by : Reiko Japanese Food, Tofu

Yodare Tofu Rice Bowl
よだれ豆腐丼

“Yodare” dish is usually made with chicken, not tofu.

But I thought the “Yodare” sauce would go well with tofu, too, and I was right.

“Yodare” means “drool” in Japanese.

Yodare Chicken got the name because it is so tasty that it makes you drool.

For this dish soft tofu works the best.

The sauce is typically made of minced garlic, minced ginger, finely chopped scallion, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, tobanjan chili bean paste, and sesame oil.

It was tasty already, but I decided to add tomato for freshness and color.

Did I drool?

Well, you don’t need to know that (lol), but I will tell you that it was delicious!

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by : Reiko Sweets

Paris Tea Shortbread Biscuits and Ted Lasso Inspired Presentation
パリ紅茶風味ショートブレッドビスケット、テッド・ラッソ風に箱入り

Shortbread biscuits are pretty basic.

They are made with simple ingredients, but they are delicious.

This time I added a little bit of “Paris” tea leaves, finely ground.

It smelled and tasted heavenly!

But why I decided to bake shortbread biscuits?

The main reason was “Ted Lasso”.

We started watching the show, Ted Lasso, a few weeks ago, and we got hooked!

We’ve been binge-watching since then.

I have a feeling that watching the show makes some people want to get a cold beer out of their fridge, because after all, the characters are mostly either on the soccer field or at a bar!

Me?

No.

Beer doesn’t do it for me.

But the shortbread biscuits?

Yes.

The main character, Ted Lasso, brings shortbread biscuits to his boss every morning, and they look so good!

Every time when I see Rebecca (the boss) has her first bite, I crave for it (lol).

And he brings the biscuits in a cute small pink box just like this.

Don’t laugh.

I made the box myself out of a piece of paper!

You can really find anything on YouTube.

The biscuits fit in the box perfectly!

It was hard to wait for it to cool and ready to be cut.

The cutting part is so satisfying.

Absolutely delicious!

I can definitely start a day with a piece of biscuit like this.

I used this recipe, but I cut it in half.

https://www.mashed.com/474422/ted-lassos-shortbread-biscuits-copycat-recipe/

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Sandwiches, Vegan Egg

Bagel Breakfast Sandwich with Vegan “Unfried Fried Egg”
焼かないヴィーガン目玉焼き入り朝食サンドイッチ

It’s always fun to make a vegan egg.

It’s almost like an art project.

My mission is to create something that looks like the real thing AND tastes good.

It doesn’t have to taste like an egg, but I want it to taste good.

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out.

I used my homemade sesame bagel for this sandwich.

A good thing about making a sandwich at home is that you can add anything you want.

In this one you will find lettuce, vegan cheese, tomato slices, avocado, vegan unfried fried egg, and vegan mayo.

Air fryer potatoes.

Unsweetened vegan yogurt with homemade green plum jam and rhubarb jam.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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by : Reiko Koji

Koji Salt & Onion Koji
塩麹 & 玉ねぎ麹

I went back and forth, post it or not post it, wondering if anyone would be interested.

But I thought it would be a good idea to have a post about koji-salt and onion-koji because I have a feeling that a lot of dishes that use one of these will appear on this blog.

The one above is onion-koji.

And this one (above) is koji-salt.

Koji-salt is made of koji, salt, and water.

Onion-koji is made of grated onions, koji, salt, and water.

This is koji.

Koji is a naturally occurring culture that is used to make things like sake, miso, and soy sauce.

You can get koji in the raw form or the dried form like the one I got.

I got mine from amazon, but I also found out that the local Asian grocery store, United Noodles, in Woodbury, MN, carries it too,

When you open the package, this is what it looks like.

First, you crumble it into small pieces.

Then, the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and let it ferment.

It depends on the temperature in your house, but it took mine about 2 weeks to be ready to be used.

Once fermented, they become the Umami powerhouse!

