Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Magic Miso Mix Dressing

My father created a wonderful recipe that he likes to call "magic bean sauce." It's magic partly because he uses it on string beans from his garden that turn from purple to green when they are cooked (I'm not sure what kind of seeds he plants to get these specimens, but it's a neat trick) and partly because the sauce is so good it tastes like magic. Here, I've kept his basic array of ingredients, but tweaked the recipe to make the final product smoother and tangier.

Magic Miso Mix

Ingredients
4 ounces tofu (soft preferred)
3 tablespoons white miso
3 tablespoons of tahini or Asian sesame paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
Water

Directions
  1. Add the tofu, miso, sesame paste, lemon juice, maple syrup, and sesame oil to a bowl, and blend with a hand blender or simply mash it together with a fork until smooth.
  2. Add warm water, one tablespoon at a time until the sauce is the consistency you desire.
  3. Serve as a vegetable dip or drizzle the sauce over a salad or vegetables such as broccoli or green beans.

Themes and Variations
Instead of sesame paste, you can use finely ground brown sesame seeds (which you can toast briefly in a dry frying pan until fragrant, then grind in a traditional grinding dish called a "suribachi" or whir in a food processor).

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine
For those familiar with traditional Chinese medicine, this dressing is good for Lung qi deficiency and Spleen qi deficiency (treating symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, general weakness, lack of appetite, and loose stool). It also harmonizes the Middle Burner (assisting digestion).Miso on Foodista

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