by : Reiko Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Oatmeal Gnocchi with Garlic Seaweed butter
オートミールニョッキ、にんにく海苔バター

I really liked these gnocchi made of oatmeal, and I decided to make them again.

It starts like this.

Who would think this could become gnocchi?!

There are many great things about this recipe, such as needing only a few ingredients.

And it only takes a few minutes to get to this.

Freshly cooked!

I like the rustic look and texture.

Now let’s talk about the sauce.

The star of the sauce is this.

Aosa seaweed.

It has such a rich strong “seafood”-like flavor.

Well, it is technically “sea” “food”, right?

Butter, olive oil, garlic, Aosa seaweed, grape tomatoes.

I love how it looks.

At the last minute I wanted cheese.

So I quickly put together this vegan “Parmesan” with nutritional yeast, almond meal, garlic powder, and onion powder.

This was scrumptious!

I know sage butter is a popular sauce for gnocchi, but this Japanese version was as good if not better (of course it’s a personal preference).

I will definitely make this again.

Oatmeal gnocchi recipe is here ↓ (Japanese).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUf1L2Ace4/

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg, Vegan Meat

Breakfast Pasta
朝ごはんパスタ

Noodles are probably not the most popular thing for breakfast.

I don’t know why.

If a restaurant puts pasta on their breakfast menu, I’m sure I’ll be very interested.

But until then I’ll make my own breakfast pasta.

(And it will be even harder to find one that’s plant-based!)

I prepared my usual breakfast items.

Vegan eggs, hash browns, and vegan bacon.

Since my husband has no interest in eating pasta in the morning, he will eat these without pasta, and that’s perfectly fine.

Linguine was combined with those eggs, potatoes, and bacon, and then served with tomato-garlic olive oil and Shiso leaves.

This was so good!

Restaurant owners, you have to put breakfast pasta on your menu, seriously!

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Leaf Vegetables, Noodles/Pasta, Soup/Stew

Soba Noodles with Shungiku Tempura
春菊天ぷら蕎麦

Tempura is one of the dishes I recommend when I go to a Japanese restaurant with someone who has never had any Japanese food.

Battered and deep-fried?

Who wouldn’t like that?!

Well, I usually don’t order tempura at restaurants myself (I usually go for Sushi), but I do like good tempura at home.

There are so many vegetables that are delicious when made into tempura.

This leafy vegetable is not on everyone’s favorite tempura list only because not a lot of people use it to make tempura (although they should!).

People usually use it for hotpot.

I do like it in hotpot, but it’s also delicious in salad.

This was my first time (I believe) using it to make tempura, but I’m glad I did.

At the Asian grocery store where I buy these call them “Tongo”, but we call it “Shungiku” in Japan.

It’s literally translated into “spring chrysanthemum”, so I believe it is a seasonal vegetable.

It has nice unique bitterness that I love.

Don’t throw away the stalks.

They are a bit hard, but that’s where it is the most flavorful.

By the way zucchini is another one good when mad into tempura.

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta, Tofu

Wood Ear Mushroom Mapo Tofu
木耳入り麻婆豆腐

Wood Ear mushrooms are hard to find.

They have a unique texture and flavor, and I’ve always liked them.

So when I see fresh ones at the local Asian grocery store, I buy them.

It may be more popular to serve Mapo Tofu with rice, but personally I like it over noodles.

These A-Sha brand’s flat noodles are delicious and convenient, and I like to keep them in our pantry.

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Cheese, Vegan Meat

Minnesooota Lasagna
ミネソタラザニア

Who likes lasagna?

I love everything about it, from the chewy noodles, different sauces, texture, and of course the look.

For the “Bolognese” sauce I used my vegan ground meat and wild rice.

By using the two things created a wonderful texture and flavor.

I love how it looked.

Lasagna is definitely one of the dishes I like to cook when I have guests over for dinner.

Just imagine yourself setting it in the center of the dinner table and people’s reaction!

I’m always worried that I made too much, but it disappears quickly.

It’s hard to see, but there were the Bolognese sauce and broccoli cheese between the noodle layers.

For the broccoli cheese, I used a mixture of cashew and tofu to create more of ricotta cheese like texture.

On the other hand, for the top the “cheese” was made of cashew and drizzled after the lasagna was baked to mimic the “melted” cheese look.

Doesn’t it look gorgeous?

I didn’t have basil, but I had Shiso leaves.

Shiso leaves work great wherever basil is typically used.

This was just out of the oven.

We absolutely loved this lasagna!

Scrumptious!

This was what it looked like the next day.

You can see the layers more clearly in this photo.

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta

Veggie Tempura Udon
ベジ天ぷらうどん

Remember the Veggie Tempura Rice Bowl I posted the other day?

Well, I didn’t tell you at that time, but it was “his” lunch, and this was “her” lunch.

