by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Tofu

White Asparagus & Butter Pasta with Ginger

I had never cooked white asparagus before.

Actually, I don’t think I had ever eaten white asparagus either.

So when my farmer box delivered from fruitfarmfolks (you can find them on Instagram) included these beautiful fresh white asparagus, I got so excited.

I did a little research to learn how to prepare and cook it.

I had no idea that I had to trim them first to remove the outer hard part.

It was simply prepared because I wanted to really appreciate the natural taste of this beautiful vegetable.

After boiled, it was served with homemade vegan butter and crunchy panko (with garlic, parsley, and lemon zest).

It was delicious!

On the plate you will also find butter pasta with ginger “tsukudani (braised in soy sauce based sweet sauce)”.

And my tofu “bacon”.

Have you ever tried white asparagus?

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Salad

Tomato Berry Salad & Vegan Bolognese Pasta

Eating out in Thailand is cheaper than in the U.S. in general.

But if you want “western type” food, not so much.

So I make “western” food probably more often at home.

Nothing complicated, something simple, like pasta, salad, that kind of things.

This was the last delivery from fruitfarmfolks (you can find them on Instagram).

All organic and locally grown.

I usually get their small package, so I don’t know what I will get until it arrives.

In my last package tofu was included, which was bit of a surprise.

I also received beautiful berries (strawberries, blueberries, golden berries, raspberries), so I created this salad for lunch.

The “cheese” spread beneath the berries/tomatoes was made with the tofu that came in the package.

Sweet balsamic glaze and fresh herbs completed the plate.

For the main dish I made vegan Bolognese pasta.

If you eat out, two delicious bowls of Asian noodle soup cost $5, whereas a meal for two like this could cost over $30.

And, you probably wouldn’t get this many or organic berries.

In Bangkok some people eat out close to 100%, but I don’t think I can ever do that, mainly because I’m particular about what I eat, and more than anything I enjoy the whole process of cooking (from getting the right ingredients to cooking, and to plating) in my kitchen.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Other

Homemade Pasta with Broccoli Edamame Sauce & Yayaz Chocolat

My husband was out for lunch with his friend.

I was going to have Natto soba, my go-to “meal by myself”.

But I was in a mood for pasta.

The problem was that I was out of pasta.

So I thought it was a bit silly, but I decided to make pasta from scratch.

I got my usual “rollin pin” aka a soda can out (lol).

I need to lean to slice them more thin.

My pasta always ends up being linguine.

Interested in vegan pasta recipe?

You can find my favorite recipe here.

My freshly cooked pasta was combined with broccoli edamame sauce.

I wanted to really enjoy the broccoli and edamame flavor, so I kept the sauce very simple.

Today I want to talk about this chocolate shop we visited a few weeks ago.

It’s a cute little shop, which sells all vegan chocolate.

The package design is very cool.

And the flavors are unique and irresistible.

It’s 100% made in Thailand.

Their ingredients come from various regions of the country.

The chocolate is not cheap, but trust me, it’s worth it.

We came home with this Raspberry Caramel chocolate.

It was SO GOOD!!!

Here is a link to Yayaz Chocolat’s Instagram page.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Tofu

Two Timing Spaghetti – with Tasty Tofu “Meat”

I was in the mood for spaghetti today, and I couldn’t decide which sauce, red or green, I wanted, so I prepared both.

As a topping I decided to make my tofu ground “meat”.

It’s super easy to make.

What you need is “age-tofu” which is pre-fried tofu.

This type of tofu is firm itself but also has a firmer outside layer.

You crumble it into small pieces like this.

I use my hand.

Then you marinate the crumbled tofu in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, garlic powder, and oil.

It doesn’t take time for the tofu to absorb the mixture.

Once it’s ready, cook it in a pre-heated oven (225-230 C); I use the broiler function.

The tofu cooks quickly, and you don’t really have to worry about cooking it through.

The important thing is to get the right texture.

I personally like it to be well-browned and crispy.

I take it out of the oven when I feel it may start to burn.

This was perfect!

I didn’t time, but I think it was in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or so; I flipped halfway.

Sprinkle salt if it’s needed.

Green sauce: fresh basil from my planter garden, roasted sunflower seeds, cooked garlic, water (used to cook garlic), olive oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, sugar.

Red sauce: store-bought jar of pasta sauce that we like (lol).

I wish I could find good kalamata olives.

The selection of olives is limited in Bangkok.

Two kinds of sauce equals doubled satisfaction!

