by : Reiko Fruit, Japanese Food, Rice/Grains

Plant-Based Chirashi-Sushi
菜鮮ちらし寿司

Chirashi literally means “scattered”.

Chirashi-sushi is a bed of sushi rice with various things (usually fresh fish) scattered over rice.

As I said above, it’s usually fish (especially those found at Japanese restaurants in the U.S.), but in Japan a lot of people use other things, including a lot of vegetables.

The one you find here is still a bit unusual even for Japanese people, mainly because it contains fruit.

I actually really enjoy fruit with sushi rice.

It’s delicious, especially when they are also with wasabi soy sauce!

Yum!!

I always like to have a bowl of miso soup with my sushi.

This one has a lot of vegetables and Wakame seaweed.

And more seaweed!

This one is called “Hijiki”, braised.

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Fruit, Rice/Grains

Apple Fried Rice
りんご炒飯

Yes, I’m still enjoying creating dishes featuring apples.

This time fried rice!

You know, many Thai restaurants serve pineapple fried rice, and the idea came from it.

Apples get caramelized and create wonderful flavors.

Apples and tempeh were cooked first, rice and green onion were added and then they were fried together.

Looks good, doesn’t it?

It was so tasty!

If you like pineapple rice, you will love this one.

The apple fried rice was served with a little bit of this and that.

I love having small dishes like this for my meal.

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by : Reiko Fruit, Noodles/Pasta

Nectarine Bow Tie Pasta
ネクタリン蝶ネクタイパスタ

It was one of those “lucky” dishes that I didn’t plan to make but ended up super tasty.

I had leftover homemade pasta.

I had these beautiful vined tomatoes and nectarines (not in the pic).

(This time of the year I almost always have nectarines in the house.)

Homemade bow tie pasta, mini tomatoes, nectarine, herbs (Shiso basil, mint, parsley), lemon zest, apricot white balsamic vinaigrette.

It was super refreshing and such a great way to enjoy the seasonal produce.

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by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Fruit

Earl Grey Cardamom Nectarine Toast
アールグレイ・カルダモン・ネクタリントースト

This is a great time of the year for someone like me who loves stone fruit.

I like them all, but my favorite is probably nectarine.

When I look at the shelf where peaches, nectarines, and plums are displayed next to one another, I typically go for the nectarine, mostly because when it comes to texture and taste it seems the most consistent.

My prune walnut earl grey crusty bread came handy.

It was lightly toasted, a thick layer of cardamom cashew cream cheese was spread, and then served with slices of fresh nectarine.

Simply scrumptious.

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Fruit, Jackfruit

Bulgogi JF Tacos
プルコギ風タコス

Happy Taco Tuesday!

These tacos were famous Korean meat dish, Bulgogi, inspired ones.

Bulgogi means “fire meat” according to Wikipedia, and my beautiful jackfruit from Trader Joe’s was cooked over high heat after marinated overnight.

The trick is that you really want to get the charred look and flavor to the “meat” at this point.

If you ask me, the fixing is as important a part of any tacos.

This time I prepared napa cabbage slaw and home-pickled Shiso (Japanese basil) cucumber.

Also mashed avocado.

Don’t they look fabulous?

This was a bit messy to eat, but I never mind getting messy when I’m eating something delicious.

By the way, I finally had a chance to eat ripe fresh jackfruit at a party thrown by a friend who is from Cambodia.

She said her dad did all the work, and pulled apart the fruit, which I hear is a lot of work.

It was so delicious that a few days later I went to a local Asian grocery store and bought some.

Thankfully, they had a package of fruit that has been already taken out of the whole thing.

It’s a bit expensive, but I LOVE this fruit.

Very tropical, and a mere bite instantly takes me to the imaginative tropical island!

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by : Reiko Fruit, Pizza/Flatbread

Uchi Pizza with Pistachio Avocado Cream
うちピザ、ピスタチオアボカドクリームのせ

My husband and I had Uchi Pizza for lunch today, because we were both working from home.

