This type of noodles are popular in Japan as well, but I was excited to try the Korean version for the first time.
I got this black bean paste from a Korean grocery store a few weeks ago, and I was happy that I was finally able to try it.
It turned out super delicious!!
The sauce was beautiful dark and thick.
Once in a while I get craving for Japanese curry.
Japanese curry goes with anything, from rice, to udon, to spaghetti, to ramen noodles.
A bowl of hot soba noodle soup is always a good idea.
This doesn’t look fancy, but these are some of my favorite toppings.
Omu-Yakisoba is basically fried noodles (yakisoba) covered with thin omelet.
It’s a popular Japanese dish.
Another version you may have heard is “Omu-Rice” which is fried rice covered with thin omelet.
I like my Yakisoba with lots of veggies.
Looks pretty good already.
Vegan omelet is not that hard to make.
I typically puree/blend tofu and chickpea flour and use it as a base (and then you can add whatever to flavor and color, such as nutritional yeast, turmeric (for color), etc.) and add water to thin the batter until it achieves your preferred consistency.
Then you cook it in a pan like a crepe.
Drizzle Okonomi sauce (thick and sweet Japanese glaze) and homemade vegan cheese, and sprinkle Aonori (Japanese dried seaweed flakes).
I had all the ingredients to make lasagna, but I was not in the mood to construct one.
So going with a deconstructed version was a reasonable plan B.
Lasagna sheets, vegan meatballs (from Ikea), lentils sautéed spinach, tomato sauce (from a jar), roasted pepper/eggplant spread (from a jar), and homemade vegan ricotta.
Constructed or not, it tasted so good!
It’s not that hard to make a bite with all the components together.
With the coronavirus pandemic, there are not many places I feel comfortable visiting.
It’s basically work, grocery stores, and Target.
I’m generally a homebody, but even I was getting tired of the limited outing routine a few weeks ago, and I decided to try something new.
I started exploring new ethnic grocery stores.
A few weeks ago I found “Bosnian Supermarket” located about 30 minutes from our house, and we paid a visit.
I really like finding new food products, and this place was full of new things!
There were many interesting things, but we decided to come home with this vegetable spread.
The main ingredients are roasted peppers and eggplant.
The overall ingredient list was short, and no preservative was added, which I really liked.
The spread was nice and thick, and full of roasted veggie flavors.
It was perfectly seasoned, and I didn’t need to add anything even salt.
I had no idea how to authentically use it, but I decided to simply coat Rigatoni with it and served with Ikea veggie balls.
This was delicious!!
It was super easy, yet, it tasted like something home-made by someone who spent hours cooking.
This is what I wanted to make with my first homemade Chinese noodles (previous post).
It’s called “Ankake Yakisoba” in Japanese, but basically it’s “crispy fried noodles with vegetables and thick sauce”.
This was my first time making this dish with homemade noodles, and I absolutely loved it!
Homemade noodles really make a huge difference.
There are two important things about this dish, and one is that you want to make sure that your noodles are fried super crispy so that you can really enjoy the great combination of the crispy noodles and thick sauce, which is the second important thing (the sauce has to have the right thickness, not too thin, but not too thick either!).
YUM!!
I make other types of noodles, like pasta and Udon, and I thought it was time to try Chinese noodles that can be used to make ramen or fried noodles.
I think my general noodle-making skills are getting better, and Chinese noodle making was not too different from other types of noodle making.
The only thing that was tricky was that you have to cut it into thinner strands.
I did my best, but they could be even thinner.
They cooked beautifully!
Ramen for lunch!
To tell the truth, I couldn’t decide if I wanted Ramen or Mapo Tofu-Wood Ear.
What do you do when that happens?
Well, you have both!
This was SO GOOD!!
I found beautiful wood ear mushrooms at the local Asian grocery store today, and it was perfect for this.
After some extended winter time off, I went back to work this week.
During my time off I ate fried noodles for lunch almost every day.
Before we started the plant-based diet, I never really paid much attention to oyster sauce.
I liked it, but I always felt that had a strange name because for some reason I didn’t think there was actually any oyster in it!
So when I realized that oyster sauce was off our list, I was bummed because I liked the rich flavor.
Then I found how to make oyster sauce vegan in “The Homemade Vegan Pantry” book, and I had to try it.
The sauce turned out fantastic!
It’s thick, rich, and flavorful, and even has some “ocean” flavor.
These canned vegetables make any dish instantly “Asian”!
