by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains, Vegan Meat

V-BLT Sushi Roll
V-BLT巻き寿司

I try not to post two similar things in a row, but I thought this one may make sense, V-BLT sushi following the V-BLT sandwich.

Inside the roll you can see lettuce, tomato, vegan bacon, and avocado.

I’m still not the best at rolling sushi, and it’s not as tight as I would like, but at least it kept the shape intact when cut.

This is a soy sauce dispenser, but it’s a piece of art.

I love how it feels in my hands.

Which V-BLT would you pick?

Sushi or sandwich?

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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/

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg, Vegan Meat

“C’est très bon!” Ramen
仏蘭西ラーメン

I don’t know if you can find this Ramen in France, but I named this ramen this way because I used some French-cuisine inspired ingredients.

I was in the mood to play with unusual ingredients today.

Sometimes that kind of experiment results in disaster (those do not appear on the blog ;)), but this time it worked amazingly!

One such ingredient was thyme.

Thyme is usually not a part of traditional Japanese or Asian cuisine.

I happened to have a lot of fresh thyme, and the main reason why I used it for my ramen was simply to consume it.

But it went with the rich broth, already seasoned with miso, tahini, and soy sauce, surprisingly well, not fighting it.

Broth: oil, garlic, onion, water, Dashi-Kombu, sugar, soy sauce, miso, tahini, salt, pepper, thyme, soy milk

These are my current favorite store-bought Ramen noodles.

If I have time and motivation, I make my own noodles. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2021/02/21/homemade-chinese-noodles%e6%89%8b%e6%89%93%e3%81%a1%e4%b8%ad%e8%8f%af%e9%ba%ba/

Another French-inspired ingredient I tried was this white truffle oil.

I just drizzled it right before serving.

You may be shaking your head and saying, “truffle oil for ramen?”

Again, it is typically not used for traditional Asian dishes.

I was a bit skeptical too first.

But I’m so glad I tried it.

It went so well with the thyme-flavored broth and took this Ramen to the next level!

Good ramen consists of good broth.

Good noodles.

Good toppings.

I’m so proud of myself making V-egg and V-meat.

I made the “egg” white the way I usually make (water, soy milk, Kanten agar, sugar, salt), but for the yolk I did something different and made a quick version.

It’s just a mixture of vegan mayo, ketchup, and turmeric, but it turned out satisfying.

The color was pretty perfect.

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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/

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Leaf Vegetables

Edamame Oatmeal Okonomiyaki
枝豆オートミールお好み焼き

We are big vegetable eaters, and there are always some kinds of vegetable in our house.

I try to eat a variety and always looking for something new.

But one thing you always find in our fridge is cabbage.

A few reasons.

One, yes my husband and I both live cabbage.

Two, it’s versatile.

You can eat it fresh or cooked.

Three, it lasts relatively longer compared to other vegetables.

But last time I went grocery shopping, I went a bit overboard and bought two big heads, one green and one purple.

Now we have almost too much cabbage!

So, in order to accelerate the consumption, I decided to make Okonomiyaki, Japanese savory pancake, for lunch today.

Traditionally, Okonomiyaki is made of flour, but I’ve started making mine with oatmeal lately, and I absolutely love it!

This time I added chickpea flour and rice flour to the batter.

Included in the toppings were cabbage (lots of it!), scallion, homemade vegan meat, shio-kombu (salted kombu), and edamame.

I usually like to drizzle a little mayo on top, but since I didn’t have any at hand, I drizzled Dijon mustard, which worked beautifully (I may like it better than mayo, actually!).

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Potatoes/Squash

Tempura Cha-Soba
天ぷら茶そば

When deep-fried, anything tastes better, right?

Well, I don’t always agree with this (candy bars do not need to be deep-fried, if you ask me).

But I have to say anything “tempuraed” does taste better.

I just used what I had, but these are some of my favorites to make tempura, Kabocha and onion-carrot.

These turned out great.

Super light and crispy, exactly the way it they should.

Tempura batter: a-p flour, corn starch, salt, ice cold water, white vinegar

If you think the soba looks green, it is green, because it’s Cha-soba, made with green tea.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Soup/Stew, Vegan Egg

Chickpea Curry with V-Egg
目玉焼きのせひよこ豆カレー

I get craving for the Japanese style curry like this.

My mother, like everybody else, always used the same things to the curry, onions, carrots, potatoes, and some type of meat.

So for the longest time I had a hard time imagining curry without those.

But then switching to the plant-based diet changed everything!

You just have to think out of the box almost all the time.

So in this curry you’ll see onions, carrots, and chickpeas!

The curry was great!

But the star of this meal was this vegan egg.

It just gives the whole dish a complete look that I love.

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Breakfast, Japanese Food, Vegan Egg

Natto Kimchi Rice with V-Egg
V卵のせ納豆キムチご飯

Once in a while when I have time in the morning I like to make a Japanese meal like this for breakfast.

Natto is such a unique food.

It’s got a very strong smell, and it’s definitely a love-or-hate kind of food, even for Japanese.

Thankfully, I’m one off the “love” group (but unlucky for my husband, who has to tolerate the smell once in a while!).

I like to have small dishes spread out on the table like this.

But it doesn’t have to be anything complicated.

I do like a bowl of miso soup, some type of pickles, and few other veggie dishes.

That’s all.

These vegan egg yolk is so pretty.

I like looking at it, but the really fun part is breaking it and letting it runny.

A drizzle of soy sauce.

Yum.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg

No Subtraction Vegan Ramen; Yes, You can have an egg.
玉子ものってるよ、ヴィーガンラーメン

It’s been a long time since last time I made these vegan eggs.

The first thing I wanted to use for was ramen!

Today you can get vegan ramen at many ramen restaurants, but they still have to remove many toppings to make it vegan.

Well, I’m so proud that my vegan ramen has an egg!

Okay, this roast is not homemade, but from Trader Joe’s, but it’s delicious!

We just found it at the store, and I’m already planning to go back to get some more.

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Tofu

Gochujang T-Katsu Rice Bowl
コチュジャンTカツどん

I usually like my Katsu with Japanese worcestershire sauce or sweet miso glaze.

Those are my go-to sauce.

But this time I wanted to try something different.

Something spicy…

An action shot is still so hard to take.

I need more practice.

This was actually really good!

The glaze was spicy and sweet at the same time.

As you can see I like a pile of shredded cabbage between the rice and the Katsu.

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