I think this was my first Natto fried rice, but it’s a popular dish, so I may have made it before (I just don’t remember).
One of my Instagram friends gave me some ideas regarding what to put along with natto, so I was prepared.
-Natto
-Garlic
-Mushrooms
-Butternut squash
-Shungiku
-Capers
It turned out great!
I will definitely make it again.
I loved all the flavors coming together, sweet, salty, bitter…
My husband was out and about, and I was on my own for lunch.
So, a Natto dish was perfect to make!
My husband likes a lot of Japanese food, but Natto is not one of them.
I LOVE Natto, and this turned out to be a fabulous meal for me.
Freshly cooked spaghetti was served with Natto, grated radish, scallion, roasted Nori, olive oil, and soy sauce.
Itadakimasu – Thank you for the meal.
He usually detects the smell, but not this time.
I ate lunch early, washed everything well, and even took out the garbage.
I don’t blame him.
Natto does have a strong smell…
*I updated my Instagram page, and it now shows highlights from our 2023 vacation in Spain. Check it out!
Matsutake is considered a delicacy in Japan.
It’s something that is enjoyed only during the fall season, and yes people spend big bucks for it.
I was lucky because a friend gave them to me as a gift.
And she even gave me Sudachi as well.
Sudachi is a citrus fruit that typically accompanies Matsutake.
I simply grilled the Matsutake.
When the ingredient is tasty, you don’t want to do too much to it.
This one plate meal consisted of grilled matsutake, herb chickpea salad, cranberry-pecan Kabocha salad, mushroom soup, and toasted Boule.
Kabocha, homemade vegan mayo, salt, pepper, maple syrup, dry cranberries, pecan nuts.
Chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, yellow pepper, cumin, mint, basil, olive oil, white vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper.
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.
This type of “Oyaki” is popular in the certain region called “Shinshu” in Japan which is in the middle of the main land.
Remember the Nagano Winter Olympics?
Nagano is in the Shinshu region.
This Oyaki has a chewy kind of texture.
The ingredients are extremely simple (flour, salt, water), yet, super tasty.
For the filling, you can use really anything, from sweet to savory.
This time I decided to go with one of the popular fillings, sweet beans.
Traditionally, sweet beans in Japan are made with Azuki beans (also called red beans).
You cook them with sugar over hours.
I have done that myself even here in the U.S., but often times I don’t have the time or motivation for spending that much time in the kitchen.
I used to buy prepared sweet beans from local Asian grocery stores, but recently I’ve found out that the two stores I frequent have both discontinued carrying them.
So I decided to make it in a rather “radical” way.
First of all, I start with canned beans.
And it’s not even Azuki beans.
I used black beans because they are easier to get in the U.S., and cheaper.
Quickly drained and rinsed.
Now you can add sugar and cook them for a bit.
But this time I decided to use something different to sweeten them.
Dates!
I took a few pictures of the dates for this post, but the pictures didn’t turn out well, so no pictures of dates, but you know what I’m talking about.
The super sweet dried fruit.
It is supposed to be packed with all the good nutrients.
This (above) is something I call date caramel.
It’s super easy to make.
Combine dates (pitted) and water and puree until smooth, and add a little salt
It’s creamy, sweet, and delicious.
You can use this for a lot of things, such as toast (with butter), yogurt, etc.
This time I simply combined the date caramel with the black beans which have been drained and rinsed.
You can mash the beans if you like a smoother texture.
I mash a little but definitely keep most of them intact because I like that texture.
They turned out great!
I like that you can make these in a frying pan.
So easy.
No need to preheat the oven, etc.
This makes a great snack, but I ate them for breakfast this morning.
My husband and I both enjoyed these fresh warm Oyaki very much.
I liked the Thai Bowl I had at Forage Kitchen in Wisconsin, and I wanted to create something similar to that.
One of the things I really liked about their bowl was black rice.
So, I went to a local grocery store, Fresh Thyme, to look for it and this is what I found.
It’s sold as “purple” rice, but based on my google research, purple and black rice seem like the same thing.
It was cooked beautifully.
The inspiration for the lentil balls also came from their bow.
Mine turned out really good, and I was happy with the result.
