Noodles/Pasta

by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta

RED Ramen
赤ラーメン

When people travel, they often bring something home.

For me it’s usually a food idea(s).

This RED Ramen was inspired by Vegan Tonyu Red (ramen) I had at Marukin Ramen in Portland which I visited last month.

I tried to upload my picture of their ramen, but for some reason I was not able to.

But trust me, their soup was red!

I mean really red.

When I first saw it, I instantly thought it would be way too spicy to eat, but it wasn’t.

It was spicy, but more than anything, it was tasty.

So now back home I wanted to make my own red ramen.

These are not really ramen noodles because they are a bit wider and flatter, but I like these.

First of all, they are vegan (no eggs).

And I like its ingredients.

Simple.

No artificial yellow coloring.

Believe it or not, lots of noodles contain artificial yellow coloring.

Next, I pick a bowl for my ramen.

This is not a traditional ramen bowl, but the “white x red” color combination with the unique design makes it a good candidate.

(I’m actually shopping for a traditional ramen bowl right now.)

Made in Japan!

Noodles go in first.

Soup, and then grilled king mushrooms and toppings.

My RED Ramen was super tasty!

And spicy.

So I think I accomplished my mission with this one.

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August 6, 2018

by : Reiko Asian Food, Noodles/Pasta

Summer “White Hair” So-men Noodles
そうめんはじめました。

This cold noodle dish is THE summer dish people enjoy in Japan.

This type of extremely thin noodle is called “so-men”.

Interestingly, this particular brand named their so-men “Tomo-Shiraga”, which literally means “friend white hair”.

It’s the thinnest type of noodle found in Japan, and I guess the name is probably not too inappropriate (lol).

You cook the noodles (it takes no time!), and after cooling them down under running cold water, you serve them in a bowl full of iced water with ice cubes.

Just looking at this cools you down on a hot summer day.

Just a simple side dish is all you need.

What’s really important to So-men is preparing condiments.

There are so many different options, but the ones I got here are some of my favorites: scallion, Shiso (Japanese basil), grated radish (usually Daikon, but I used red radish), ginger, wasabi, and roasted nori (seaweed).

I love setting the table with a dish like this.

It reminds me of home.

When I sit down for a meal like this in front of me, it hits me and makes me realize something simple, “well I’m Japanese”.

Food often has a special power like that, really reminding you where you are from.

Now I’ll show you how to eat So-men.

You usually share a bowl of so-men with your family, but you’ll have your own small cup of chilled soup.

Use your chopsticks and scoop up noodles.

You don’t need a lot of noodles, just enough for one slurp.

Drop the noodles in your soup.

Add condiments to your soup.

Ta-da!

You have a perfect cup of noodle soup to enjoy.

Once you finish your noodles in your cup, repeat the process.

Add more soup and condiments as needed.

Thank you for reading.

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July 28, 2018

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Noodles/Pasta

A.T. Natto Kimchi Pasta
納豆キムチパスタ

One of the interesting things in the culinary world is that stinky things can be absolutely delicious.

One example may be blue cheese.

In order to appreciate those foods, you have to have an A.T. (acquired taste).

Well, you need plenty to really enjoy this pasta.

Although a lot of secrets about the Japanese cuisine are out now, Natto is still an “unknown” to many people outside the country.

Natto is fermented soy beans, and I don’t blame you if you instantly said “not for me” when you hear the description.

More people will say “no” when they see what it looks like, and almost everybody will be shocked by the strong smell of it.

Even in Japan there are a lot of people who do not touch Natto.

Like any other foods that require an acquired taste, the people who do eat Natto tend to really like them, and fortunately I’m one of them.

They sell small packages (individual size) in the frozen section at Asian grocery stores in the U.S. (I get mine at United Noodles; surprisingly they have so many options/brands for Natto and it’s a bit intimidating to pick one).

I keep them in my freezer and move to the fridge the night before when I plan to eat it for lunch or dinner.

Well, talk about acquired tastes, another main ingredient in this pasta bowl, Kimchi, also requires that.

Interestingly, these two with very strong personality(?!) and smell(!) go really well together, which is almost magical to me.

A.T. Natto Kimchi Pasta: cooked pasta, Natto, kimchi, shiso (Japanese basil), Nori (roasted seaweed), scallion, refined olive oil (or sesame oil), soy sauce, salt

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July 26, 2018

by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Salad

Mamma Mia Spaghetti Dinner
マンマ・ミーア・スパゲッティプレート

Who doesn’t like spaghetti dinner?!

I grew up in Japan, but “Spaghetti with Meat Sauce” was definitely on top of my list.

Since we don’t eat meat anymore, the preparation for the “meat sauce” takes a bit longer.

First I make a meatloaf, and then I crumble it into smaller pieces.

So, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce is usually made the day after a meatloaf dinner at our house, but sometimes I make a meatloaf just because I want to have the spaghetti dish.

Well, it’s worth it.

I keep my “meat sauce” simple with only a few ingredients.

My “must” is a can of “whole tomatoes”.

It always makes my sauce taste better than when a can of diced or crashed tomatoes is used.

The spaghetti was served with Carsar salad.

In my world, this is the best thing to go with this spaghetti dish.

Doesn’t it look tasty?

My trusted nutty parm was generously sprinkled.

Voila!

