Momokawa

Category: Vegetarian

  • Why Do We Need To Eat Vegetable Salad First?

    Why Do We Need To Eat Vegetable Salad First?

    The simple answer is in these three words: Fiber, vinegar and lipid.

    When glucose level (blood sugar level) rises sharply with a meal, insulin is secreted into our bloodstream. Insulin has storing sugar as fat function. Excessive insulin secretion can result in weight gain.

    Among the three macro-nutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) the carbohydrate is equal to sugar and can easily lead to blood glucose level raise. Most of us tend to avoid lipids because they’re high in calories. But the truth is, it takes time for our bodies to digest and absorb them, so it’s hard for them to raise your blood sugar level. Vinegar also has suppressing blood sugar level function.

    Thus when we eat salad with dressing before main meal, we help suppress a sudden rise in blood glucose level from the meal. As a result, even with the same amount of food consumed, the way calories are absorbed is changed.

    One more benefit of having a salad, especially with Japanese food such as sushi, is that one of the component from the fresh greens called chlorophyll helps diminish and clear the fishy aftertaste in your mouth. That’s another secret of why our sushi give you a refreshing effect after the meal ☺

  • ORIENTAL PANINI

    ORIENTAL PANINI

    Ingredients

    1/2 medium size onion
    8 shiitake mushrooms
    1 teaspoon butter
    1 teaspoon soy sauce
    4 slices low-fat Swiss cheese
    8 slices whole grain bread
    Salt & pepper

    Preparation

    1. Slice the onion.
    2. Remove stems from shiitake mushrooms and clean them with a paper towel.

    Cooking

    1. Preheat a non-stick frying pan, add butter and the shiitake mushrooms.
    2. Make sure each mushroom is covered in butter, this will add to the flavor. Sauté for 2-3 min.
    3. Add the onions and sauté them together with the mushrooms until they have a sweat aroma. Season with salt and pepper.
    4. Add soy sauce just before removing mushrooms and onion from the frying pan (soy sauce burns easily). Set aside.
    5. Place Swiss cheese, onions and shiitake mushrooms on the sliced bread and sandwich it with the other half of bread.
    6. Place the sandwiches into a panini toaster at medium heat for 4-5 min. (If you don’t have a panini toaster just spray a pan with oil and place the sandwiches under a plate, as a weight).

    Nutrition Comments

    Shiitake mushrooms contain the hypocholesterolemic agent eritadenine, which is known to reduce cholesterol. Shiitake mushrooms are high in fiber, and sometimes hard to digest.