by : Reiko Main Dish, Vegan Meat

V-Porkchop with Pepper Jam
Vポークチョップ、ペッパージャム添え

The inspiration for this dish came from the show, “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” again.

What can I say, the show is so entertaining.

I saw a restaurant featured on the show was serving a dish like this, and it looked so good that I wanted to make a vegan version.

This is actually my vegan meat that I usually use as “chicken”.

But a good thing about vegan meat is that the same meat can be used as chicken or pork, because it’s really not chicken or pork!

My pepper jam is an easy version with the main ingredient of roasted red pepper.

It was made quickly, but still sweet and spicy at the same time and delicious!

Vegan pork chop with pepper jam was served with sauteed green beans and creamy V-cheese pasta.

It turned out to be a hearty meal, perfect for dinner.

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Rice/Grains, Tofu

V-“Chicken” Kebabs
Vチキンケバブ

Kebabs are exciting.

Even if you are eating the same food, the skewers make it exciting (well at least to me!).

The idea came when I perfected my vegan “chicken” by using the convection oven function.

This time I added some additional spices to flavor my “chicken” including cumin, ginger, paprika, and cinnamon.

I buy the commercial sized cumin.

You can tell how much I like this spice.

I also cooked some vegetables.

As you can see, I cook everything first and then put them on the skewers.

It may not be the “correct” way to make kebabs, but hey, it works.

I cooked this basmati rice with turmeric to add the bright yellow color.

Doesn’t it look great?

Did you see the beautiful creamy sauce on the dish?

Well, these are the secret ingredients.

I bought this Punjabi pickle a while ago at an Indian grocery store.

It has a very strong tanginess, and I was not able to eat it by itself.

So, I almost thought about throwing away.

And then I decided to add this along with the mango chutney to my vegan mayo, and it turned out amazing!

They both already contain a lot of spices, and they give this complex flavor that it would be hard to create from scratch.

These also work well when added to yogurt.

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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 Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Cheese, Vegan Meat

Minnesooota Lasagna
ミネソタラザニア

Who likes lasagna?

I love everything about it, from the chewy noodles, different sauces, texture, and of course the look.

For the “Bolognese” sauce I used my vegan ground meat and wild rice.

By using the two things created a wonderful texture and flavor.

I love how it looked.

Lasagna is definitely one of the dishes I like to cook when I have guests over for dinner.

Just imagine yourself setting it in the center of the dinner table and people’s reaction!

I’m always worried that I made too much, but it disappears quickly.

It’s hard to see, but there were the Bolognese sauce and broccoli cheese between the noodle layers.

For the broccoli cheese, I used a mixture of cashew and tofu to create more of ricotta cheese like texture.

On the other hand, for the top the “cheese” was made of cashew and drizzled after the lasagna was baked to mimic the “melted” cheese look.

Doesn’t it look gorgeous?

I didn’t have basil, but I had Shiso leaves.

Shiso leaves work great wherever basil is typically used.

This was just out of the oven.

We absolutely loved this lasagna!

Scrumptious!

This was what it looked like the next day.

You can see the layers more clearly in this photo.

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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 Gluten Free, Main Dish

Shiso Oatmeal Mochi
紫蘇オートミール餅

Whenever I try a new recipe, I experience a mixed feeling of nervousness and excitement.

The idea of making “mochi” with oatmeal sounded so interesting, and I really hoped that it would turn out well.

At the last minute I decided to add Shiso leaves to add an extra flavor.

I just love this herb, and I’m always looking for dishes where I can add it to.

They looked really good.

I made the Mochi and the glaze as directed by the recipe.

I wanted to dress them up a little bit, and I placed my tomato jam on the mochi and sprinkled chopped scallion.

This was so good!

My husband and I devoured it.

The recipe is here ↓

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaMoYdkgHNH/

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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 Main Dish

Oatmeal Gnocchi with V-Cheese Sauce
Vチーズソース・オートミールニョッキ

By now I’ve learned that there are so many things you can make with oatmeal.

