When I make curry and rice, the next day is always curry udon.
That was the routine we had at our house when I grew up, so that’s what I continue to do even though I’m out of my parents’ house and thousands of miles away.
Old habits, I guess.
And for some reason, the noddle has to be Udon when it comes to curry.
I love Soba, but it just doesn’t work as well as Udon.
This fried soybean curd is called “abura-age” in Japanese.
It’s something I enjoy cooking and eating when I get tired of eating tofu.
It’s plant-based.
Yes, it’s processed, but only minimally.
It’s pre-fried, so the fat that comes with it gives a great flavor.
It was braised in slightly sweetened soy-sauce based broth before added to the soup.
It’s plump and juicy with delicious broth absorbed inside.
The other toppings are Wakame seaweed, fried onion, and green onion.
They are some of my favorite toppings!
I love soba.
I like noodles in general, but soba is definitely one of my favorites.
My husband and I were both home today at the lunch time.
So this was what I made for lunch.
The creamy Kabocha sauce was perfect for this time of the year.
I accented the sauce with fresh rosemary to give some fall flavor.
This is a rosemary pot I found at Trader Joe’s last night.
Smells so good!
The pasta was served with mushroom kale mustard salad.
I like mushrooms both cooked and raw, but my husband will not eat it when it’s not cooked.
I think the fresh mushrooms are delicious.
It’s always exciting to try a new food item.
We were at a friend’s house the other day for dinner and a Vikings game.
When I told her how much I liked her hand soap in her bathroom, she told me that she buys a lot of things from Stonewall Kitchen including the soap and truffle oil.
As soon as we were back to our house, I ordered the same hand soap (“Ski Lodge” if you are curious).
I was also going to order the truffle oil from them, but for this I decided to do a little research and look at other brands too.
I decided to get this one because of many positive reviews and the beautiful label.
Just because I wanted to try my first truffle oil on pasta, I decided to make home-made pasta.
Homemade pasta, roast, baby bella, garlic, arugula, walnut, nutritional yeast.
Delicious!
A little drizzle of the truffle oil definitely makes a huge difference!
I’m not a big fan of anything “infused” because if I want the flavor, I will do the infusing myself.
But truffles?
It’s a different story.
For them infused oil works well.
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.
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!
I just freshly made my favorite vegan cheddar cheese.
So I knew this is what I wanted for lunch today.
I also just bought a new jar of kimchi, my favorite vegan one (my current favorite is the Seoul brand), so of course it went on the plate as well.
Tasty!
I usually like my Yakisoba, or Japanese fried noodles, with sauce.
But once in a while I get in a mood for simple salt version.
I also happened to have fresh lemons, and lemon zest went nicely with this salted version, with vegan scallops, broccoli, and scallion.
As always, my noodle dish has the 1:1 noodles and non-noodle ratio.
Japanese like noodles, and there are always noodle dishes they enjoy every season.
Somen (cold dipping noodles) is one of their favorites during the summer time.
Noodles are served in an ice water, usually with ice cubes to keep the noodles cold.
And dipping soup, which is also cold.
They are usually served with various toppings.
Some of the popular ones are wasabi, scallion, Shiso leaves, and Nori roasted seaweed.
This time I decided to go with diced tomatoes, ground sesame, and scallion.
I like any type of curry, and Thai curry is not an exception.
Garlic chives are one of the things I look for when I go to an Asian grocery store.
The other toppings other than the garlic chives you will find in this beautiful bowl are tofu crumbles, sprouts, and hemp seeds.
