Steiner and snacks

I’ve been using my time as a stay at home mum to do some research about different early childhood education philosophies. I started by picking up a book about Steiner principles and how to bring to life at home. At the same time I picked up a book on Steiner Snacks, by Jinda Yasuko.

Apparently in Steiner kindergartens/preschools, the kids have a different grain snack each day of the week, giving them carbohydrates for energy and lots of minerals and fibre. I was interested in these recipes because they use unrefined grains and no eggs, milk products or refined sugars.


Ignoring the days of the week rule, I made a couple of recipes from the book – Rye Crackers and Ginger Cookies. Both are very simple to put together and interesting to work with. The dough had a texture almost like modelling clay – slightly tacky, but easy to handle. I rolled both doughs between cling-film before shaping and baking.

Steiner Rye Crackers
From Steiner Snacks by Jinda Yasuko
75 g rye flour
75 g rice flour
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsps canola oil
80 ml pure apple juice (organic is possible, not from concentrate)

Measure the flours and salt into a medium bowl and mix well, then cut in the oil.

Add the apple juice and mix to combine. The dough will look wet, but is surprisingly easy to handle.

Roll the dough thinly between two sheets of cling-film and cut into 2 cm squares (remember they’re crackers for kids!).

Bake for 12 minutes in an 180C oven.

Makes enough for approximately 6 – 7 kids. These crackers are very plain and slightly chewy.

Steiner Ginger Cookies
From Steiner Snacks by Jinda Yasuko

60 g rye flour
140 g unbleached white flour
(I added a dash of ground cloves and ground nutmeg too)
1/3 tsp salt
3 Tbsps canola oil
1 ½ tsps ginger juice (squeezed from freshly grated ginger)
2 Tbsps pure maple syrup
2 Tbsps soy milk or pure apple juice

Measure the flours and salt into a medium bowl and mix well. Cut in the canola oil.

Mix the ginger juice, maple syrup and soy milk/apple juice in a small bowl then add to the flour, stirring to combine. (If the mixture is too dry, add a little more soy milk or apple juice. Note, the dough will look wetter than a ‘regular’ dough).

Roll the dough out to approximately 3 mm thick between two sheets of cling-film and cut out cookies. I used cookie cutter approximately 6 cm in diameter.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 160C oven, then increase the temperature to 180C and bake for a further 8 to 10 minutes.

Makes 20 – 35 cookies, depending on cutter size!

The cookies are only mildly sweet and pleasantly spiced. Perfect for the whole family.

Oola’s Creamy Sesame-Eggplant Spaghetti (Eggplant Mayonnaise Sesame Spaghetti)

Okay, in English, that maybe doesn’t sound so good, but remember, we’re using delicious Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. Yum.

This a recipe by food writer and blogger Oola, featured in Radish Lad’s monthly magazine Salad. This recipe is from the July issue and is super simple and quick to put together. Perfect Friday dinner.

Creamy Sesame Eggplant Spaghetti

160 g spaghetti
2 eggplants (Asian/ladyfinger)
2 large cloves garlic, finely cut
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
soy sauce
mirin (sweet cooking wine – check your local Asian supermarket)
3 Tbsps hot water (from the spaghetti pot)
2 Tbsps mayonnaise (Kewpie mayonnaise)
2 Tbsps toasted sesame seeds
red pepper threads, finely cut green shiso

Cook spaghetti as directed.

Cut the eggplants in half, and then cut each half into four lengthwise slices. Place the sliced eggplant on a sheet of tinfoil, sprinkle to salt and pepper to taste and ½ Tbsp of olive oil, close the tinfoil tightly, and bake in a toaster oven or under a medium grill for 10 minutes.

Add the remaining ½ Tbsp olive oil and garlic to a large frypan and heat over a low flame until fragrant. Add the eggplant, soy sauce, mirin and water and stir-fry.

Add the cooked spaghetti and mayonnaise to the eggplant, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve topped with chilli threads and finely sliced green shiso as desired.

Serves 2. 663 cal per serve.

Radish Lad

In New Zealand we used to get an organic vege box delivered each week – seasonal, great quality veges. During winter it got pretty dull though – beetroot beetroot turnip beetroot.

Since coming back to Tokyo, we’ve started getting a weekly vege box from Radish Lad (Radish Boya in Japanese), a company that’s being going for over 20 years that delivers organic or low pesticide fruit and vegetables. It’s brilliant. There is a huge range of ‘boxes’ (they call it a palette) available, they sell free-range eggs, and have a massive catalog of low environmental impact products.

Each week there’s a catalog, including seasonal specials, and once a month Salad magazine arrives with your vege palette. Salad introduces the suppliers, and includes a series of recipes. Since we’ve been getting the palette delivered, I’ve made a bunch of the recipes, particularly from food writer and blogger Oola, and they’re all brilliant. Simple and delicious.

Can’t recommend it more highly!

Jinshin-jiko

For most Tokyoites, the words jinshin-jiko are a pain in the butt. Jinshin-jiko is Japan Rail speak for a commuter vs train accident. Unfortunately a relatively common occurrence, particularly in tough economic times.

