Edamame: A Super FoodEdamame: A Super Food

Recipes

Written by Elke Probkevitz

Thursday, 05 August 2010 11:00

You may or may not be familiar with the increasingly popular young green soybean known as edamame. Easy to find and prepare, edamame is a delicious way to add soy to your diet. The Japanese have long snacked on edamame, but Americans are only recently catching on to their appeal. The buttery, nutty flavor and wonderfully crisp texture makes edamame a fun snack food thatâ€™s addictive to eat. You simply use your teeth to squeeze the beans out of the salted pods, which are picked while young and look like large, fuzzy sugar snap peas. Thanks to edamameâ€™s newfound popularity, the beans are now available at many grocery stores. This super bean has been appearing on the menus of top restaurants for years, featured in dishes ranging from soups to salads to purees.

Edamame are as addictive as peanuts but with far less fatâ€”only three grams per half cup, all of which is the heart-healthy mono- and polyunsaturated kind. Because they are high in protein (eight grams per half cup), they make an ideal choice for getting your 25 grams of daily protein, which can help reduce cholesterol when part of a low-fat diet. Edamame also provide four grams of fiber per half cup.

All of these benefits make edamame one of the most nutritious soy products. Alternatively, tofu, which is considered the classic soy health food, is highly processed and loses all its fiber in production. Edamame is the natural whole bean, which means it retains all the fiber. Although there are no firm conclusions to the studies on the health benefits of soy, it is still recommended in a heart-healthy diet because of its nutritional value and as a healthy substitute for protein sources that are higher in saturated fat and cholesterol.

The word edamame means â€œbeans on branches,â€ and it grows in clusters on bushy branches. To retain the freshness and its natural flavor, it is parboiled and quick-frozen. In East Asia, the soybean has been used for over 2,000 years as a major source of protein. In many supermarkets, you can find two types of edamame in the frozen vegetable section: shelled or with the pods. Both are already cooked and ready to be thawed and eaten. Edamame is consumed as a snack, vegetable dish, stir-fries, used in soups, or processed into sweets. As a snack, the pods are lightly boiled in salted water, and then the seeds are squeezed directly from the pods into the mouth with the fingers. No matter how you use them, they are a great source of nutrition in a delicious little package.

Hoisin Beef With Edamame Noodles

Ingredients:

8 ounces soba noodles or whole-wheat spaghetti
3 Tbsp. lime juice
3 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1â€“2 tsp. chile-garlic sauce (or hot sauce of your choice)
1 tsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
8 ounces skirt steak, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
10-ounce package frozen shelled edamame (about 2 cups), thawed
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add soba noodles (or spaghetti) and cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are just tender, 6 to 8 minutes or according to package directions. Drain.

Meanwhile, whisk lime juice, hoisin sauce, and chile-garlic sauce to taste with cornstarch in a small bowl. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add steak and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Transfer the steak to a plate using tongs. Add bell pepper to the juices in the pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add edamame and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir the sauce mixture and add to the pan along with the beef and any accumulated juices. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Add the noodles; toss to coat. Top with cilantro.

Eating quality, delicious meals is easy when all the work is done for you. Hire a personal chef to prepare your dinners, Shabbos meals, or small parties. For more information, contact Take Home Chef personal chef services by calling 516-858-0215, writing to elke@TakeHomeChef.net, or visiting www.TakeHomeChef.net.