A Macrobiotic Meal

I work right around the corner from an amazing Macrobiotic restaurant in Manhattan called Souen. Ever since my office moved to Soho, I’ve been getting Souen for lunch almost every day (literally). I have been getting so addicted to their steamed vegetables with brown rice & tahini-dill dressing that I knew it was time to create my own!!

First of all…What is Macrobiotics?
From Souen.net:
“Macrobiotics is thought of as a path to health and healing with traditional Japanese natural foods.

Macro Plate from Souen

It is thought that by eating balanced foods such as grains and vegetables that are more local and in season, we can maintain good physical and spiritual health and live in harmony with nature. A typical Macrobiotic plate will consist of grains, beans, seaweed, vegetables and vegetable protein, such as tofu, seitan, beans or tempeh.  Macrobiotics dictates eating food in a natural way – unrefined and unprocessed.” (Read more at Souen.net)

The meal I’m creating doesn’t involve every one of those elements listed above, but it is definitely macro-inspired! The vegetables used in Souen’s steamed vegetable dish are broccoli, carrots and my newest love, kabocha squash. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a kabocha squash at Whole Foods (I think I may need to check out a Japanese grocery store to find this squash year-round), so I got an acorn squash instead.

Here’s what you need to create my favorite Souen meal:

• 1 kabocha squash (or acorn if you can’t find kabocha)
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 large carrot
• 1 cup brown rice (uncooked. will make about 3 cups cooked)
• gomasio (sesame seed sea salt, optional)
• tahini-dill dressing (instructions below)
  

Tahini-Dill dressing (I don’t know what they put into their tahini-dill dressing at Souen, so this is my creation):

• 3/4 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 tbsp white miso
• 1 tbsp tamari
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tbsp fresh dill
• 1/2 cup water

• Blend all dressing ingredients together in a blender/food processor. You’ll definitely have extra dressing, so cut down the recipe if you want to make less.

Note: I created the tahini from scratch by soaking raw sesame seeds for a few hours and then using my Vita-Mix to blend them into a paste (about 2 cups of soaked sesame seeds mixed with 1/2 cup water). You can buy tahini in a jar at the store, too, just like any other nut butter.

• Cook your brown rice (boil for about 45 minutes).

• Chop kabocha or acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Chop into 5-6 smaller pieces and steam until tender (about 15-20 minutes)

• Chop carrots and broccoli into bite-sized pieces and steam until they reach desired tenderness.

• When the rice is cooked, sprinkle it with gomasio and drizzle with a small portion of the tahini-dill dressing, and mix well.

• Top the rice with the steamed veggies.
• Drizzle veggies with tahini-dill dressing. 

…..then I like to mix it all around into a mush.

I love this meal so much…It’s so simple, but it will keep you feeling satisfied for hours. I think the veggies, rice & tahini are super filling on their own, but you can add tofu, beans, or whatever else you’d like too. ENJOY!!!

xoxo