Breakfast

Yuzu Azuki Butter Toast

I had been having craving for Azuki butter toast (in Japan we call it An Butter Toast; “an” means sweet Azuki paste) for a while.

I had just made black sesame sourdough bread, and it was perfect for it.

It’s already good with just Azuki and butter, but this time I thought it would be fun to add this dried yuzu peels.

I also sprinkled some Kinako (roasted soybean powder) and drizzled Matcha syrup.

Luckily, I had some organic fruit delivered in the morning, so they were added to our dining table, too.

Scrumptious!

I really liked the Yuzu peel which brought a bright fresh taste.

It’s always a great day when locally grown organic produce is delivered. 🙂

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March 6, 2025

by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast

Fancy Avocado Toast. Organic too!

I like avocado toast, but I love it when it’s dressed up.

So I’m always thinking about ways to make it better.

I recently started getting organic and locally grown vegetables and fruits from fruitfarmerfolks (you can find them and order produce from them on Instagram), and this avocado toast was definitely inspired by what came in the package.

Everything was good, but I particularly liked these green grapes.

They were so delicious!!

(They reminded me of the Japanese green grapes, Muscat.)

I happened to have freshly baked sourdough bread.

Good job, me!

The avocado was from the package too, and it was nice and creamy.

(I toasted the bread first. I like my bread a bit crunchy for my avocado toast.)

A lot is going on here.

But what you’ll find on top of the avocado are sprouts, strawberries, green grapes, red onion, fresh basil leaves, and balsamic glaze.

Absolutely perfect!

I loved how it looked and tasted both.

So fresh, delicious, and undoubtedly good for you, too, with all the vitamins from the fruits.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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February 22, 2025

by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast

Homemade Bagels and Local Organic Tomatoes

It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes you realize you have all the right ingredients to make something fabulous without going grocery shopping.

I had freshly baked bagels.

Organic fruits/veggies delivery just arrived.

I ordered a box from “farmfruitfolks” on Instagram.

They deliver organic and local produce.

It was the first time I used their service, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quantity, the quality, and the selection.

Everything looked so good but I decided to use the tomatoes for this breakfast dish.

I first toasted a bagel; it got a little darker than I intended, but it was still good.

Toasted bagels, tofu spread, beautiful organic yellow/green tomatoes, basil and parsley from my patio garden, red onion, and balsamic glaze.

Very fresh and satisfying.

Other items from the delivery were also fantastic.

I especially liked the goldenberries.

They were so sweet and delicious!

I will definitely order produce from them again.

You can send a message to “fuitfarmerfolks” on Instagram to order.

I paid 500 baht + 50 baht (delivery to Bangkok) for an S box.

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February 9, 2025

by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast

Sourdough Toast with Passion Fruit Jam and Matcha Syrup

Baking sourdough bread is a part of my routine.

It’s rather irregular, but I do make one every week or every other week.

This one turned out great.

I felt good about the bulk fermentation and second proof both, so I was pretty confident that it would turn out fine, but seeing the result still gave me joy. 🙂

There were some large holes close to the edge, but overall the crumb structure was pretty good too.

For breakfast I toasted a couple of slices.

First, my homemade vegan butter.

I had made passion fruit jam a few days before, and I was determined to enjoy it on my sourdough toast.

Looked already good, but I wanted to add one more thing.

Matcha syrup.

This is one of my recent favorites.

It’s easy to make.

I just mix honey, Matcha powder, hot water, and a little salt.

The passion fruit and Matcha together sounds a bit unusual, but we both really liked it.

It created some sophisticated flavors.

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January 11, 2025

by : Reiko Breakfast

Black Bean Pancakes with Matcha Syrup

I wanted to make pancakes because I had fresh raspberries, and I thought they would make a pancake plate pretty.

I like black beans and I usually serve them as a savory dish, but this time I flavored it neutral so that I could use some to add to my pancake batter.

The first time I cooked black beans, I used beans from Happy Grocers.

Then, I realized that the packaged one sold at the grocery store was much cheaper, so I switched to it.

Interestingly, it took the beans from the grocery store forever (over 2 hours), whereas, it took the ones from Happy Grocers only about 30 minutes.

This time I went back to Happy Grocers’, and it’s the same; it took (actually less than) 30 minutes.

I wonder if the ones from the regular grocery store are not as fresh as the ones from Happy Grocers.

The beans look like blueberries when added to pancake batter (lol).

Love my FIKA pan.

This is still my favorite pan I’ve owned.

I doubled the recipe this time.

I now use this recipe to make my vegan pancakes.

I also made a fresh batch of vegan butter.

I use this trusted recipe, but I now use less almond meal (less than half) and a little more milk to make mine more creamy and “spreadable”.

One more thing I made to serve my black bean pancakes with…

Matcha syrup.