Same tempura, Enoki mushrooms, Shiso leaves, and onion-carrot.

Well, I enjoyed it very much, while my husband enjoyed his rice bowl.

Which would you choose?

The rice bowl or the udon noodles?

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Cheese

Truffle Mac and Cheese with Cabbage Steak
トリュフマカロニチーズ、キャベツステーキ添え

It’s strange, but my husband and I were not a big fan of mac and cheese, but now we are of “vegan” mac and cheese.

Especially the one I make with this homemade vegan cheddar is our favorite.

Here is the information you can find about this cheese. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/recipes-ive-tried-and-liked/

I use the cheese and thin it a bit by adding soy milk to create this creamy cheese sauce.

Today there was another main actor along with the mac and cheese.

Cabbage steak!

I cook the cabbage in a mixture of water, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper, and olive oil, covered until tender first, and then after removing the liquid fried it with olive oil.

I loved this.

The cabbage is so tender and sweet, and the little charred part was also very tasty.

I drizzled a little of this truffle oil over the mac and cheese.

It instantly takes the dish to the next level, and more an adult dish!

Delicious!!

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

Bukkake Soba Bowl with Crispy Enoki
ぱりぱりえのきのせぶっかけ蕎麦

For a quick lunch a soba bowl is always a good idea.

You place cooked soba noodles and whatever you have in your fridge and pour some kind of sauce over it.

It’s my go-to meal when I want something quick but tasty and nutritious.

I just bought Enoki mushrooms, and I did something I had wanted to try for a while.

Crispy Enoki!

I just coated the mushrooms with a mixture of corn starch, flour, and onion powder, and fried them and then sprinkled salt.

At the same Asian grocery store where I bought the Enoki mushrooms I also bought this.

They call it “Tito Mint”, but I call it “Shiso” or a Japanese basil.

Freshly cooked soba noodles were served with crispy Enoki mushrooms, julienned shiso leaves, vegan “Egg” mousse, grated radish, and soy-sauce based sauce.

Delicious!

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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

(Quite Possibly the) World’s Largest Fusilli with Kale Pesto and V-Bacon
(たぶーん）世界一大きいフジッリのケールジェノベーゼ和え

I love a good pasta bowl.

And here is a very good pasta bowl.

I bought this pasta because the package was pretty.

Apparently, I was focused on the “Italian Artisan Pasta”, and I didn’t notice until later what else was written on the package.

It said, “World’s Largest Fusilli”.

More precisely, “Quite Possibly the World’s Largest Fusilli”.

How cool is that?!

I didn’t have basil, but I had a lot of beautiful fresh kale.

So I decided to make pesto with kale.

It turned out great!

This was looking quite good already at this stage, but I was not done.

I added my vegan bacon and topped it off with a vegan egg.

By the way, the fusilli were in fact very large, and I really liked it.

I usually prefer long pasta, but I will definitely buy this again.

If interested in how I make vegan eggs or vegan meat, check out this page. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/recipes-ive-tried-and-liked/

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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

“C’est très bon!” Ramen
仏蘭西ラーメン

I don’t know if you can find this Ramen in France, but I named this ramen this way because I used some French-cuisine inspired ingredients.

I was in the mood to play with unusual ingredients today.

Sometimes that kind of experiment results in disaster (those do not appear on the blog ;)), but this time it worked amazingly!

One such ingredient was thyme.

Thyme is usually not a part of traditional Japanese or Asian cuisine.

I happened to have a lot of fresh thyme, and the main reason why I used it for my ramen was simply to consume it.

But it went with the rich broth, already seasoned with miso, tahini, and soy sauce, surprisingly well, not fighting it.

Broth: oil, garlic, onion, water, Dashi-Kombu, sugar, soy sauce, miso, tahini, salt, pepper, thyme, soy milk

These are my current favorite store-bought Ramen noodles.

If I have time and motivation, I make my own noodles. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2021/02/21/homemade-chinese-noodles%e6%89%8b%e6%89%93%e3%81%a1%e4%b8%ad%e8%8f%af%e9%ba%ba/

Another French-inspired ingredient I tried was this white truffle oil.

I just drizzled it right before serving.

You may be shaking your head and saying, “truffle oil for ramen?”

Again, it is typically not used for traditional Asian dishes.

I was a bit skeptical too first.

But I’m so glad I tried it.

It went so well with the thyme-flavored broth and took this Ramen to the next level!

Good ramen consists of good broth.

Good noodles.

Good toppings.

I’m so proud of myself making V-egg and V-meat.

I made the “egg” white the way I usually make (water, soy milk, Kanten agar, sugar, salt), but for the yolk I did something different and made a quick version.

It’s just a mixture of vegan mayo, ketchup, and turmeric, but it turned out satisfying.

The color was pretty perfect.

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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