Today I had the bad luck to be at the station when and where just such an accident occurred. Approaching Gotanda station on the Yamanote line, I noticed the train was still on the overpass, for a very long time. Uh-oh, that doesn’t look good. As I walked under the overpass a patrol car pulled up, and the officer sprinted into the station. Sirens wailed in the distance, as several fire engines and ambulances followed.

The station notice boards were running a note about the accident, so I hightailed it to Book First to wait out the confusion. Even an hour later the trains were still out of whack. Such an awful feeling, knowing that someone has been hit by a train.

Fried rice. You’d think it would be easy

A couple of weeks ago I was checking Nicole’s Bites From Other Blogs, which mentioned Eat Me, Delicious. OMG, how had I not found Eat Me, Delicious before! Brilliant vegetarian recipes AND baking.

I found lots of great looking recipes which I’m looking forward to trying, but the first one I tried was Fried Brown Rice with Spring Onions, Edamame and Tofu. Yum! Ingredients I love and on hand too. I’d forgotten how hard it is to get fried rice just right – hard to get the right ‘para-para’ texture to the rice.

Mine turned out more like an ojiya than chahan, but still tasted great – and Isaac was very impressed with all the edamame hiding in his rice!


Fried rice with spring onions, edamame and tofu

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp canola oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp peeled and minced fresh ginger
4 cups cooked brown rice
3/4 cup seeded and finely diced red bell pepper
3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions and drained
1/2 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels
170 g firm tofu, cut into 1 cm cubes
2 large eggs, beaten
3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the garlic, half the scallions and ginger and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the rice, red pepper, edamame, corn and tofu and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Make a 7.5 cm well in the centre of the rice mixture. Add the remaining teaspoon oil, then add the eggs and cook until nearly fully scrambled. Add the remaining spring onions and stir through the rice mixture. Add the soy sauce and incorporate thoroughly. Serve hot.

Kasai Sealife Park (Kasai Rinkai Kouen)

Another weekend, another visit to one of Tokyo City’s various nature parks.

This time we headed east to the Kasai Sealife Park, an aquarium on the edge of Tokyo Bay in what was once a seaside clam fishing village until industrialisation destroyed the fishery. Considerable work has gone in re-developing the area, which now has a large park, complete with the aquarium, giant ferris wheel and bird watching area.

A short walk from Kasai Rinkai Kouen Station on the Keiyou/Musashino Line from Tokyo Station, the Sealife Park boasts an impressive three-story high tuna tank.

A recent television feature talked about the Park’s goal of giving the Japanese the chance to learn more about the fish they love to eat so much. I won’t eat tuna (despite loving the way it tastes) because of the state of the fisheries, but it was amazing to see them swimming. They’re very impressive fish and the exhibit is very cool.

Also impressive is the large penguin colony and the shark tank. Hammerhead sharks and what looked like mako share the tank with a massive school of sardines. I guess the sardines hate it, but it makes for an interesting exhibit!

Isaac was very excited about the fish and managed to wriggle his way up to the glass to get a close up look, bellowing ‘fishies ippai look sakana!’ in his garbled Japanese/English, much to the bewilderment on many Japanese families!

I enjoyed seeing the puffins too – such cute wee birds.

Kasai Sealife Park
http://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/index.html

Inokashira Nature Park

Our first relatively free weekend in Tokyo, we headed to the Inokashira Shizen Bunka-en (Inokashira Nature and Culture Park). Of course, we managed to choose the first really hot summer’s day of the year to do it – the temperature made it to 34 degrees!

Inokashira Nature Park was perfect for Isaac. Most of the animals (apart from 62-year-old elephant Hanako) are small, and there are lots of bird and amphibian exhibits that the kids can get really close to.

To get there we took the Yamanote line to Shinjuku and changed to the Chuo line local service heading for Kichijoji. Taking the Chuo line local service meant that the change was easy – we stepped off the Yamanote and onto the Chuo on the other side of the platform – no stairs, which is a real blessing in Japanese rail stations!

The train trip was probably more exciting for Isaac than the zoo, as we boarded right at the front of the train behind the driver’s cabin and could see the express trains and the long distance train for Matsumoto zooming past. Every train is ‘Thomas’ to Isaac (apart from the shinkansen, which he calls planes), so he was busy calling out ‘hello Thomas’ ‘bai bai Thomas’.

To get to the park from Kichijoji Station, follow signs out of station, then follow everyone else! This side of the station heads away from the very busy (and rightl so, Kichijoji is a shopping haven) shotengai (shopping street), past Marui and a bunch of restaurants, then very quickly leads to the far side of the park. Either go straight down the steps towards the lake, or if you have a buggy, detour to the left about 50 m for a ramp.

The first part of the park with the lake is in fact not the zoo proper, but an annex. This is where the ducks and frogs are – very exciting for Isaac. And, to our pleasure, an ensemble was playing Okinawan music as we arrived. So nice.

To get to the main zoo, either take the pedestrian bridge over the road, or walk along the street to the zebra crossing.

The zoo has lots of great areas for resting in the shade, lots of shops selling refreshments and a great range of smaller Asian and Eurasian animals, including raccoons, tanuki, foxes and badgers.

Highlight for me was the Squirrel Street (an enclosed squirrel haven), although most of the squirrels looked like they were feeling the heat!


Inokashira Shizen Bunka-en
http://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/index.html