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by : Reiko Bangkok Restaurants, Noodles/Pasta, Restaurants, Salad, Tofu

Mango Herb Soba Salad with Miso Dressing & Garlic Peanuts; Plus Friendsmas Dinner at Featherstone

I was going to have some groceries delivered the next day, so I wanted to use up all the veggies in the fridge, and making soba salad was a good way to do so.

Since I get a lot of fresh herbs in my planters, I often make an “herb” arrangement like this in the kitchen.

I wash them first, so if I need them while cooking I can just use these instead of going out to the balcony.

So it’s pretty to look at but also convenient.

Mise en place.

I still remember mise en place was the first thing I learned in my Culinary Arts class (lol).

The tofu “bacon” is my recent favorite.

I used the pre-fried type of tofu called “atsu-age”.

I cut it into small pieces, marinate, and cook them with high heat in the oven.

They are crispy and packed with umami.

Another major supporting actor in this dish was the mango.

I like using ingredients that are locally sourced as much as I can.

It already looks pretty good.

For the herbs I used mint, parsley, basil (from my planters) plus scallion.

But this time I am adding something else, something special.

This Indonesian garlic peanut is an Umami bomb!

We have a friend here in Bangkok who moved to Bangkok last year from Minnesota, but she is originally from Indonesia.

A while back she gave us this, and we loved it so much that she got us another bag again. 🙂

It’s such a great snack, but you have to be careful because it’s addictive!

I sprinkled these peanuts on the salad (at the same time I was test-tasting it :)).

Then the salad was served with miso dressing.

It was fresh, fruity, minty, garlicy, sweet, tart, crunchy…

It’s a light meal but so satisfying.

This year my husband and I enjoyed two wonderful Christmas meals (previous two posts) ourselves on the 24th and the 25t, but on the 26th we enjoyed Friendsmas dinner at the cafe called Featherstone.

It’s a very popular restaurant, and it’s features on almost all the “must-visit cafes in Bangkok” lists.

I think people like the food, but more than anything people seem to love the decor.

There were a lot of groups of women spending a lot of time taking photos. 🙂

I do agree that it’s decorated with elegance and sophistication, and people are fascinated by its effortless timeless look.

When it comes to the food, they serve western food, such as salad, soup, steak, salmon, burgers, tiramisu…

There are some “vegetarian” options, but vegan items are extremely limited (or maybe none as a lot of dishes seem to be served with cheese even when cheese is not listed in their description on the menu).

This apple walnut salad came with a few slices of cheese, which I don’t worry about.

The salad was very fresh, and we liked it.

A nice portion size, perfect to share, too.

I had ratatouille pasta, one of a few vegan-like dishes I found on the menu.

The description on the menu didn’t say anything about cheese, but I did tell the server that I didn’t want cheese just in case (he simply wrote it down and did not say “this dish doesn’t contain cheese”).

It was very well prepared, and the pasta was perfectly cooked al dente.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their choice of dishes too.

It’s a beautiful restaurant worth checking out.

Definitely Instagram-worthy (lol).

I don’t think I will go back for a meal simply because of few plant-based items, but I am planning to go back for their signature beverage “Sparkling Apothecary”.

Here is the link to the Featherstone website.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Plant-based Ramen; how to turn spaghetti into (almost) ramen noodles!

I was in the mood for ramen, but I didn’t have ramen noodles at home.

I knew I could get them easily because the local grocery store I regularly go to does carry them.

But it was one of those days I didn’t feel like leaving the house.

I thought about making ramen noodles from scratch.

I did that before.

But I was too lazy to do so.

But sometimes “laziness” leads to a new discovery (lol).

When I googled hoping to find easy ways to make ramen noodles, I ran into some interesting information, which suggested cooking spaghetti in water with baking soda.

I was skeptical, but it sounded like a better idea than making noodles from scratch.

It turned out pretty good!

This cooking method created a similar smell/taste and also a similar chewy texture.

I used a tablespoon of baking soda for 1 litter of water, plus a little salt.

First, I boiled water, took the pot off the heat, then added baking soda and salt (it foams, so you should be careful if you try this), and then put it back on the heat, and added spaghetti.

I recently got a jar of Shio-Koji (salt with rice malt), and I’m loving using it as it adds umami to any dishes, including this ramen soup.

I got mine at Sala Bran Cafe.

Initially I was afraid that the jar was too small, but I only use a little each time, and I like the idea that I use it up when it’s still fresh.

For the toppings I had edamame, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed veggies (onion, cabbage, carrot), basil, and roasted seaweed.

So good.

My craving was definitely satisfied.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Japanese “Napolitan” Spaghetti – with Tofu “Bacon”

“Napolitan Spaghetti” is NOT Italian, but one of the most beloved pasta dishes in Japan.