What’s Uchi Pizza?

Well, “Uchi” means “home” (in Japanese), and as you can guess, this was made and eaten at home.

This pizza was not only homemade, but also a result of good teamwork.

My husband made the crust (the night before), and it made our kitchen smell like heaven.

The crust turned out just the way we like it.

Thin, crispy, and light, yet, still having some nice chewiness.

I used to think every meal has to contain some sort of meat or seafood.

I was so wrong!

This pizza was loaded with seasonal veggies (this time we used yellow squash, red onion, green peppers, tomato, and purple cabbage); The cabbage was sprinkled after the pizza was cooked.

And it was absolutely perfect and satisfying.

Yes, earlier I said it was a teamwork, and you may ask what was my contribution.

Well, you’re looking at it (lol).

Pistachio avocado cream.

We dotted the pizza with this beautiful cream right before serving.

This was so delicious, and it tastes  so much better than cheese (vegan or not) y’all, if you ask me.

Loved our Uchi Pizza.

I’ve never been really a huge pizza fan, but I realized that I was not a huge meat/cheese pizza fan because I do LOVE this type of pizza.

Lucky me.

My husband made some extra crusts, so we can enjoy pizza again soon.

Pistachio Avocado Cream: pistachio, avocado, soy milk, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt, sugar

I just recently got this cute watermelon.

They were sold as “personal” watermelons.

My husband says it doesn’t mean you cannot share.

Well, doesn’t it??? (lol)

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by : Reiko Fruit

Monkey Tacos
モンキータコス

Just saying “Monkey Tacos” makes me smile!

It’s fun!

I read somewhere that if you give a funny name to a veggie dish at school cafeteria, kids will eat more veggies.

(Unfortunately, this trick did not work on my husband, who is not a big fan of banana.)  🙁

Toasted tortillas, sunflower butter, and banana slices are the base.

But after that you can go free-style.

This one was the berry-berry version: strawberries and blueberries.

And this one was the sunshine version: mango and nectarine.

Love fresh fruit.

Make sure you add fresh mint, cilantro, and jalapeno slices.

Well, these are tacos after all.

And surprisingly, these add awesome freshness to my monkey tacos.

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by : Reiko Drinks, Fruit

Princess
プリンセス

The color of cantaloupe is just so pretty.

It screams “princess”!

The ingredients are simple: cantaloupe pureed with sugar and lemon juice, vodka, and seltzer.

I like cantaloupe, but I usually hesitate to buy one, because some of them are just not sweet at all, and there is no way to know before you buy it, cut it, and then taste it.

But the other day someone at work who knows that I like fresh fruits and veggies told me that the cantaloupe she bought the day before was so sweet and encouraged me to get one from the same store she got hers from.

I was not able to make it to the same store, but I did get one from a different grocery store.

And mine was sweet and delicious, too!!

The drink was simply garnished with cantaloupe balls.

My husband is not a big fan of cantaloupe, but he liked this princess bubbly as much as I did!

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Fruit

Beautiful Planet Open Sandwich
ビューティフル・プラネット・オープンサンド

Welcome to my new blog, CT Side-B!

I think this is a very appropriate first post.

Lots of fruit!

The #1 dietary risk factor is reported to be “not eating enough fruit” (source: nutritionfacts.org ).

It’s not an issue at our house!

I always have fresh fruit in the kitchen, but on the weekend I have a little more time to play with them.

These are multigrain toasts.

I spread homemade vegan butter on one and sunflower butter on the other, and then decorated them with fresh grapes, strawberries, and blueberries.

I sprinkled a few fresh thyme leaves, initially for the look.

But I was surprised at how well it went with the fruit taste-wise, too.

Recently we vacationed in a resort in Cancun Mexico, and they had trays of fresh fruits every morning at their breakfast buffet.

So I decided to re-create them.

Plants are all pretty in general, but fruit really makes me realize how beautiful a planet we are lucky to live on.

My old blog, The Culinary Tribune is found here.

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