by : Reiko Bread, Mushrooms, Sandwiches

King Roll
キングロールサンド

Doesn’t my King (mushroom) Roll look good?

I really love everything about king mushrooms.

Its firm texture is so unique and substantial that it can easily take the leading role.

I’ve never tried king mushrooms with mayo together, but it was so good.

Homemade vegan mayo is really a game changer.

First I cut the mushrooms into bite size pieces and sauteed them with a lot of garlic.

Then they were dressed with a mixture of vegan mayo, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, and pepper.

But before I go on, I should talk about my beautiful buns.

I bought these hot dog pans many years ago.

Actually I quickly regretted because I’m not a big fan of hot dogs, and I didn’t think I would ever make buns for hot dogs.

I’m so glad I kept them.

So excited that I got to use these pans for the first time.

The buns turned out great!

Homemade buns are really the best.

They were light, soft, slightly chewy, slightly sweet, and super tasty.

I think a big part of my not liking hot dogs (even when I was eating meat) was that I didn’t like how those store-bought buns tasted.

The King (mushroom) salad was generously placed on the lightly toasted bun.

Yum!

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

Tonkotsu-Style V-Ramen
とんこつ風Vラーメン

I grew up eating ramen a lot.

It’s so popular in Japan, and when I found out that a lot of Japanese people post ONLY ramen pictures on their Instagram page, I was not surprised.

Some of them go out to eat ramen every day, and they don’t run out of new ramen shops to try!

Anyway, I’ve become a little more serious about ramen myself recently.

When I found this dried ramen noodles at Amazon which had great reviews, I had to order a package.

I also got myself a new bowl.

I always wanted to have a traditional ramen bowl.

I typically like a lot of toppings on most dishes, but when it comes to ramen, I’m probably a bit more traditional and stick with a few.

The most popular ramen topping is probably “Char Siu” or barbecued pork slices.

Instead of pork, I prepared yummy portabella mushroom slices.

The mushrooms were so delicious; a bit sweet and a bit spicy from these Japanese “shichimi” spices.

The noodles were cooked perfectly.

Ramen looked so good in my new bowl!

Made me feel like I was back in Japan.

I really liked these noodles as they are so authentic.

They have the right chewiness, flavors, and look.

The soup turned out to be super tasty too.

Tonkotsu ramen is known for its rich flavored soup.

“Tonkotsu” ramen became quite popular in the U.S., but I’m not sure if people really know what that means.

Tonkotsu literally means “pig/pork bones”, and you make your soup from them.

(My vegan version contains no pork or any type of meat, but it does have a similar rich flavors that are very satisfying.)

“Tonkatsu” is another popular Japanese dish in the U.S., and I sometimes hear people say “Tonkatsu” ramen, but that’s incorrect, unless the ramen is served with “tonkatsu” as a topping.

Tonkatsu is “pig/pork cutlet”.

Just a little not-so-necessary piece of information  (lol).

But if you say “Tonkotsu ramen” correctly, you will certainly look like someone who knows your ramen (lol).

The soup was delicious as it was, but a little splash of this Yuzu hot sauce I found at Trader Joe’s brightened up the flavors.

I always wanted to take a picture like this.

If you eat good ramen, I think it’s obligatory.

And this is an acceptable way in Japan to finish your soup.

I do not recommend doing this in the western countries though.

Tonkotsu-Style ramen soup: onion and garlic sauteed in canola oil, water, kiridashi-kombu, tahini, soy milk, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, salt, pepper

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Asian Food, Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

Zha Zha Zhu Zha Jiang Mian
ザーザーズー、ジャージャー麺

This is my take on the traditional Chinese pork noodle dish called Zha Jiang Mian.

 

My “meat” sauce is made of Shiitake mushroom as a main ingredient.

I used dried mushrooms, because they provide intense flavors.

This is how the Shiitake looked like when reconstituted and sliced (later it was chopped into small pieces).

This was so so good!

This is one of the dishes that I thought I would never get to enjoy when I switched to the 100% plant based diet.

But I when I made it and had the first bite, it was a “Zha Zha Zhu” moment for me all over again (lol).

This is definitely not the type of noodle you typically use to make Zha Jiang Mian, but lasagna pasta strips have been my recent favorite, and this was a good choice for this dish as well.

It’s such a beautiful dish.

Julienned cucumber is the typical garnish for Zha Jiang Mian, and it’s a well-thought one.

Not only does it give the fresh green color, but also its crunchy texture perfectly accompanies this dish.

2 Comments
by : Reiko Main Dish, Mushrooms

Morel Galette
あみがさたけガレット

Galette is one of my favorite things to make.

I think I like the “free-style” type of crust.

I got these beautiful morel mushrooms the other day.

Interestingly, there is this pizzeria in our neighborhood which sells pints of morels this time every year.

And I never miss the opportunity.

I was already loving this even before putting it in the oven.

The galette turned out great!

