Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Blue Zones Challenge: Okinawa

I'm almost done with my 30-day Blue Zones Challenge, though I plan to continue practicing Blue Zones principles going forward. And I'll probably continue trying a lot of recipes from Dan Buettner's books. They're just so good! And simple! 

There are five Blue Zones in the world, where people live the longest, and one of those is Okinawa. The Blue Zones Kitchen book is divided by region, and here are a few meals I've made from the Okinawan chapter. One of my favorites was this Tofu Steak with Miso Mushrooms and Mashed Purple Sweet Potatoes.

So you may notice that those potatoes are not purple. They were purple-skinned but white inside. The recipe called for the ones that are purple on the inside (they have higher antioxidants), but I grabbed the wrong ones from the Asian market. Still yet, they have a similar starchy texture and taste to the purple ones. These are mashed with coconut milk (from the can), and they were heavenly. As for the steak, these tofu slabs were topped with tangy, salty shiitakes and leeks. This made for a fancy (but fast) weeknight dinner.

I also loved the Three-Minute Okinawan Somen Noodles. This took no time to make (though maybe more like 10 minutes instead of three). The recipe just calls for noodles, spices, and tofu, but I added some sauteed cabbage to get more veggies in. Paul loved this dish too!

And this is the Veggie Champuru with tofu, broccoli, mung sprouts, and carrots over brown rice. Champuru just means stir-fry, so that's what this is. Simple, quick, wholesome.

1 comment:

Susan said...

I love the look of all of these, though tofu and miso and mushrooms sounds like perfection.