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July 12, 2018

by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Noodles/Pasta

Green Goodness Spinach Pesto Pasta
グリーンなほうれん草ジェノベーゼパスタ

One of the great things that came with my experience of switching to the 100% plant based diet is that it forces me to think out of the box.

Well, after realizing that so many foods that I believed were NECESSARY for many years are not only unnecessary but also easily replaceable.

So when I think of “pesto”, in my mind it can be made with anything, well, anything green.

So when I got this giant bag of spinach from Costco, pesto seemed like an awesome idea.

There is no meat on this plate.

Everything you see are plant-based, and this makes me smile.

So next time you are in a situation where you have so much spinach you don’t know what to do with, think of “pesto”.

A few evenings ago my husband and I were having dinner at fig + farro, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, and we met a lovely young couple.

They were eating at the table next to us, and we noticed that they were ordering almost exactly the same dishes we did.

So that’s probably how we started a conversation, and we learned that the young lady is a college student and has been on a plant-based diet for a couple of years.

She said she was looking for nutritional yeast while she was in town, and I couldn’t help but recommend Trader Joe’s.

I’ve tried another brand, thinking it would taste the same, and I quickly realized that I was wrong.

So now I stick with Trader Joe’s.

I used to be a bit skeptical about nutritional yeast, but after I learned that it’s “not bad for you”, I now use it quite often.

(This is an interesting read about nutritional yeast.)

Red is supposed to enhance your appetite, but green does pretty much the same to me!

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July 2, 2018

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.

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June 24, 2018

by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Soup/Stew

Lasagna Soup with V-Sausage and Nutty Parm
ラザニアスープ

When I discovered something called “Lasagna Soup” exists, I had to try it.

Freshly cooked lasagna sheets were cut into smaller pieces.

My homemade V-sausage was perfect to accompany the lasagna pasta.

Does it look tasty or what?

My nutty parm was made with the recipe from this book (slightly modified).

This soup was absolutely delicious, and I loved it.

Whoever came up with the idea is genius!

By the way, this is one of my recent favorite shirts to wear.

I bought it at Target, but I only recently learned that it is one of their new clothing brands, called “Who What Wear”.

I did notice that Target’s clothing section has gotten a face-lift lately, and I find myself looking at clothes at Target definitely more often than before.

I wore this gingham blouse with puffy sleeves in this post as well.

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June 11, 2018

by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Wasabi Shiso Salad Soba
冷やし蕎麦はじめました。

We had a beautiful day today.

It was warm, but not too hot like the last few days.

So I took advantage of it and went for a long walk..

I mean, a really long walk!

I was out for over two hours, and when I got home I was tired and sweaty.

Walking in the city is my choice of workout, and I really enjoy it.

There are a lot of good things about working out, but one of the best things I think is that after a workout I want to eat something healthy.

When I’m hungry, I’m often tempted to have rich foods like something deep-fried or sugary.

But after a workout even when I’m hungry, I want something light and fresh.

So after a bath (I was too tired to stand in a shower, so sitting in the tub was more appealing to me), I began chopping vegetables.

You can really use any vegetables, but one of my favorites is “shiso” or Japanese basil which you see in the middle of the bowl.

This really gives great refreshing favors to the dish.

Another “must” for me is wasabi.

Wasabi adds a clean spiciness, and it’s too good to be served only with sushi.

The dressing was simply made with soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, and salt.

So yum!

This is something I bought at the Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa, in Chicago when we visited the city a few weeks ago.

It’s dried roasted sweet potato, and it’s absolutely delicious!

It has been my go-to snack the last few days, and I’m sad that it’s almost gone…

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June 1, 2018

by : Reiko Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Maharaja Macaroni and Cheese
マハラジャ・マカロニグラタン

When I make Japanese curry, I do enjoy it as it is (usually with rice), but often times I can’t wait to create a “secondary” dish with leftover curry.

When growing up in Japan, I would almost always ask my mother to make curry udon the next day, and it’s still one of my go to “second-day” curry dish.

But this time I decided to go for macaroni and cheese.

And I had perfect dishes to cook it in.

The leftover curry was mixed with freshly cooked macaroni and my cheesy cream sauce.

They were topped off with nutty parm and freshly ground black pepper.

They already looked so good before cooking!

As you can see, there are a lot of chunky veggies in the the curry.

I usually stay away from big brand names.

I refuse to pay extra just for the big “name”.

But I am willing to pay for quality: quality of design, quality of material, etc…

Today there are a lot of companies that make this type of small casserole dishes, but Le Creuset is still one of my favorites.

Particularly these yellow ones always make food look good.

Just out of the oven!

It’s a rich dish, and I enjoy it for it.

And another good thing about this dish is that it doesn’t make me feel “stuffed”.

That’s what I’ve noticed since I stopped eating meat and dairy.

Plant-based food not only tastes good but also “feels” good.

We are expecting a very warm weekend in Minnesota.

But I’m pretty excited.

Your attitude changes towards 90 degree weather after you hibernate so long (lol)!

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May 24, 2018

by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Yes Please! Lasagna
イエス・プリーズ！ラザニア

This lasagna is packed with all my favorite things.

I don’t mind all veggie lasagna, but since my V Meatloaf was such a success, I thought it would be fun to add something similar (but flavored with Italian herbs) to my lasagna to give a different texture.