If you are following this blog for a while, you probably know that I like Matcha.
These green tea soba noodles.
Its color and flavor are just wonderful.
Green tea noodles in soy-based broth, served with grated nagaimo, fried onions, scallion, and Shichimi spice.
Oh, and wasabi.
Wasabi goes so well with grated nagaimo.
Simply delicious.
It’s one day early, but tomorrow March 3rd is “Momo-No-Sekku”, or the girls celebration day in Japan.
Because of the time of the year we usually celebrate with things that indicate the beginning of spring.
Lots of pastel colors, particularly pink, are used, from home décor to food that day.
Inspired by the Sakura (cherry blossom) tea, I decided to make some steamed buns and then decorate them with the beautiful Sakura flowers.
These buns were sweetened only with Ama-zake, a traditional Japanese fermented rice, which has intense but unique sweetness.
The buns were accented with the Kuro-Mame from the previous post’s Kuro-Mame tea.
This time I made three flavors: plain; Matcha; strawberry.
All were tasty, but the strawberry was probably my favorite.
Steamed bun is one of my favorite snacks.
They are soft and moist, and satisfying, without oil.
I crushed freeze-dry strawberries and added to the batter.
The color is so pretty.
Have a great weekend everyone.
I posted something I brought back from Japan in the previous post.
This is another thing that came back with me from Japan.
(You can tell I like tea!)
This tea is supposed to be vary good for your health, but it really doesn’t matter much, because I really like the taste anyway.
This is Kuro-Mame Tea.
Kuro-Mame literally means black beans, but this is a different kind from what is called “black beans” in the U.S., so I decided to keep the Japanese name, “kuro-mame.”
Tea is super easy to make.
You put a few beans in a pot and pour hot water over them.
Let it steep for a few minutes.
A great thing about this tea is that you can eat those beans after you finish your tea!
I forgot about this tea that I bought when I was in Japan last time.
But as soon as I realized that it was March 1st today, I knew I had something perfect to celebrate this beginning of spring.
These are salted Sakura (cherry) flowers.
You quickly rinse them with water, and then you just add hot water.
The flowers slowly open up in the water, and it’s so beautiful.
The small glass of spring brought me a smile, but the outside definitely doesn’t look anything like spring in Minnesota yet.
Egg Rice Bowl is one of my favorite lunch dishes on the cafeteria menu at the college I attended in japan.
It was cheap (I believe it was about 400 yen (approximately $4.00), filling, and tasty.
Egg rice bowl is basically eggs and onions cooked in soy sauce-based slightly sweet broth and served over rice.
Simple yet (or because of that) I would order it multiple times a week and I never got tired of it.
Making soft “eggs” with silken tofu.
Instead of cooking the “eggs” and onions in broth, I decided to serve the “eggs” and onions with broth on the side.
Pour the broth right before serving.
This was exactly what I was craving for so many years.
Served with miso soup.
Wakame seaweed is one of my favorite things in miso soup.
Don’t forget roasted seaweed as a topping.
Have a great week everyone.
Okonomi-Yaki is a Japanese savory pancake and typically made with regular flour (wheat).
Flour, water, cabbage, and meat/seafood are the main ingredients of the pancakes and then they are served with “okonomi” sauce or Japanese Worcestershire sauce.
There are many variations depending on the region and personal preference.
I have no objection to using regular flour as I’m not on the gluten-free diet, but I happened to have a lot of garbanzo flour which I wanted to use.
Since I really liked it when I made vegan “omelet” with this flour, I thought this would be a good substitute.
This version turned out to be simple yet super tasty!
I added chopped Brussels sprouts, fried onion, and chopped scallion to the batter.
And my secret ingredient, “Naga-Imo.”
Naga-Imo is a type of Japanese potato which is super sticky and is “a must” ingredients at our house.
You don’t really taste the potato, but it makes the pancakes soft and light.
I happened to have a lot of naga-imo at hand, and some went into the batter as grated and some chopped.
Once both sides are cooked, drizzle sauce.
I like to use the thicker type of Japanese Worcestershire/vegetable sauce.
Some falls on the hot pan, but that’s perfectly okay.
It caramelizes and creates a heavenly smell in the kitchen.
At this point I’m so ready to eat!
This was served with a drizzle of homemade vegan mayo and scallion.
Absolutely delicious!!
I loved the texture and the taste created by the garbanzo flour.
My future Okonomi-Yaki will be made probably only with garbanzo flour from now on!
This dish is one of the best examples, “simple is best.”
What you need to make Silken Tofu Rice are…
Rice.
Silken tofu (warm or cold).
Soy sauce.
These are the basic ingredients.
And toppings of your choice.
This time I had avocado mash (avocado plus wasabi and chopped radish), chopped tomatoes, and Japanese Shiso basil.
This was my breakfast this morning.
I love a meal like this.
Simple, yet, fresh and very satisfying.
By the way, my husband had the same food.
This is one my favorite rice bowls.
Love everything, the organic shape, the colors, and the design.
Tsuke-men is like a cousin of ramen.
It’s basically the same thing, but the noodles and the soup are separated (soup typically has a bit stronger flavors).
You scoop up a few strands of noodle, dip them in the soup, and eat. And then repeat the process.
I added a generous amount of sprouts.
I love sprouts in my ramen/tsuke-men.
Tsuke-men is becoming pretty popular, and I’ve started seeing it on the menu of some ramen shops.
But I’ve never seen vegan Tsuke-men yet.
For extra spiciness here is my trusted chili garlic paste.
Instagram is an awesome thing.
I was away from the Japanese food scene for a long time, but now I feel like I’m catching up.
When I saw a picture of a dynamic tofu rice bowl, I knew that was something I wanted to create myself.
Apparently, this is a special dish served at a restaurant called “Otako-Honten” in Japan, and it has been very popular since stories about this dish were picked up by the media a few years ago.
They call this dish “To-Meshi,” in Japanese.
I’m assuming that the “TO” is a shortened “tofu” and “Meshi” means rice.
My tofu was slow-cooked for hours in slightly sweetened soy/seaweed/mushroom-based broth.
At the end of the process the tofu has absorbed all the delicious flavors.
A bowl of miso soup and a small dish of kimchi complete this awesome meal.
Simply delicious.
This is probably my ideal way to start my day.
It’s hot soy milk with Ama-zake and spices (turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom).
Ama-zake is a traditional Japanese sweet beverage.
It’s made from fermented rice.
Although it’s called “zake (sake)”, it doesn’t always contain alcohol.
There are two ways to make ama-zake, in one way you end up with alcohol and the other not.
I always make my ama-zake the way so that it doesn’t have alcohol.
Ama-zake is not difficult to make, but it’s a process because you need to let the cooked rice porridge and malted rice ferment for 8 to 10 hours at a certain temperature.
This is the ama-zake.
Ama-zake is considered a great source of nutrition that contributes to health.
So this spiced milk is an awesome drink packed with all the good stuff.
My family believes that my dad has the best skin because he drinks ama-zake every morning!
