- Sweeten azuki beans with autumn or winter squash, dried chestnuts, barley malt, raisins, or other dried fruit. Press into a pan, let dry and slice like brownies. Serve as a sweet soup, or purée to make a dip for mochi.
- Sweetened azuki beans also make a nice kanten.





AMASAKE

- Dilute with water, if necessary, and serve warm with a pinch of fresh grated ginger.
- Dilute with heat, then thicken with diluted kuzu to make a creamy pudding.
- Dilute and heat with agar agar flakes (and possibly a dash of fresh grated lemon or orange rind) to make a sweet, refreshing kanten.





COUSCOUS CAKE

- Sweeten couscous with brown rice syrup or apple juice. Frost with amasake-kuzu pudding, squash jam, or stewed fruit compote.
- Sweeten couscous by cooking in raisins or dried apricots. Press into a cake dish.
- Cook couscous with water, apple juice or pear juice, and frost with cooked and puréed fresh or dried fruit.
- Make couscous cake with berry or melon kanten jelled on top.





DRIED CHESTNUTS

- Stew or pressure cook chestnuts, azuki beans, dried apples and raisins with a pinch of sea salt.
- Simmer or pressure cook chestnuts, azuki beans, and sweet rice. Serve as a pudding, and occasionally sweeten it with barley malt.
- CHESTNUT PURÉE: Soak dried chestnuts and pressure cook with a small pieceof kombu or pinch of sea salt until soft. Purée in a hand food mill or surabachi.
- CHESTNUT-SQUASH PUDDING: Cook chestnuts and squash separately. Mash both ingredients separately, then mix together. Then thicken the mixture with kuzu, or sweeten with barley malt.





FRUIT

- APPLE SAUCE: Cook chunks of apple in water with a pinch of sea salt, then purée in a food mill.
- STEAMED APPLE: Lightly steam apple slices or rings.
- Grate a sour green apple.
- FRUIT COMPOTE: Cook fresh or dried fruit with a pinch of sea salt and thicken with kuzu.
- STEWED FRUIT: Enjoy a small bowl of fresh berries with a pinch of sea salt. Pour amasake on top as a variation.
- FRESH MELON: Serve a small wedge of fresh melon with a pinch of sea salt.





KANTEN OR JELL-O

- With Rice Syrup: Beginning with water and agar agar base, sweeten with brown rice syrup or barley malt, pour into a mold and garnish with ligthly roasted seeds or dried chestnut purée.
- Fresh or Dried Fruit: Begin with an apple juice and agar agar base and cook in any northern climate fruit (fresh or dried), or add it at the end.
- Berry or Melon: Dissolve agar agar in an apple or pear juice base. Pour over fresh berries or melon balls.





MOCHI

- Lightly steam or toast mochi in a skillet. Dip in a teaspoon of warm brown rice syrup or barley malt.
- Lightly steam or toast in a skillet and top with a few spoonfuls of chestnut purée.
- Lightly steam or toast in a skillet and top with a few spoonfuls of sweetend and puréed azuki beans.
- Melt uncooked mochi slices into sweetened azuki beans.





RICE PUDDING

- Simmer leftover rice, sweet rice, or rice and dried chestnuts, with extra water until soft. You can vary this dish by adding a teaspoon of brown rice syrup, barley malt or a small volume of amasake. More options: add a few raisins, a dash of grated lemon or orange rind.





SQUASH

- SQUASH PUDDING: Cut sweet autumn or winter squash into large chunks. Cook in water with a pinch of sea salt and purée in a hand food mill. Sweeten if necessary with barley malt, and thicken if necessary with kuzu.
- Purée squash, and cook with agar agar flakes to make kanten.
- SQUASH JAM: Cook chunks of squash for 4 hours or longer with a very small amount of water and a pinch of sea salt. Purée, store in a jar, and keep in the refridgerator for up to one week.





SWEET VEGETABLE JAM

Sweet vegetable jam may be made from the same combination of vegetables as the sweet vegetable drink.
As a variation, you may also make it from one vegetable (e.g., make onion butter, carrot butter).

Sweet vegetable jam may be eaten by itself or used as a spread to satisfy sweet cravings (on a rice cake or a slice of steamed sourdough bread).

1. Finely cut a large amount of onions, cabbage, carrors and hard winter squash in equal proportions.

2. Place the cut vegetables into a large pot and add about one-third the amount of water (e.g., 10 cups of vegetables and 2 to 3 cups of water).

3. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low flame and maintain a low boil. Cook for 4 to 5 hours, or until vegetables cook down into a jam consistency. Periodically check the amount of water, and add more if necessary.

4. Add a pinch of sea salt and cook another 20 minutes.

For storage purposes, the jam may be poured into a glass jar and refrigerated.


NOTE: Please check Aveline Kushi's Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking for additional recipes and details on above recipes. Use your personal recommendations as guidelines for the use of oil and sweeteners because the ingredients and quantities which might be included in the Aveline Kushi recipes might not be advisable based on your present condition.