They say we use an average of ONE recipe per cookbook we buy. It's a testament to this wonderful cookbook that I've made at least 8 recipes from it, and I've loved each and every one. Fantastic!

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Product Description

While Japanese cuisine has become popular in the West, far less is known about the traditional fare originating from Japan's Buddhist temples. Natural and healthy, temple food is based on fresh seasonal vegetables, and staples such as grains and tofu. For centuries, these dishes have been a way of life—and a refreshing change of pace—for monks whose days are spent in rigorous self-discipline.

Married to a Buddhist monk, author Mari Fujii has taught temple cuisine for over twenty years. In these pages, she presents sixty heartwarming recipes, many adapted for the Western kitchen but all true to their roots. Her Carrot and Mushroom Soymilk Soup combines traditional sensibilities with modern taste requirements. The Ginger Rice lends a welcome flair to a common staple, and Banana Tempura is a light, fruity variation of this worldwide favorite.

Mari Fujii's offerings are wide-ranging. THE ENLIGHTENED KITCHEN opens with soups and salads, then sweeps into tofu, beans, vegetables, rice and desserts. A well-considered appendix explains the finer points of cooking rice and making stock, and a detailed glossary provides valuable tips on selecting, using, and storing ingredients.

In Japan, as people seek more ways to improve their diets, temple cuisine is gaining a new generation of followers. Mari Fujii delivers simple, seasonal foods with love and care. She teaches the importance of drawing out the natural flavors of ingredients rather than smothering with heavy sauces or spices. Whether soup, salad, or tofu, these wholesome dishes, based on ancient Japanese traditions, are sure to become firm favorites in modern households. Any way you look at it, THE ENLIGHTENED KITCHEN is a nourishing experience for both body and soul.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51935 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 112 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Vegetarians, vegans and even lovers of steak teriyaki will find much to savor in this introduction to the quiet wonders of Buddhist temple cuisine, or shojin ryori. Fujii draws upon 20 years of experience as an author and teacher in her native Japan—as well as kitchen secrets learned from her husband, a Buddhist monk—to explore a tradition that depends solely on seasonal vegetables, prepared in a spiritual way. She introduces the temple repertoire, from simple salads to vegetable soups and stews. Tae Hamamura's color photographs are mouth-watering, whether depicting Kenchin Style Vegetable Soup or a simple bowl of Ginger Rice. However, although Fujii is eloquent when she explains each dish's philosophy, she falls short on introducing Westerners to the cooking principles that underlie the tradition. Preparation techniques for basics like rice and stock are relegated, along with a crucial glossary of ingredients, to the back of the book, where they are dealt with perfunctorily. If Fujii had taken more trouble to introduce Americans to the foundations of temple cuisine—methods, tastes, ingredients—she would have better empowered them to make it their own and feed the stomach as well as the soul. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"The book is beautifully illustrated and the recipes are mostly simple, quick and easy to follow. Longtime vegetarians, especially those with a macrobiotic background (which in America has seriously deep Japanese roots), will be familiar with many of these ingredients. . . Fujii provides a helpful, illustrated glossary, as well as some basic how-to material for preparing staples." -Associated Press
"Vegetarians, vegans and even lovers of steak teriyaki will find much to savor in this introduction to the quiet wonders of Buddhist temple cuisine, or shojin ryori. ...Tae Hamamura's color photographs are mouth-watering, whether depicting Kenchin Style Vegetable Soup or a simple bowl of Ginger Rice." -Publishers Weekly
"Clean and crisp, this nourishing guide brings a healthy, natural culinary tradition from Japanese temples to the American table. . . . a true antidote to the overindulgent American diet, this is more than a recipe collection--it's a refreshing approach to food that is sure to make you look and feel renewed." -Kirkus Reviews
"Emphasizing natural and healthy ingredients such as fresh seasonal vegetables, and the staples of grains, and tofu, these creations are simple and elegant delights, delicious without undue extravagance. . . . Highly recommended." -Midwest Book Review
"Touting the benefits of vegetarian and vegan diets, The Enlightened Kitchen presents dishes that anyone would love, while the fantastic photographs will tempt even the most die-hard carnivore to at least try the recipes. Knowing that a healthy life-style and long life takes work, this new cookbook espouses good, sensible meals which can encourage weight loss and improve insulin sensitivity. The bonus? The food tastes good.... I'm hooked. I try to eat sensibly and plan to live to be 110! I expect The Enlightened Kitchen to help me meet my objective." -BookLoons.com

From the Publisher
Brimming over with delicious recipes based on the centuries-old vegetarian cuisine of Japan's Buddhist temples, this book is a must for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone with an interest in healthy eating. In addition to mouthwatering recipes for soups, salads, tofu, beans, vegetables, rice, and desserts, the author teaches us the physical and spiritual benefits of using seasonal ingredients and following the flow of nature. In an age when processed, additive-laden foods are everywhere, readers will be surprised to find just how delicious the natural flavors of fresh vegetables can be. Lavish full-color photographs, easy-to-follow instructions, and a wealth of information about the ingredients make it easy to bring the magic of Japan's temple cuisine into your own kitchen.

