by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Be-My-Valentine Pasta
バレンタインパスタ

This was an accident.

It was not intended for Valentine’s Day (I made it for a meal over a week before that day).

But it turned out so pretty, and I decided to wait to post it until Valentine’s Day.

Garlicky garbanzo sauce accented with beets.

Yes, the lovely pink color is from the beets.

I typically like to finish my dish with some kind of green herb, but this time I purposely stopped myself to keep it all pink and red.

(I really liked how the end result looked!)

We are planning to celebrate V-Day for lunch tomorrow.

And yes, I do have a plan for dessert too.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Mochi, Noodles/Pasta

Fox-Power Udon
きつね力うどん

You are probably thinking that the title of the dish is strange.

Well, in Japan, Udon with this fried soy curd, called “A-GE” is called “Kitsune” Udon, and Kitsune means “fox”.

When Mochi is added, it’s called “Chikara” Udon, and “Chikara” means “power”.

Since my first Udon-making experience was so positive, I decided to make Udon myself again.

I only make enough for two people.

So the batch is so small, but it’s so worth it!

Homemade Udon, porcini-kombu dashi soup, fried and sweet fried soy, Mochi, Wakame seaweed (hidden underneath), and scallion.

It’s a double-carbs dish, which I typically avoid, but it was too tasty to complain!

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Meat

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo with “Chicken and Bacon”
ヴィーガン“チキンとベーコン入り”クリームパスタ

As you can tell from the number of pasta/noodle posts on this blog, I love noodles, and I eat them a lot.

This creamy Alfredo sauce was just perfect for my homemade fettucine pasta.

And this time lucky me, I happened to have homemade vegan “chicken” and “bacon” to throw in.

No regret about being on the plant-based diet!

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg

Homemade Kishimen Curry
カレー手打ちきしめん

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you probably already know that I like making pasta.

But for some reason making Udon noodles at home never came to me until recently.

Back home I didn’t know anybody personally who would make Udon themselves.

So I just automatically thought Udon is something you buy.

But last week I had craving for Udon, but I didn’t have any at home AND I was not in the mood for going shopping.

So for the first time in my life I decided to make it myself.

It was actually not as difficult or time-consuming as I initially anticipated.

At the last minute, I decided to make “Kishimen”.

Kishimen is a type of Udon noodles, but they are flat and wide.

So it’s like pasta but “fettucine”.

Same ingredients, but different shape.

Kishimen is popular noodles in the Nagoya regions where I grew up.

I haven’t had Kishimen for a long time, and I was excited.

The noodles turned out amazing!!

Perfectly chewy and delicious.

It’s kind of good and bad, because after this experiene it would be hard to go back to store-bought ones.

And my vegan egg turned out perfect too!

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Cheese

Trendy? Tomato Cheese Pasta
流行にのって？トマトチーズパスタ

There is another trendy cooking video going on Instagram.

I don’t watch the whole video, but based on the few seconds I see, it looks like you put cherry tomatoes and a hunk of cheese (feta?) in a pan, and then add cooked pasta to it.

I happened to have homemade white vegan cheese that I wanted to use up, so it was perfect.

I added a lot of garlic as well.

How about that!

This was delicious!!

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg

Natto Radish Soba
納豆おろしそば

Growing up, I ate a lot of noodles.

Any types of noodles, from ramen, to yakisoba, to spaghetti, to Soba.

When I was 8, I was making noodle dishes myself on weekends.

So it’s so natural to me that I cook noodles for lunch still.

Several of my favorite toppings.

Natto, scallion, fried onion, grated radish, Nori roasted seaweed, and a vegan egg.

I like to use radish instead of Daikon, which is typically used, because of its beautiful color.

I like my Soba sometimes cold and other times hot.

Today I was in the mood for hot Dashi soup.

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