But who knew it is possible to make gnocchi with oatmeal?

These were “before” being cooked, but they already look pretty convincing, don’t they?

I poured vegan cheese sauce over the freshly cooked oatmeal gnocchi and sprinkled vegan “meat”.

For the vegan “ground meat” I processed my go-to vegan meat in my food processor and then flavored and cooked them.

It was my first time to make “ground meat”, but it turned out pretty good.

Okay, oatmeal has surprised me before, but this was another big, pleasant surprise!

This was so good, almost better than the regular gnocchi!

The oatmeal gnocchi recipe (Japanese) is here ↓

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUf1L2Ace4/

I don’t have the recipe for this cheese sauce, but here are the ingredients used: vegan butter, soy milk, cashew nuts, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt

By the way I’m kicking myself writing this post because I just realized I forgot to drizzle my truffle oil.

It was still so delicious though.

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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 Leaf Vegetables, Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg

(Quite Possibly the) World’s Largest Fusilli with Kale Pesto and V-Bacon
(たぶーん）世界一大きいフジッリのケールジェノベーゼ和え

I love a good pasta bowl.

And here is a very good pasta bowl.

I bought this pasta because the package was pretty.

Apparently, I was focused on the “Italian Artisan Pasta”, and I didn’t notice until later what else was written on the package.

It said, “World’s Largest Fusilli”.

More precisely, “Quite Possibly the World’s Largest Fusilli”.

How cool is that?!

I didn’t have basil, but I had a lot of beautiful fresh kale.

So I decided to make pesto with kale.

It turned out great!

This was looking quite good already at this stage, but I was not done.

I added my vegan bacon and topped it off with a vegan egg.

By the way, the fusilli were in fact very large, and I really liked it.

I usually prefer long pasta, but I will definitely buy this again.

If interested in how I make vegan eggs or vegan meat, check out this page. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/recipes-ive-tried-and-liked/

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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 Main Dish, Rice/Grains, Vegan Egg

Vegan Loco Moco with Lilikoi Mayo
リリコイマヨがけヴィーガンロコモコ

We had such a nice vacation in Hawaii this winter.

Each state has its own special food, but Hawaii has a selection of distinctively unique local dishes.

Loco moco is one of their popular dishes, and as much as I wanted to try it there, it was tough to find a vegan version that appealed to us.

So a few weeks later, back home in Minnesota, I decided to make it myself.

I started with making my vegan egg.

Check out this page to see how I make my vegan eggs. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/recipes-ive-tried-and-liked/

For the hamburger I used the Beyond brand’s burger.

I cook almost all our meals, but my husband is in charge for hamburger-cooking.

I guess we still keep some tradition even after switching to the plant-based diet.

Since we are making a Hawaiian dish, why not using an ingredient that was made in Hawaii?

I made passionfruit mayo with the passionfruit (lilikoi) jam I got from Hawaii.

This gives a nice sweet and tart flavor.

I have a link to my favorite vegan mayo recipe on this page as well. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/recipes-ive-tried-and-liked/

Doesn’t it look good or what?! 🙂

This definitely satisfied my Loco moco craving!

Aloha!

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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 Beans/Lentils, Leaf Vegetables, Main Dish

Chickpea-Polenta-Veggie Comfort Bowl
ベジポレンタひよこ豆汁がけ

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.

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Rice/Grains, Vegan Cheese

Creamy Tomato Rye Berry Casserole
クリーミートマトライ麦キャセロール

Yes, we still have rye.

A lot of it.

Since we liked cooked rye berries, I decided to make another dish with them.

This time my husband suggested that I make “casserole”, and I thought that was a good idea.

Creamy tomato sauce, rye berries, soy meat chunks, and some veggies.

It was such a hearty dish.

Oh, it was topped off with homemade vegan cream cheese.

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