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Customer Reviews

Beautiful, Delicious, Simple, and Elegant
I am lucky enough to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where "shojin" cuisine (Japanese Buddhist temple cuisine) is served to two wonderful restaurants: Cha Ya and Medicine. I often say "I could live on that cuisine," so when I discovered Fujii's cookbook, I was thrilled. The recipes are so simple but divinely delicious - and of course healthful! Many of the recipes call for only 5 or 7 ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar at first. But, after your first visit to an Asian grocery or even the Asian aisle of your supermarket, you'll be ready to master this cuisine. As a vegan cooking instructor and a lover of this simple but elegant cuisine, I have prepared many of the dishes in this book and recommend each one as highly as the next. The simplicity is amazing, and the flavors are divine. You'll love this book!

Pour the spirit of heaven and earth into every dish
Buddhism being a religion of reincarnation, one of the precepts of cloistered monks is to harm "nothing that flees when chased." After all, that might just be your brother or wife from a past life sizzling in your cookpot. However, even those pursuing enlightenment must eat, and even monks like their food to be varied and tasty, so the spiritually pure tradition of "Shojin Ryori" was born.

Shojin Ryori is a vegan cuisine still served today in the temples of Japan, based on seasonal vegetables that can be grown by the monks. Eating food that follows the flow of nature is considered best for the body and soul, and seasoning is kept light so that the natural flavor of the fresh vegetables can be preserved.

Author Mari Fujii learned the arts of shojin ryori from her husband Sotetsu, who was the Tenzo, or temple cook, during his ten years as a monk. Now a priest at a temple in Kamakura, Sotetsu and Fujii teach shojin ryori to all who wish to learn. With "The Enlightened Kitchen," they have brought this wisdom to a wider audience, allowing all to partake of the healthy, natural and delicious style of cooking.

In seven section, including soups, salads, tofu/beans, vegetables, potatoes/rice/grains, and deserts, Fujii has selected easy-to-make dishes using seasonal vegetables that should be easy to find in any grocery store. The recipes are delightfully simple, and you will be amazed that such great food can come from such little effort. She stays with traditional Japanese vegetables, as well as occasionally incorporating rarities such as avocado and celery to mix things up. The base for most of the sauces is sake, miso paste, sesame oil, rice vinegar and lemon. She has substituted maple syrup for mirin, thinking that mirin might be hard to find in the US, but it is easy enough to swap it back. Not all of the recipes are strictly vegan, as Fujii points out that Chinese and Tibetan Shojin Ryori allow for dairy products, although authentic Japanese does not.

Of the dishes I have made, the "Chestnut Tea Rice" was excellent, as were the "Fried Pumpkin with Peanut Sauce," "Tofu Fried with Almonds," "Sweet Potato and Soybeans with Miso/Lemon Sauce" and "Koyadofu Teriyaki." I am looking forward to exploring all of the recipes, and I have no doubt that they will be equally satisfying.

It is said that those who eat Shojin Ryori fell as if a weight has been lifted off their shoulders. In the modern world where so much processed garbage gets shoveled into our bodies, it is a very pleasant feeling to sit down to a meal that is so completely natural.

A cookbook of the traditional fare that has its roots in Japan's Buddhist temples
Written by the wife of a Buddhist monk who has taught temple cuisine for over twenty years, The Enlightened Kitchen: Fresh Vegetable Dishes From The Temples Of Japan is a cookbook of the traditional fare that has its roots in Japan's Buddhist temples. Emphasizing natural and healthy ingredients such as fresh seasonal vegetables, and the staples of grains, and tofu, these creations are simple and elegant delights, delicious without undue extravagance. All recipes are animal-free, making The Enlightened Kitchen especially ideal for vegetarians and vegans. Full-color photographs throughout and straightforward instructions clearly show the reader how to prepare such mouth- watering delicacies as Shiitake Mushrooms Stuffed with Tofu, Sushi Rolls (prepared entirely without fish), Buckwheat Crepes, Kenchin Style Vegetable Soup, and much more. Highly recommended.