We have been venturing out of the traditional foodways of my family for a while now. Once upon a time, this was just an attempt to discover new tastes and sample the delights of the world. Some of those dishes and foods were adopted as things we wanted to continue eating, so My Prince and I already dine on a diet of foods that would be alien to most of my family.
Lately I've been actively seeking healthier foods to add better nutrition to our diet. I've particularly been looking for lower carbohydrate foods that are higher in fiber. Over the past year, three new foods have made an impression: quinoa (see "Return to Central Market"), edamame (see both posts on edamame here), and jicama (see my jicama posts here). Only the latter two have really stuck in our diet. Quinoa is harder to find here in Austin and impossible in our regular shopping haunts in Houston. (Yes, I could drive 20 miles out of the way to get it, but I tend not to do that for anything except raspberry tea.) Edemame and jicama, however, are on our plates at least once a week, sometimes more.
I have three more new foods ready for review right now. One is really an herb: rosemary. I know I've tasted rosemary before, but I have never cooked with it. Now I have the promised rosemary bush and am making my first efforts to incorporate it into my cooking. Fennel can be used as both a vegetable and an herb. Haven't tried it yet, but look forward to trying. Pumpkin is not exactly new. I've had pumpkin pie all my life. I've even made a couple. I've never tried fresh pumpkin, though. I'm going to try my hands at cooking the seeds and making a couple of dishes from the fresh pumpkin that have nothing to do with pies.
Showing posts sorted by date for query edamame. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query edamame. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Edamame (2)
Well, I repeated the stir-fry using edamame, celery (3 stalks, finely sliced), carrots (handful of miniatures, finely sliced), and packaged cole slaw (3-4 cups). A few spices to taste, and I had a healthy, low-carb, and, well, tasty side dish. Without the rice. Woot!
My stir-dry technique involves some steaming since I don't like to have to stand too long in the kitchen. While that helps move things along, there is still plenty of crunch when I am too impatient to let everything cook to a pulp.
My stir-dry technique involves some steaming since I don't like to have to stand too long in the kitchen. While that helps move things along, there is still plenty of crunch when I am too impatient to let everything cook to a pulp.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Edamame
"Edamame" is the Japanese word for boiled soy beans. Yup, the same stuff that my Louisiana cousins (you thought I only had cousins in Houston? LOL!) grow for animal feed, it would seem. Only yesterday I bought it (Imperial Gourmet All Natural Edamame) in a big box with 8 little (frozen) packages for a little over $7. I am not thinking that that was such a good buy, but, since I've never actually had this food (other than a little taste at a salad bar), I thought it would be worth the investment to try it out.
I thawed out the first package (not enough room in the freezer for all 8). When it was getting time for dinner, I actually read the box. I didn't realize that the pods were not edible. That makes even more of the packaging a waste, since there was really no need for plastic bowls for these beans and, indeed, not too much justification for taking up all that space in shipping and storage.
Looking for more information on this product (there is no "Imperial Gourmet" website that I could find), I did find a web reference on the package to JYC International. J. Y. Chung and his company apparently import these packages directly from China for Sam's, Costco, and others. The website is not well developed, but there is some more information about the history and cultural context of edamame in the Orient and in the States.
I also spent some time trying to figure out the nutritional value of these beans. Not that I doubted that they were good for me. The problem was the packaging. The nutritional panel said that there were 12 servings in the box, but there were only 8 little bowls. In order to get 12 servings, I would have to divide 6 bowls in half and the remaining 2 bowls in sixths and then redistribute the beans from the two bowls to the half-bowls and . . . what a mess!
And then there were the inedible pods. I had to assume that the pods were not included in the nutritional information, but their size (one-, two-, and three-bean pods) and probable random distribution would affect what was left in each bowl after shelling. *snarl*
I ended up ignoring the nutritional information and winging it. The whole problem just aggravated me. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes in the microwave, a little (not nearly as much as the package provided) sea salt, and a dash of soy sauce produced a nice little bowl of beans to snack on. They were labeled as a snack, so I had to try them as a snack. I shelled them all at once instead of squushing them out into my mouth. I seasoned the bowl of beans after shelling. And it was good. A lot of work and worry for a small bowl of beans, but not so bad.
I ate a few beans and liked the crunch and the taste. Nothing overwhelming as far as flavor is concerned, so I figured the bean would play well with others. I dumped the remainder in a stir fry of celery, onion, cabbage from a package of fresh cole slaw, and leftover rice from the previous day. Very nice when served with salmon. The flavors, even with a little garlic and soy sauce did not overwhelm the salmon, so I had to admit that I was proud of my cooking last night.
I will also look for edamame now in other kinds of packaging with clearer nutritional information. It is very likely to become a frequent addition to my vegetable stir-frys.
I thawed out the first package (not enough room in the freezer for all 8). When it was getting time for dinner, I actually read the box. I didn't realize that the pods were not edible. That makes even more of the packaging a waste, since there was really no need for plastic bowls for these beans and, indeed, not too much justification for taking up all that space in shipping and storage.
Looking for more information on this product (there is no "Imperial Gourmet" website that I could find), I did find a web reference on the package to JYC International. J. Y. Chung and his company apparently import these packages directly from China for Sam's, Costco, and others. The website is not well developed, but there is some more information about the history and cultural context of edamame in the Orient and in the States.
I also spent some time trying to figure out the nutritional value of these beans. Not that I doubted that they were good for me. The problem was the packaging. The nutritional panel said that there were 12 servings in the box, but there were only 8 little bowls. In order to get 12 servings, I would have to divide 6 bowls in half and the remaining 2 bowls in sixths and then redistribute the beans from the two bowls to the half-bowls and . . . what a mess!
And then there were the inedible pods. I had to assume that the pods were not included in the nutritional information, but their size (one-, two-, and three-bean pods) and probable random distribution would affect what was left in each bowl after shelling. *snarl*
I ended up ignoring the nutritional information and winging it. The whole problem just aggravated me. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes in the microwave, a little (not nearly as much as the package provided) sea salt, and a dash of soy sauce produced a nice little bowl of beans to snack on. They were labeled as a snack, so I had to try them as a snack. I shelled them all at once instead of squushing them out into my mouth. I seasoned the bowl of beans after shelling. And it was good. A lot of work and worry for a small bowl of beans, but not so bad.
I ate a few beans and liked the crunch and the taste. Nothing overwhelming as far as flavor is concerned, so I figured the bean would play well with others. I dumped the remainder in a stir fry of celery, onion, cabbage from a package of fresh cole slaw, and leftover rice from the previous day. Very nice when served with salmon. The flavors, even with a little garlic and soy sauce did not overwhelm the salmon, so I had to admit that I was proud of my cooking last night.
I will also look for edamame now in other kinds of packaging with clearer nutritional information. It is very likely to become a frequent addition to my vegetable stir-frys.
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