The restaurant had sweet potatoes, but I decided to use my favorite Japanese Satsuma potato.
As indicated in the title, my sauce was not Thai but Indian, and I had a little help for it.
I found these at Aldi, and for this bowl I used the Kashmiri sauce.
It’s really tasty IF you add a little sweetener (I just use sugar).
If you are interested, Kashmiri is tomato-based, and Madras is pepper-based.
Creating this bowl was fun.
I really enjoy a project like this.
Traveling is great because it gives me opportunities to get inspired by something new, mostly food in my case (lol).
I’m usually not a big fan of bean (or lentil) balls or patties.
They tend to be mashy, and I don’t like the texture.
But I do like the idea of using beans/lentils to make burger patties or “meat” balls so that they are more whole-food plant-based.
We had lunch at Forage Kitchen in Wisconsin on our way back from Chicago a few weekends ago, and I fell in love with their Thai Bowl.
Especially the lentil balls I chose to add to the bowl were delicious!
They were pretty hard and not mashy at all.
When I asked them how they make them, they told me “lentils, mushrooms, oats, and beans”.
So I decided to re-create them myself.
I processed them in my food processor.
Spices were added.
At this stage they were kind of soft, so I was a bit worried.
I decided to cook them in my air fryer.
And I’m glad I did.
They turned out great.
Flavorful.
But most importantly, the texture was what I wanted to achieve.
The air fryer cooking created a beautiful thick crunchy outer layer.
I really think it was only possible with the air fryer (otherwise you would probably have to deep-fry them).
Lentil Balls – 1 pack mushrooms, 1.5 cups cooked lentils, 1 cup black beans, 1 cup oats, about 2 tablespoons of flax meal, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, sugar
Air fryer – spray oil, 400F 12 minutes -> 350F 7 minutes
I love a dish like this.
Simple, yet fresh and fun.
Crispy chickpeas are my favorite.
I added some spices such as cumin and cinnamon to create some exotic flavor.
Yogurt, sauteed zucchini, cilantro chimichurri, crispy chickpeas, and red currants.
They were perfect on sourdough toast.
Where is white wine?
Yes, I still have sourdough starter, and I continue to feed it every week.
I hate to waste discard, and I’m always looking for a new way to use it.
So when I saw Lisa at Farmhouse on Boone https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/ showing how to make this (on Instagram), I immediately wanted to try it myself.
Lisa was making this with a cast iron skillet in the oven.
But I tried mine with this no-stick pan on the stove.
And it worked beautifully!
It’s thin and crispy.
You can put anything in the bowl, but I decided to go with these, homemade vegan goat cheese, tomato jam, spiced yogurt…
And roasted chickpeas.
This was how it was all put together.
You can also see fried onions sprinkled on top.
This was another version.
Yellow peach, grapefruit, vegan yogurt, and white honey.
This was a fun way to use the discard.
I will definitely make this again.
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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓ There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.
https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/
When I saw Ms. Ali’s “slow cooker chickpeas”, I knew I had to try it! ↓
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY9AHQZI2PD/
It looked so simple yet delicious.
I seriously contemplated purchasing a slow cooker just to make this.
But I decided to ask her if she could tell me how to make it on the stovetop instead, and she kindly (and quickly) responded with a link to the blog post that is exactly what I was looking for! ↓
https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/04/cook-chickpeas-beans-scratch-brining-method/
I followed the recipe, and it turned out great!
I accidentally soaked my beans for much longer than directed (I planned the day poorly…), but probably because of that I didn’t have to cook the beans as long as suggested.
I like my garbanzo beans rather firm, and it was nice that I could control the firmness when I cooked them myself (instead of buying cans).
I also cooked polenta as Ms. Ali suggested pouring the beans (with the broth) over polenta.
I placed blistered zucchini and sauteed garlic, onion, and kale on polenta and then poured the garbanzo beans and the broth over everything.
It already looked great.
But then I also decided to add some of my tomato jam (previous post).
Creamy polenta, a bit spicy flavorful broth, perfectly cooked garbanzo beans, simply cooked veggies, and spiced sweet tomato jam.
It was just what I needed on a cold winter evening.