We don’t seem to know exactly how it was created, but based on some googled information it was likely originally created at Hotel New Grand in Yokohama, Japan, sometime around 1940-1950.

Cooked spaghetti is sauteed with various vegetables and processed meat (onion, green pepper, and bacon/sausage are popular) and then most importantly flavored with ketchup.

Cooking pasta with ketchup may shock Italians (lol), but since I grow up eating this dish regularly as a kid like many Japanese people, I still crave for it once in a while.

This time instead of using meat or fake meat, I decided to make “bacon” with “Atsu-age” tofu which is already deep-fried and firmer compared to regular tofu.

I cut the Atsu-age tofu into small pieces, marinated in soy sauce based marinade (soy sauce, sugar, garlic powder, oil, miso) and cooked/broiled in the oven until it was crispy.

I was very happy with the result because the texture was spot-on!

It was also nice to cook it in the oven so that I could do other things using the stovetop while cooking the “bacon”.

I like my Napolitan Spaghetti with a lot of vegetables.

This time I used onion, green pepper, Shiitake mushrooms, carrot, and zucchini.

As many do today, I added a few extra sauces in addition to the ketchup, including soy sauce and Tonkatsu sauce, to create depth in the flavor.

Finished with ITALIAN parsley from my planter herb garden. 🙂

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by : Reiko Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

Lion’s Mane Crab Cakes; with “too” little filler!

Who likes crab cakes?

Well, I do… I did.

The Lion’s Mane mushroom interestingly mimics the look and texture of crab meat.

So, I decided to attempt to make my first Lion’s Mane crab cakes.

I like my crab cakes with little filler.

Have you ever ordered crab cakes at a restaurant, and when they arrived, you had to ask, “where is the crabmeat?” because there was too much filler?

Well, I didn’t want that in my crab cakes, so I added very little filler.

Okay.

Maybe it was too little of filler…

They barely held their shape.

I made garlic, olive, lemon, herb pasta with crunchy Panko to serve the crab cakes with.

I love this kind of pasta.

Simple and delicious.

I could eat a large bowl of it.

Just that.

This turned out to be such a delicious meal!

The crab cake was tasty undressed, but I also liked it with my vegan lemon garlic mayo.

Because the filler was so little that most of the cakes became “deconstructed”.

They still tasted good though.

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by : Reiko Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

Homemade Pasta with Golden Oyster Mushrooms -　立派なタモギタケを手に入れたよ。

Eating seasonal food is important to me.

So when I saw a large list of mushrooms on Happy Grocers’ page, I didn’t hesitate to order some.

Everything looked good, but I chose golden oyster.

It said I would receive 200-250g, but I didn’t know how big (or small) that would be.

When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by the large size.

And the quality.

It was so fresh and absolutely beautiful!!

I wanted to enjoy the mushrooms with my homemade pasta.

I don’t have a rolling pin, so I use my husband’s soda again.

It works perfectly :).

It makes a mess in the kitchen, but homemade pasta is so worth it.

I wanted to enjoy the flavor of the mushrooms without added extra flavors, so I simply sauteed it.

They kept their shape and firm texture even after cooked, and I loved that they were meaty and delicious.

The flavor was wonderful, too.

The pasta was served with cream sauce, soy meat, and then topped off with the sauteed golden oyster mushrooms.

It was so delicious.

My husband and I both really enjoyed these mushrooms, and I think I want to try other mushrooms too.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Spaghetti and Plant-Based Meatballs：Vミートボールスパゲッティ

Spaghetti is a comfort food for a lot of people, including my husband and me.

When I was little, I was always asking my mom to make “meat sauce spaghetti” for dinner, but it seems that in the U.S. spaghetti and meatballs is a more popular dish, and that is probably what my husband remembers as one of his childhood favorite meals.

I used store-bought spaghetti and Heinz sauce.

So, the star of this post is the meatballs.

I believe that getting the right texture is the key in making plant-based meatballs.

I’ve experimented with various recipes, but this one may be one of my favorites.

https://foodwithfeeling.com/easy-vegan-meatballs/#recipe

I had to modify the recipe a little because I didn’t have all the ingredients and I was a bit lazy in completing some steps, but they still turned out great.

I think the recipe is versatile.

I will still use it as a base recipe, but I’m looking forward to changing things a bit to see if I can make them to suit my specific liking.

Doesn’t it look great?!

Now I know how to make good plant-based meatballs, I have a feeling that spaghetti and (plant-based) meatballs will be a part of our dinner rotation.

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