I simply put together Matcha powder, hot water, honey, and salt.

Salt is the key.

The final result.

So glad that the raspberries did make my pancake plate look attractive.

And yes, the vegan butter does melt perfectly.

My husband said it tasted “Japanese”.

The bean x Matcha combination IS used in many traditional Japanese sweets.

By the way this beautiful box of TWG tea was gifted by a friend, who also got us the Indonesian garlic peanuts.

We are not the easiest people to give gifts to because of our diet, and her gift was so thoughtful.

We love TWG tea, and this flavor was delicious just like other TWG tea.

The beautiful box also made an awesome prop for my photography!

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December 30, 2024

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Breakfast

Plant-based Brunch – No more canned black beans

There are some restaurants in Bangkok that serve vegan brunch plates.

Whenever I see that on a menu, I get excited.

However, I hesitate to order it.

Vegan dishes at restaurants are usually not cheap, and I can’t help thinking about how well I can make vegan brunch plate with that price (lol).

(I really shouldn’t do this though, because dining out is an experience and means so much more than just eating food!)

So instead of going to a restaurant I decided to make my ideal brunch plate.

On this plate served are homemade Shokupan toast, scrambled turmeric tofu, homemade cumin black beans, roasted potatoes, broccoli, and roasted tomato.

I used to buy cans for black beans in the U.S., but since it’s not easy to find the cans here in Bangkok, I started cooking black beans myself, and I’m loving it.

Who knew it tastes so much better!

I follow her instructions and flavor them with whatever the spices and herbs I happen to be in the mood for.

I like my broccoli with my homemade vegan mayo.

He likes his brunch with a lot of ketchup (lol).

And the perfectly toasted Shokupan is the best!

Served with homemade vegan butter.

What do you like on your brunch plate?

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December 23, 2024

by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Ginger Pancakes with Banana and Butterscotch

When we had lunch at Nature’s Charm Cafe, my husband found a few fun items.

Coconut Butterscotch and Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk.

When we bought them, we talked about drizzling these on pancakes.

It took a while for me to be in the mood for making pancakes, but when I saw the butterscotch almost gone (my husband had been eating by itself as a snack), I knew I had to do it.

I still had a lot of ginger at that time, and I added grated ginger to my pancake batter.

I recommend doing it if you like ginger!

I was using New York Times vegan pancake recipe for a while, but I think I like this recipe better.

Homemade vegan butter.

Butterscotch.

Banana slices, and roasted sunflower seeds.

My husband wanted to pour some condensed milk, too.

This was good, but I will eat it as a dessert, not for breakfast (lol).

And I would like a cup of hot BLACK coffee with it.

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December 1, 2024

by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Rosemary Ginger Cranberry Scones – Full of Fall-Winter Flavors!

I liked the Kabocha scones so much that I decided to make more scones.

This time with dry cranberries, rosemary, and ginger.

I found dry cranberries on sale (buy one get one) at the local grocery store.

The rosemary is from my planter garden.

(This is my second rosemary plant, and I’m relieved that it’s doing well (the first one died only after a few days).)

And ginger?

I got a lot of ginger from Happy Grocers.

Lately I’ve been getting their surplus set once a week, and the last few weeks they sent me a lot of ginger.

（You can find out more about their surplus set on this post.)

I’m not complaining.

I like ginger.

I just need to find a lot of ways to enjoy it.

The dry cranberries and rosemary were added to the batter.

Then, after being baked and cooled, they were finished with ginger-rosemary icing.

I decided not to grate but minced ginger for the icing so that you can really enjoy the look and taste of the fresh ginger.

After I had a bite I wanted more rosemary flavor, so I sprinkled some more leaves.

This flavor combo is great for the fall season and also for Christmas.

Recommended beverage – Black tea

I used Nora’s recipe as the base.

Highly recommended.

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November 19, 2024

by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Happy Halloween 2024! – Kabocha Scones

This year Halloween feels very different.

I’m usually wearing a heavy coat by now, but this year I’m still wearing a summer dress.

In October!

Luckily, I was able to find a beautiful organic Kabocha.

It was small, but…

It was good quality!

Look at this beautiful orange color.

They look good already.

But…

I wanted to dress them up a little….

Cinnamon icing, roasted sunflower seeds, and cinnamon powder were added.

Delicious!!

My husband is not a big fan of scones in general because they are often too dry, but he loved these.

Perfect with black coffee.

I used Ms. Nora’s recipe, and I highly recommend it.

https://www.noracooks.com/pumpkin-scones/

*As noted above I used Kabocha squash in place of pumpkin. Also, I used regular white sugar for brown sugar, flax meal/water for apple sauce, and coconut oil for vegan butter. They still turned out fantastic! I didn’t add any spices to the scones, and I only added cinnamon to my icing.