the crockpot. Cook on low overnight. In the morning, add the salt, turmeric and cumin.

Lentil Salad with Lemon Juice

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. lentils
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• lemon juice, preferably from fresh lemons
• salt to taste
• optional: parsley

The key to making lentil salad as opposed to lentil soup is use less water. Cook the lentils with the water for about two hours (this is how long it takes in my crockpot). When the lentils are tender, add the lemon juice and salt. Garnish with parsley. Can be served hot or room temperature.

Lentil Soup with Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. lentils
• 3 cups of water
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 slice of ginger root
• Handful of baby carrots
• 2 sliced zucchini
• 1 can whole tomatoes
• Salt to taste
• Optional: jalapeno pepper, chopped

Cook the lentils, ginger, garlic and carrots in water until the lentils are tender (two hours in my crockpot). Add zucchini and salt (add jalapeno pepper, if using one). When zucchini are almost tender, add the canned tomatoes.