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Recipes

Written by Elaine Liu Leave a Comment on Recipes

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), foods are selected for their healing essence and ability to support specific organ function. Please be cautious, food and medicine (herbs) share the same origin. Get to know your body first and then take advantage of the benefits of foods and avoid the disadvantages of certain foods. The amount of certain food is also a key consideration in our diet over various time spans: days, weeks, months, and years.

I am a mother who starts collecting healthy recipes here for my family and promoting a healthy diet based on my understanding of some TCM wisdoms. You are welcome to use any of them, but be cautious about the side effects of each food on anybody who you serve the food.

Vegetables

Afghan Egglant

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Creamy Tomato Soup 1

Creamy Tomato Soup 2

Afghan Spinach 1 Greek yogurt and Naan

Dried Fava Beans with Bitter Greens

Fava beans: In terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Fava Beans, also known as broad beans, are known for their ability to resolve dampness. They enter the Stomach, Spleen, and Kidney. Like all legumes listed in the beans category the flavor of broad beans (fava beans) is sweet, and they are considered to be neutral in temperature.

Chicken

chicken coconut curry

Fish

Thai coconut fish

Lamb

Beans

Mexican beans

Roasted Bite size potatoes

Soup and Porridge

Pumpkin soup

SOUP

Pumpkin Soup with kale sesame topping

  • 2 sugar pumpkins (2 pumpkins yield ~2 1/4 cups (450 g) pumpkin puree)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil (or sub water if oil-free)
  • 2 medium shallots (diced // 2 shallots yield ~1/4 cup or 40 g)
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced // 3 cloves yield ~1 1/2 Tbsp or 9 g)
  • 2 cups vegetable broth (DIY or store-bought)
  • 1 cup canned light coconut milk (or sub other non-dairy milk with varied results)
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup or agave nectar (or honey if not vegan)
  • 1/4 tsp each sea salt, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg

GARLIC KALE SESAME TOPPING (optional)

  • 1 cup roughly chopped kale
  • 1 large clove garlic (minced)
  • 2 Tbsp raw sesame seeds
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pinch salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Using a sharp knife, cut off the tops of the sugar pumpkins and then halve them. Use a sharp spoon to scrape out all of the seeds and strings (see notes for a link to roasting seeds).
  • Brush the flesh with oil and place face down on the baking sheet. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a fork easily pierces the skin. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then peel away skin and set pumpkin aside.
  • To a large saucepan over medium heat add olive oil, shallot and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly browned and translucent. Turn down heat if cooking too quickly.
  • Add remaining ingredients, including the pumpkin, and bring to a simmer.
  • Transfer soup mixture to a blender or use an immersion blender to puree the soup. If using a blender, place a towel over the top of the lid before mixing to avoid any accidents. Pour mixture back into pot.
  • Continue cooking over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes and taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve as is or with Kale-Sesame topping.
  • For the Kale-Sesame topping: In a small skillet over medium heat, dry toast sesame seeds for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently until slightly golden brown. Be careful as they can burn quickly. Remove from pan and set aside.
  • To the still hot pan, add olive oil and garlic and sauté until golden brown – about 2 minutes. Add kale and toss, then add a pinch of salt and cover to steam. Cook for another few minutes until kale is wilted and then add sesame seeds back in. Toss to coat and set aside for topping soup.
  • Recipe serves 3-4 (as originally written). Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to a few days and in the freezer for up to a month or more.

Vegetable broth

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

  • 1 Tbsp avocado or coconut oil (if avoiding oil, sub water)
  • 1 medium onion (with skins // finely chopped)
  • 4 cloves garlic (with skins // finely chopped // or sub garlic-infused olive oil)
  • 4 medium carrots (with skins // finely chopped)
  • 4 stalks celery (finely chopped)
  • 1-2 tsp each sea salt and black pepper (plus more to taste // divided)
  • 9-10 cups filtered water
  • 1 cup chopped sturdy greens (kale, collards, etc.)
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 small handful fresh thyme* 
  • 1 small handful fresh rosemary*
  • 2 whole bay leaves
  • 3-4 Tbsp nutritional yeast (if you don’t have it, omit)
  • 4-5 Tbsp tomato paste

Instructions

  • Heat a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add oil (or water), onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Add 1/2 tsp each sea salt and black pepper (amount as recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size) and stir to coat. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until softened and slightly browned, stirring frequently.
  • Add water, greens, parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and another 1/2 tsp sea salt and black pepper (amount as recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size) and increase heat to medium high until the mixture comes to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and add nutritional yeast and tomato paste (add less of both for less intense flavor, or more for bigger more robust flavor!). Stir to combine and loosely cover (with the lid cracked).
  • Continue cooking for at least 30 minutes, preferably 45 minutes to 1 hour. The flavor will deepen the longer it cooks.
  • Near the end of cooking, taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more herbs for herby/earthy flavor, salt for saltiness, pepper for a little spice, or tomato paste or nutritional yeast for “umami” and depth of flavor. In total, I added about 2 tsp sea salt and black pepper (amount as recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size) and all of the suggested amount of nutritional yeast and tomato paste (both of which add depth of flavor and make the broth rich).
  • Let cool slightly before pouring over a strainer into another pot. Then divide between storage vessels (I prefer glass mason jars). Let cool completely before sealing. Store in the refrigerator up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 1 month (sometimes longer). Perfect for use in soups, recipes, gravy, and more! Recipes listed above.

Red Bean with Pearl Barley Soup

Benefits according to TCM: Sweet red beans not only can clear away internal heat and promotes urination, but also invigorates the spleen and stomach. Both the soup and barley can tonify the body.

Ingredients: red bean: 50g Pearl barley: 30g. Water: 1500ml

Steps:

  1. Wash red beans and pearl barley, put them into the Health-care Beverage Maker, and add water to the water level of 1,500ml.
  2. Start the Boil mode, and put it aside for 30 minutes after boiled.
  3. Restart the Soup mode after 30 minutes, and wait until it automatically power off.
  4. Proper amount of sugar can be added after stewing.

Red Bean Soup with Lotus seeds

Teas and Drinks

References

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