We devoured it.

My husband liked it so much that he has been asking me to make this again already.

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Main Dish, Mushrooms, Sandwiches, Tofu

Truly Awesome Blue Cheese Burger
凄いヨ！ブルーチーズバーガー

Blue cheese burger has always been one of my husband’s favorite burgers.

Remember?

I just made plant-based blue cheese using the recipe from this book.

Well, there was a reason my husband asked me to make the blue cheese first.

 

Since I couldn’t decide if I wanted to use tofu or portabella mushrooms for the “burger”, I decided to go with both.

Can you tell how beautifully the blue cheese melted?

Onion slices were placed first, and then teriyaki-balsamic glaze was generously drizzled over everything.

I mean, really, how awesome does this look?!

These burgers were prepared for the Memorial Day Weekend, and it was a perfect main dish.

Happy Thursday everyone.

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Main Dish, Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

King Cauli Scampi
えりカリスカンピ

One of my Instagram friends (she may not think I’m her “friend” but I feel we’re!) had a picture of her cauliflower scampi, and I thought it was a brilliant idea.

And lucky me, I happened to have a head of cauliflower already in my fridge.

She kindly told me how she made hers, but you know me, I have a tendency to digress from any recipes.

So I decided to boil (and then sautee) my cauliflower instead of roasting it.

I also decided to add king mushroom.

The king mushroom has become one of my favorite foods, particularly since I started the plant-based diet.

Its texture and the flavor are so unique, different from anything else, and gives an interesting twist to any dish.

The texture reminds me of that of scallops, particularly used in this dish.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

My King Cali Scampi was served over freshly cooked linguine.

Is it just me that believe that scampi should be served over linguine but not other type of pasta?

I don’t even know where I got the idea.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice and chopped parsley are a must.

I remember one of the celebrity chefs (and I like her and a big fan) always says Italian parsley is more flavorful than curly parsley, and I would quietly disagree (well I don’t really talk to TV (lol)) every time she said that.

I feel that way probably because I grew up with the curly one, and I have a weird pride in using it.

I also like how they look especially when they are chopped.

(This is a completely different subject, but my mom used to deep-fry curly parsley and it was crunchy, flavorful, and delicious! You could really taste the condensed intense parsley flavor. I should make it sometime, maybe next time when I’m in a mood for deep-frying.)

Leave a comment
by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Main Dish, Mushrooms, Rice/Grains

Awesome V Meatloaf
Vミートローフ

Meatloaf was one of my husband’s favorite dishes when we were still eating meat.

I totally forgot about even the existence of this dish, but a few weeks ago he talked about it, and I kind of took it as a challenge.

I have actually made vegan meatloaf in the past, but it was not my favorite.

Although it tasted pretty good, but the texture was off.

It was a little too soft, and “beany”.

So this time I took some time really thinking about the best ingredients and the process to achieve the taste AND the texture that would satisfy me.

And I think I succeeded!

It’s got a nice crusty crust outside, the inside is moist and juicy, but got the right texture, definitely not soft or “beany” at all.

It’s almost crazy that it looks like the real “meat” meatloaf!

With a strong request from my husband, this meatloaf was served with gravy, instead of ketchup-based sauce.

My V-gravy recipe is found here.

The more gravy, the better anything tastes!

Okay, one more picture.

I hope you can really get an idea of how wonderful its texture is.

Leftover meatloaf was crumbled into small pieces and cooked with additional herbs and spice to make Italian sausage and then added to my tomato sauce.

I served it over spinach bowtie pasta, and it was a big hit at our house.

Here is the recipe for the V-Meatloaf.

Next time I will probably double the recipe so that I will have extra for making sausage, burger, or meatballs.

That’s how much we liked it!

Awesome V Meatloaf

1 cup walnuts
1 cup cooked lentils (do not cook too soft)
1 cup cooked wheat berries
1 cup quick oats
0.5 cup baguette slices soaked in soy milk (and then squeeze the milk out)
mixture of 3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and 5 tablespoons of vegetable broth
1.5~2 cups mixture of chopped and sauteed garlic (3~4 cloves), 1 onion, 2 stalks celery, 1 package crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon soy sauce
a pinch of sugar
salt and pepper
dried thyme
canola oil for brushing

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Process walnuts in a food processor until chopped into small pieces (do not make it into paste).
3. Add lentils, wheat berries, quick oats, and baguette to the walnuts. Process (pulse) until the mixture looks half paste and half coarse.
4. Take the mixture out of the food processor into a large bowl.
5. Add the flaxseed-broth mixture, vegetable mixture, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, and thyme. Mix well.
6. Place in a parchment paper lined pan; I sed 9.5 x 5.5 x 2.5 pan, but only filled about a little over a 2/3 length.
7. Cook in the oven for 50 minutes. Brush the top with oil. Cook for another 10 minutes. I broiled the top for a few minutes to give the extra crustiness.

Leave a comment