by : Reiko Asian Food, Beans/Lentils, Sweets

Crispy Red bean Buns
焼き蒸しあんまん

I shared my story about Chinese steamed buns in my previous post.

Since I was making dough myself, I decided to make another version, sweet red beans.

These buns are so tasty, either savory or sweet.

I can’t decide which is my favorite because they are both so good.

They are so pretty (pre-cooking) that I have to take pictures.

These buns are traditionally steamed (at least in Japan).

But I decided to fry both sides, top and bottom, after steaming them.

This process resulted in crispy top and bottom, which I absolutely loved!

They were so delicious, and I loved them so much.

The homemade dough really makes a huge difference.

I can’t wait to make more again, and maybe experiment with other filling options too.

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food

Crispy Bottom Steamed Buns
底はかりっと中華まん

Chines steamed buns are a popular fall-winter snack in Japan.

Now they have all different kinds of filling, from savory to sweet.

But when I was a child, there were basically only two fillings you can choose from: pork(savory) and red beans (sweet).

My mother made a lot of things, but this is something she never made herself, so we would buy pre-made ones and steamed them at home.

They were not bad, but they were never my favorite.

But it has been such a long time since I had my last one, so I decided to give it another try.

This time, homemade.

One of the things I was not crazy about my childhood buns was the pork filling.

So since I no longer eat meat, I made my own filling using eggplant and walnuts.

I love this process of forming bun pouches.

Another thing I did differently was frying the bottom in addition to steaming the whole buns.

(This time I fried first and then steamed them, but next time I may steam them first and then fry later to achieve even more crispness.)

It was a good idea to create the crispy bottom.

You can enjoy the crispness and the softness both from one bun!

These buns were absolutely delicious!!

Nothing like the ones from my childhood (which is a good thing in this particular case!).

Come back to see another version in my next post.

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Noodles/Pasta

Mapo Eggplant Zucchini Noodles
麻婆茄子ズッキーニ麺

I love variety of vegetables, but I do have favorites.

Eggplant is one of the vegetables that I really enjoy, and whenever I see a dish made with eggplant on a restaurant menu, I almost always order it.

(Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen very often. Apparently not many restaurants serve eggplant dishes…)

I was lucky to be able to find beautiful fresh eggplant and zucchini at the local farmers market to make this Mapo dish.

The “meat” part of Mapo was made with tempeh and walnuts.

My initial plan was to use only tempeh, but I didn’t have enough, so at the last minute I added walnuts.

This decision was a great one!

I really loved the result.

The texture and the nutty flavor from the walnuts were wonderful.

I don’t always have time, but when I do, I try make my noodles myself.

For this dish I wanted flat and wide noodles, so I kind of needed to make them myself, too.

Absolutely delicious!!

Served with Japanese Shiso basil leaves and chili pepper threads.

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Leaf Vegetables

Vegetable Potstickers
もちもち皮で野菜餃子

This week has been a bit difficult week for me.

My energy was low, and I didn’t have a lot of motivation to cook after work.

I ate spaghetti four nights in a row, and none of them were great…

Then, today I had this idea of making potstickers from scratch.

It just came to me.

I mean, making wrappers from scratch.

I always wanted to try this, but I felt overwhelmed.

This was a lot of work, but I did enjoy the process.

It’s not difficult, but it takes time.

I always like to take pictures of potstickers at this stage, right before cooking.

They are just so beautiful.

It’ also a safe thing to do, just in case they don’t look too good after being cooked (lol).

These were so delicious!

The homemade wrappers definitely make a difference, resulting in a wonderful texture.

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Noodles/Pasta

Chili Noodle Bowl
ピリ辛ヌードル

My husband is not a huge noodle eater, but recently I discovered that he does like “rice” noodles vs. wheat ones.

Since I’m a huge noodle fan, now I make sure we have rice noodles in our house so that we can share noodle meals together.

This is my recent favorite from Trader joe’s

It’s crunchy and spicy, and it adds a great flavor to various dishes.

Doesn’t this look good?!

It was such a satisfying meal!

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Tofu

Tofu Stuffed Bitter Melon Tempura
豆腐詰めゴーヤ天ぷら

 


My bitter melon adventure continues.

My first bitter melon dish, namul, did not fly.

I could not eat more than a few bites, because it was too bitter.

My next bitter melon dish was my previous post, smoothie.

It was still a bit bitter, but the bitterness was surprisingly pleasant.

Many people recommended tempura.

I was a bit skeptical, but when I heard some people say “I don’t like bitter melon, but I like it when it’s tempura,” I got encouraged.

I was initially planning to make simple tempura, but then I saw some meat-stuffed versions, and I thought it would be fun to stuff mine with tofu.

(I used scrambled tofu that was flavored quite heavily with various spices, including cumin, for the stuffing.)

It was still bitter, but I actually liked it.

I wonder if tempura makes bitter melon easier to eat, or it is me that is getting used to bitter melon.

I simply enjoyed it with Kosher salt.

I also really liked the combination of bitter melon and tofu.

Here was my bitter melon dish, number 4.

Braised bitter melon.

This was pretty tasty too.

Now I used up all the bitter melon I bought.

At this point I’m not sure if I will go back to buy more…

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Drinks

Bitter Melon Smoothie
ゴーヤスムージー

Bitter melon is a popular summer vegetable in Japan.

I’ve never tried it in Japan or in the U.S.

But when I saw it at a local Asian grocery store, I decided to give it a try.

This is what I got.

I thought it was pretty reasonable.

I initially made namul with it.

My reaction to my very first bite of bitter melon?

“Bitter!”

I knew it was supposed to be bitter, but it was much more bitter than I thought.

Unfortunately, I had to throw it away.

I asked other people including my mother some ideas on how to cook/eat bitter melon.

My parents grow bitter melon in their garden, but my mother told me that it’s not her favorite.

She did tell me that she does like bitter melon smoothie (and tempura).

She gave me her smoothie recipe (bitter melon, banana, apple, milk), and I decided to give it a try.

I didn’t have apples, so I used gold kiwi and cherry plum.

I could still taste the bitterness from the melon, but the bitterness was rather pleasant.

Interestingly, a lot of people told me that they initially did not like the bitterness, but then they have come to love it.

So I’m hopeful…

4 Comments
by : Reiko Asian Food, Noodles/Pasta, Tofu

Spicy Mango Pad Thai Spaghetti
スパイシーマンゴーパッタイスパゲッティ

Happy Wednesday!

I started doing meal-prep a few weekends ago, and I’m loving it.

It makes it so much easier to prepare weekday meals.

Healthier.

And less stress.

However, it usually becomes challenging to create dinner that doesn’t make you feel like you are eating the same things over and over.

I got to come home from work a bit earlier tonight.

So I decided to spend a little more time than usual to make dinner using what has been prepped and also adding something new.

I happened to have a lot of foods already that would be perfect for pad thai, but I didn’t have rice noodles.

So I decided to go with spaghetti!

Lots of veggies.

And scrambled tofu flavored with fermented mango sauce (from Trader Joe’s).

As you can see this “pad thai” was not prepared the traditional way at all.

But who cares!

It’s a home-cooked and home-served meal, and as long as it’s tasty, it goes on our dining table.

Leave a comment