HEALTHY RECIPES FROM ASIA

My friend Yukari Masuda shared the following recipes with me during our
family's recent visit to Japan in January 2010. She is the loving Christian
mother of six children. In addition to sharing these recipes with me, Yukari
taught me some valuable parenting lessons that have helped me as I train
my three year old son, Samuel.
Here is a picture of our family with Yukari's family:

back row: Brent and Anika Chrishon, Amy Masuday, Miu Masuda and Jun Masuda
middle row: Mrs. Omuro, Ms. Ibuka, Yukari Masuda and Ushio Masuda
front row: Nao Masuda, Samuel Chrishon and Yunna Masuda

You will find 3 recipes on this page:

1. Simple Butter
2. Oatmeal Breakfast Cake
3. Parched Brown Rice

1. SIMPLE BUTTER (After trying this recipe, you'll think twice before you
purchase butter again.)
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
Directions: Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir
constantly with a wire whisk. Cook until the butter gets thick like pancake
batter. Then place in a blender, and blend on high for about 1 minute or until
smooth. Enjoy right away, or cover and chill to allow it to get firm.

2. OATMEAL BREAKFAST CAKE (DELICIOUS, yet sugar and oil free!)

2 1/2 cup regular oats
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup almonds
1 teaspoon salt
2 mashed bananas
2 cups apple juice
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Spoon into an 8-inch square pan or casserole dish. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes
or until done. NOTE: Do not expect cake to rise.

3. PARCHED BROWN RICE:

1. Rinse your desired amount of brown rice. (I suggest starting with a small
amount of rice until you get the hang of parching.)
2. Soak the rice 24 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the rice in a casserole dish (not over
half full) and add just enough water to cover the rice. Cover with foil and
cook for 50 minutes.
4. Use a spoon and gently place the rice on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie
sheet in an 100 degree oven.
NOTE: You can also use a dehydrator set at 95 degrees for this step.
5. After about 3 hours check your rice. If it is getting hard, use your hands
to break up the pieces and mix the rice so it can dry out evenly. If it is not
getting hard, check back a little later and do this step.
6. After three more hours, check your rice again. It should be ready. If your
rice is dry, take it out. If not leave in oven and recheck a little later.
7. Use a small/medium glass jar to break apart the pieces that are stuck
together.
NOTE: This is an important step because the rice doesn't parch if the grains
are stuck together.

8. Place small amounts of rice in a strainer, and rub the rice between your
fingers in order to strain out small particles of broken rice.
NOTE: If you don't have a strainer, don't worry about it. You can skip this
step.

9. Preheat a non-stick frying pan or wok over med/high heat for about 3-5
minutes.
10. Place a handful of rice into the pan or wok and use a wooden spoon or
spatula to keep the grains of rice moving constantly in order to get even
parching. When you see all of your grains expanding, you can lower the heat
or hold the pan above the heat and move it around in a circular motion to
keep the rice moving. Parching time is about 2-3 minutes.
NOTE: Depending upon the type of stove you have, you may have more
success holding the pan above the heat the entire time and moving it around
in a circular motion in order to keep the rice moving.
NOTE: Please wear oven mitts, as the handle on the pan/wok tends to get
very hot.

11. Once the rice is parched, immediately pour the rice out of the pan/wok
into a flat non-plastic container where they can cool off
12. Keep parching until all of your rice is parched.
10. Once your parched rice has completely cooled off, store in a large glass
with a lid, a plastic storage bag, or a plastic container with a an air-tight lid.
NOTE: Your grains can be kept for a long period of time, as long as moisture
does not enter the container.

ENJOY your PARCHED RICE!

If you have any questions about parching, please feel free to contact me at
anikachrishon@gmail.com or 205-755-8934.

Why Parched Grains?

Before every meal, Yukari and her family served us a bowl of parched rice
and wheatberries. The first time they served parched grains to us we were
waiting for them to give us soy milk so we could eat it like a bowl of cereal-
but the soymilk never came. Instead, we were give some delicious dry
seasoning to sprinkle on our grains. We chewed and chewed and chewed
some more. It was a very different experience for our entire family, but we
started to look forward to eating parched grains. After a few days of eating
parched grains, I decided to spend some time in the kitchen with Yukari to
learn how to make them so our family could still enjoy them once we
returned to America.
I watched Yukari for a couple of days, and then I started parching grains daily
for everyone in the house. I wasn't very confident about my ability to do the
entire process from start to finish and I had a lot of questions about parched
grains, so before we returned to America Yukari presented me with a copy of
a book called The Story of Parched Grains. The book was written by a young
Korean man, Young-Sun Hong, and it is available in English, Korean and
Japanese.
As I started reading the book, I realized that parched grains are not only
delicious but they also good for you. According to the book Counsels on Diet
and Foods, foods that require thorough mastication are beneficial to the
teeth and stomach. Thorough mastication leads to good digestion, good
digestion leads to good blood, and good blood leads to good health. I was
excited to learn about the potential health benefits of parched grains, but I
was even more excited to learn that they are mentioned in the Bible several
times. Here are a few Bible references to parched grains:
Joshua 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after
the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched [corn] in the selfsame day.
Ruth 2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of
the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers:
and he reached her parched [corn], and she did eat, and was sufficed, and
left.
I Samuel 17:17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren
an ephah of this parched [corn], and these ten loaves, and run to the camp
to thy brethren.
[Corn] is a supplied word.
One of my favorite verses about parched grain is from Ruth. The Bible tells
us Ruth ate parched grains and was sufficed. This has been our family's
experience also. When we eat a bowl of parched rice before our meals, our
family leaves the table feeling much more satisfied without the undesirable
stuffed feeling.
I've shared my parched grain experience, please give it a try and let me hear
your experiences. You can get in touch with me by using the "Contact Us"
page, emailing me at anikachrishon@gmail.com or giving me a call at 205-
755-8934.
-Anika

MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY:
As a mother of a three-year old son who has to be regularly reminded to
thoroughly chew his food, parched grains have been an answer to prayer
because they encourage mastication. Eating parched grains before his
meals gets little Samuel into the habit of chewing, and by the grace of God I
am seeing a decrease of allergic reaction breakouts in his skin. Praise the
Lord!