Gifts from birds 2: Black bindweed (wild buckwheat)

Black bindweed aka wild buckwheat (Photo by bodhilens)

I finally identified one of the mystery plants growing around the bird feeder in our yard: black bindweed (aka wild buckwheat). Now it totally makes sense to me that this plant looks like a tiny version of morning glory without big flowers (They belong to the same family), and that the seeds just look like those of commercial buckwheat. It's this plant's second year growing on this spot, and this spring I led it to climb the feeder while containing it within a 30cm radius of the feeder. It's not gorgeous but pretty in its own way. I've read birds love the seeds, but I've never seen birds picking them from the plant. I guess they prefer commercial safflower seeds in the feeder hanging above the plant. When I picked some seeds and put them out on a plate, a few doves were eating them, though. When more seeds get mature, I'll see if my cockatiel likes to eat them.

Speaking of safflower seeds in the feeder, birds scatter a lot of them around the feeder, and some of them do sprout. I let a few sprouts grow this spring. I had to scrape a lot of aphids off when they were young, but they eventually bloomed and produced seeds. Safflower is called "benibana" (red flower) in Japanese because the flower can be processed as a natural red dye for food and cosmetics. Also, safflower flower tea/infusion is believed to promote "women's health." So I'm considering letting more sprouts grow next spring and making use of not only seeds but also flowers. It's so difficult (and painful) to harvest flowers and seeds because they are covered with thorns, though.

Safflower (Photo by bodhilens)

Yomogi (Japanese mugworts)



Yomogi (Japanese mugwort) by bodhilens

Recently a distant relative of mine passed away. She was my mother's older brother's wife's mother, who used to live near my family in Osaka. We affectionately called her obaachan (grandma). When I was a child, I remember her sometimes visiting us with homemade sweets, like kusa mochi (sweet rice cake pounded with cooked yomogi [Japanese mugwort]). Although kusa mochi is available at some Asian grocery stores in Kentucky, I kind of missed fresh homemade kusa mochi. So this spring I bought a packet of yomogi seeds from Kitazawa Seed Company (They sell seeds of Asian vegetables and herbs in California.) and sowed them in a planter. To my surprise (and the company's), they grew into at least three seemingly different kinds of yomogi. (See the photos below.)

To make sure that all the plants in the planter were indeed yomogi varieties, I read a lot of information published on the Internet. A gist of what I learned is that yomogi or Japanese mugwort usually refers to artemisia princeps. However, several hundred varieties of artemisia grow worldwide, and according to some Japanese information, more than 35 kinds of yomogi grow in Japan, any of which can be called "Japanese mugwort." The good news is that they are all edible, although some are less bitter and more palatable, while others are more bitter and more medicinal. I sampled a few leaves and found them all fragrant as yomogi should and some more bitter than others as I had read. So I said to myself, "Fair enough," and harvested a bunch of young leaves, cooked them, ground them in a mortar with a pestle, pounded them into mochi (rice cake) made from glutinous rice flour sweetened with stevia powder, and wrapped a spoonful of anko (sweet red "azuki" bean paste) with the mochi. My first homemade kusa mochi turned out to be pretty good.

Black swallowtail by bodhilens

While watering yomogi in my garden, I was reminiscing of obaachan and her kusa mochi, and a black swallowtail appeared and flew around me. She lingered for a while, so I was able to ask bodhilens to bring his camera and take a photo of her. Japanese say that insects can carry souls of the dead. I wonder if the butterfly was carrying the soul of obaachan.

Tiramisu with cream cheese and custard sweetened by stevia

Tiramisu is probably one of my favorite desserts for a special occasion. Hope this recipe won’t offend Italian people. It’s difficult to find mascarpone cheese at local grocery stores in Kentucky (or anywhere in Japan), and if they sell one, it’s kind of pricey. So I searched alternative recipes online and learned that some people used cream cheese instead. I tweaked this Japanese recipe by replacing fresh egg yokes with custard (well, because I’ve been advised not to eat raw eggs in the United States), and as usual, almost all sugar with pure stevia powder. If I could not find ladyfingers at local grocery stores, I would use Marie biscuits as they were called for in the original recipe. (They are usually sold in Indian grocery stores in the U.S.) Graham crackers might work, too. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for one 8 inch x 8 inch x 2 inch Pyrex square baking dish):

Custard (100 ml or about a half cup of milk, 1 TBSP of flour or cornstarch, 2 egg yolks, and 1 tsp of rum or vanilla essence, sweetened by 3 smidgens of stevia)

1 pack of cream cheese (200-250g)

200-250 ml (about a half pint) of heavy cream, sweetened by 3 smidgens of stevia

24 pieces (or more) of ladyfingers

2 TBSP of instant coffee dissolved in 7 TBSP of hot water (or espresso) sweetened by 1 TBSP of sucanat (or sugar) and 3 smidgens of stevia

1 TBSP of unsweetened cocoa powder sweetened by 1 TBSP of sucanat (or sugar) and 1 smidgen of stevia

Directions:

1. Make custard. If you go for a conventional way, put flour in a sauce pan, turn on low heat, slowly pour milk and whisk until flour is completely dissolved in milk, slowly pour beaten egg yolks while whisking the mixture, and continue to whisk the mixture until it thickens. (If you go for a convenient way, dissolve flour in milk and beaten egg yolks in a microwave safe bowl, heat the mixture in a microwave for a minute, take it out and whisk it, heat it again for another minute, and continue the procedure until the mixture thickens.) Add rum or vanilla essence and stevia. Let custard cool.