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by : Reiko Koji, Soup/Stew, Tofu

Umami Soup
旨味たっぷり白菜とろみスープ

When the temperature dips from 90F degrees to 60F degrees in just one day, I know it’s time to make a big pot of soup.

Napa cabbage is one of my favorite ingredients for my autumn/winter soup.

I wanted to keep this soup tasty, but I didn’t want to add too much stuff to overpower the natural flavor of each vegetable.

Here is the secret ingredient, although I am going to tell you what it is, so it’s not that secret.

This is something I started about two weeks ago.

It’s a mixture of Koji, grated onions, and salt, and it was slowly fermented over the period of two weeks.

Koji is a naturally occurring culture that is used to make various things, such as sake, miso, and soy sauce.

When it is fermented, it becomes an umami powerhouse.

A few spoons of my newly created onion koji really worked well in this soup.

This soup is packed with veggies, tofu, and noodles.

It’s warm and comforting.

Exactly what I wanted.

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by : Reiko Vegan Meat

Vegan Pizza Muffins
Vピザマフィン

Remember the vegan pepperoni I made the other day?

Well after making pizza, I didn’t know what to do with the rest.

So I froze it until this idea hit me.

Pizza muffins!

I added tomato sauce and Italian herbs to the batter and topped them off with the pepperoni, olives, green peppers, and vegan shredded mozzarella cheese.

As you know, the top is the best part, right?

I enjoyed the muffins with Bok Choy Caesar Salad. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2022/09/24/

It was a great lunch.

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by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Salad, Vegan Cheese

Bok Choy Caesar Salad with Tofu Croutons
青梗菜シーザーサラダ、豆腐クルトンのせ

I saw my SNS friend posting a picture of Bok Choy Caesar salad that she recently had at a restaurant.

I thought using Bok Choy for Caesar salad was a great idea, and I decided to make one myself.

I got this at a local Asian grocery store.

I wonder what “Mui” means…

But whatever that means, I do like this kind.

I tend to like the stalk part of many Asian leaf vegetables, like this or Napa cabbage, as that’s where the flavor is concentrated.

I also like its firm texture too.

The Bok Choy Mui was dressed with homemade vegan Caesar dressing, and then served with crispy ginger air-fryer tofu and vegan homemade Parmesan cheese.

This turned out amazing!!

I really liked the bitterness of the Bok Choy in this salad.

I think I like this version better than the romaine version.

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Vegan Cheese

Vegan Cream Cheese, Cranberries, Thyme, and Walnuts on TJ’s Pumpkin Bagel
ヴィーガンクリームチーズ、クランベリー、タイム、胡桃をTJのパンプキンベーグルにのせる

I haven’t bought bagels for a long time because I usually make bagels myself.

This was recommended by an SNS friend.

And since everyone is enjoying pumpkin-something now, I thought it would be fun to try it.

But the first thing’s first.

Cream cheese.

These are the ingredients I use.

I like the texture and the taste made of the mixture of tofu and cashew nuts.

It’s super creamy.

It’s soft when just made but it hardens when refrigerated.

The bagels have some nice pumpkin color.

They were a bit flat, though (maybe because they were tightly packed in the bag).

I like a thick layer of cream cheese on my bagel.

I don’t know about you, but I just had to keep going…

I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning, so I decided to do breakfast for lunch.

It’s hard to see, but there were pumpkin pie spice bits inside.

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Rice/Grains

Lentil Ball Bowl
レンズ豆団子ボウル

Dinner from a weeknight.

Barly and purple rice cooked together.

I tried Kashmiri before, but this was my first time to try this Madras Curry sauce.

This, just like the Kashimiri one, also needed some kind of sweetener.

It’s a bit spicier than Kashimiri, but it was as good.

When I made the lentil balls, I froze some.

They are great to have in the freezer because they are easy to thaw in the microwave, and they can be the main part of your meal.

Cucumber yogurt sauce.

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