2. Make coffee. Add sucanat and stevia.

3. Whip cream cheese in a bowl.

4. Whip heavy cream in another bowl. Add stevia.

5. Make cream mixture. Add #1 to #2 and whip a bit. Add #3 to the mixture and whip a bit again.

6. Place a half of lady fingers in a baking dish. Pour a half of #2 sweetened coffee over.

7. Spread a half of #5 cream mixture on the layer of lady fingers soaked in sweetened coffee.

8. Place the rest of lady fingers on the layer of cream mixture. Pour the rest of sweetened coffee over.

9. Spread the rest of cream mixture on top.

10. Cool tiramisu in a fridge for an hour or longer. (In the meantime, you can wash a pile of dishes in your sink.)

11. Mix cocoa powder, sucanat, and stevia. Sprinkle the mixture over tiramisu with a strainer. Let tiramisu rest in the fridge for a while. It tastes even better next day.

Quinoa tabouli (with Japanese red perilla and watermelon rinds)

I sowed seeds of Italian parsley in a terracotta pot this spring, and they are growing so well. I thinned the seedlings at least three times, transplanting some in the ground and giving some away, but the pot soon returned to be full. I decided to harvest a bunch of parsley leaves and make tabouli. Tabouli is usually made of bulgur wheat, but I used quinoa this time. Quinoa is one of those super-nutritious ancient grains, and I often substitute it for couscous, too. I experimented with tossing in some spearmint and "akajiso" (Japanese red perilla) that I also harvested from my garden and watermelon rinds that I was saving in my fridge for additional flavors, textures, and colors. Red perilla is often described as having an anise- or licorice-like flavor. Believe or not, watermelon rinds are actually nutritious and taste like slightly sweet cucumbers. They both were perfect for this dish. Also, this dish goes very well with humus. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for 6 or more servings):

1 cup of dry quinoa (makes about 3 cups of cooked quinoa)

2 handfuls of fresh parsley
1 handful of fresh spearmint
2 cloves of garlic (or 1/4 onion)
1 handful of fresh red perilla
1-2 cups of watermelon rinds (or a cucumber)
1 can of tomato (or 2 fresh ripe tomatoes)
2 fresh lemons
2-3 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa and let it cool. (Boil it in 3 cups or more hot water for 5 minutes, turn off heat, keep a lid on the cooking pot, and steam it for 10-15 minutes until it’s tender. Or cook it in a rice cooker, just like white rice.)

2. Chop all herbs and vegetables finely. Grate garlic. (If you use a can of tomato, drain juice and save it for another dish.* I often use a can of tomato with Italian seasonings for additional flavors.)

3. Zest and juice lemons. (Use 1 TBSP of zest for this dish and save the rest for another dish.*)

4. Mix 1, 2, and 3 with extra virgin olive oil. Add sea salt if you like.

5. Let the mixture rest in a fridge for half an hour or longer.

 *Tomato (canned or fresh) and lemon zest are freezable.

Italian parsley (Photo by gardenfairy)

Young "akajiso" (Japanese red perilla) (Photo by bodhilens)

Sprouting mung beans and brown rice

Sprouted mung beans (Photo by bodhilens)

I got curious about sprouting legumes and grains at home because I read all sorts of good things about it. Their nutritious values spike up when they germinate and get ready to grow. In particular, germinated brown rice turn sweeter and take less time to cook. It's much less expensive to buy a bulk of mung beans and sprout them at home than buying bags of "moyashi" (mung bean sprouts) at grocery stores in the U.S. (This is not true in Japan since a bag of moyashi only costs a dime or a quarter.) In short, sprouting is healthy, tasty, and economical. So I said to myself, why not? I asked bodhilens to craft a few sprouting strainer lids out of a plastic mesh sheet for cross stitch (which he uses for bonsai, not cross stitch) to put on top of mason jars. Sprouting mung beans or brown rice is easy, although it takes a bit of attention and patience.

1. Put 4 TBSP of mung beans or 1 cup of brown rice in a large mason jar (32 oz.), wash and soak them in water overnight.

2. Strain water on the following day and leave them dump in the jar (with a cover to quicken sprouting).

3. Rinse them and strain water twice a day (to prevent them from getting infested with harmful bacteria) for several days until they sprout.

Mung bean sprouts can be eaten at any stage of sprouting. I let them grow enough to fill the entire jar and briefly boil or stir-fry them. Germinated brown rice taste best and are most nutritious when they are just about to sprout. (You notice tiny white heads.) I usually mix a cup of germinated short- or medium-grain brown rice with 2 cups of Japanese rice (glutenous short-grain white rice) and cook them together in a rice cooker. Sprouting bigger beans seems to be tricky. When I sprouted soybeans, they got smelly before they grew big enough for a stir-fry. I ended up planting them in the ground instead of eating them as soybean sprouts. (They did grow into soybean plants, bearing pods of soybeans now.) It’s awesome to see how alive each bean or rice is. Also, it’s a good reminder that whatever wholesome has everything that it needs to grow into what it is.

Germinated brown rice (Photo by bodhilens)