When you don’t know what to make for lunch, a rice bowl is always a good idea, if you ask me.
Tofu Katsu or deep-fried crispy tofu is one of my favorites to use for a rice bowl.
Brown rice, tofu katsu, and sweet miso glaze in a bowl.
Served with miso soup and fresh veggies.
Love this kind of meal.
It’s not only a delicious meal, but also a pretty well-balanced one.
Have a great weekend!
This lovely sushi plate was our lunch today.
Ideas for food come from various places, but this one came from a very unexpected place.
It all started with these apples.
These apples don’t look that special outside.
But look!
The inside has this lovely pink color.
I found these apples at the grocery store inside the Midtown Global Market.
I’m so glad that they were sampling them, because otherwise I would have had no idea how special they were.
They were being sold as Pink Pearl Apples.
I wanted to make something to really showcase the beautiful color of these apples.
And this is what I came up with.
Nigiri Sushi!
Forming rice into a certain shape sounds easy, but once you try, you quickly realize why sushi chefs have years of training, just to master this skill.
So I use my little tool.
This is definitely not approved by any sushi chefs, but they are perfectly okay at our house(lol).
This tool does a good job at making these rice balls uniformly like little soldiers.
I was going to make just apple sushi, but at the last minute I decided to make other versions too.
Plant sushi.
I just love how they look and taste.
Pink Pearl apple.
Beet.
Radish and Yuzu pepper paste.
Tomato and seaweed.
It was perfect when served with veggie wakame (seaweed) miso soup and hot green tea.
The leftover was made into Chirashi (scattered) Sushi.
Arancini is a great dish that can be eaten as a meal or a snack.
First I make rice balls.
My trusted Panko breadcrumbs make my arancini super crunchy, and I like it.
The rice balls are so tasty as they are, but of course, this is my favorite way to enjoy them.
Tomato sauce, nutty Parm, and fresh parsley.
You have all the ingredients for your banh mi sandwich, but you are missing the right bread for it.
What would you do?
Make deconstructed bahn mi rice bowl!
I talked about this Trader Joe’s super firm tofu before.
This is REALLY firm and dense, and when cooked, the texture resembles that of chicken.
That’s why I say it’s a good first tofu to cook for tofu beginners.
We are definitely not beginners, but we still like it, as it’s different from other tofu.
Looks good, doesn’t it?
In addition to the tofu, I also prepared crunchy tempeh.
You first start with brown rice, and then add everything that would make banh mi otherwise.
Fresh crunchy veggies are a must.
How did I do?
Keema Curry is typically made with ground meat.
I happened to have homemade plant-based “ground meat”, and I decided go for it.
My other co-star in this curry is zucchini.
I always try to find a way to sneak in some seasonal vegetables in my dishes.
Served with brown rice.
Delicious!
We’ve been having unexpectedly hot weather in Minnesota the past few days, and this curry was perfect.
It’s funny that we tend to enjoy eating spicy food on a hot day, but it’s always true.
And like any other curry, it tastes better the next day.
I make sushi rolls often, but I still get excited when I make one.
As a result, I tend to prepare too much stuff to roll in.
I don’t always do this, but it is fun to serve with sauce.
I happened to have just made V mayo using this recipe (except that I used apple cider instead of lemon juice).
What you see here are sushi brown rice, cucumber, sweet and spicy tempeh, avocado, and radish.
It barely closed!
So good!!
The mayo and teriyaki are a golden combination.
I think I’m getting better with the timing, because I now have another “taco” dish for Tuesday!
I’m so proud of myself, but it’s probably not that difficult as we do eat some kind of “tacos” often.
For this particular occasion I cooked both Jackfruit and tofu as a main filling, so it was kind of a “deluxe” version.
The jackfruit, tofu, and all the fixings were served over red quinoa.
And a cherry on top was the chipotle cream made by my husband.
He has recently started wanting to make creams and sauces like this by himself.
He has watched me cooking for a long time, and he is now actually pretty good at it.
(To be honest, it makes me a bit sad although I’m immensely proud of him at the same time, when I think that he doesn’t need me anymore; I guess that’s probably how mothers feel when their kids grow up (lol).)
His chipotle cashew cream was delicious.
Tasty!!
Don’t worry.
The leftover JF and tofu were put to good use.
I’m from Japan, and naturally I love sushi.
You may think I like Poke as well.
Well, the first time I tried poke was the day after my wedding in Hawaii.
I thought it would be cool to try poke where it was originated, however, my first poke was terrible!
It was at a part of a course meal served at some kind of Hawaiian show which was apparently created for tourists, so it was probably not the best quality.
So since the sad experience, I’ve never really had interest in trying another poke dish.
It is kind of funny that the second poke dish I tried was made by myself in Minnesota, and it didn’t even include any fish!
You may think it’s tuna.
Well, the color is definitely right.
Beet is one of my favorite vegetables.
Its taste and texture are wonderful, but its color is probably what makes this vegetable stand out.
When you want something naturally red, really red, beet comes handy.
You can roast beets yourself, but I do love pre-cooked ones.
I can eat beet whenever I want, so I usually keep a jar in my fridge.
And the other major ingredient you find in my poke bowl was fresh mango.
This beautiful orange-yellow color was the perfect contrast from the beet.
I kept my poke bowl simple.
Other than the marinated beet and mango, I had avocado and sliced-and-quickly-pickled cucumber over brown sushi rice, and then I sprinkled roasted nori seaweed on top.
I was so proud of myself because I made this from scratch on a weeknight, after a long hours at work!
Energy comes from nowhere when you have strong craving.
I wish I could say I made the miso soup fro scratch as well, but at some point you have to tell yourself it’s okay to get some help.
This particular brand seems to have simple and good ingredients, and is vegan and pretty tasty for instant soup.
A rice bowl is not complete without a cup of miso soup in my book.
I’m happy to report that this home-made “field” Poke was scrumptious!
Do I still eat steak, you ask?
Well, I do.
I eat cauliflower steak!
And it’s so much easier to cook this steak than meat.
It’s so delicious that everyone should try it at least once.
I’m from Japan, so of course I love rice, but I also like other kinds of grains, like this one, farro.
A pretty good dinner plate, if you ask me.
I’m also a big fan of salad toppings, and hemp seed is one of my favorites.
Combo meals are nothing new in the U.S.
But typical combo meals you get in Japan look a bit different.
Instead of fries and soda, you typically get rice and soup (and maybe some kind of small veggie dish) that accompany the main dish.
And this is the kind of lunch option I often wish we had here.
My pot stickers were cooked beautifully.
Love the nonstick griddle.
It’s big and cooks a lot of pot stickers at once.
Garlic black pepper scallion soup.
Pea and corn fried rice.
Having a lot of plates on the table always makes me happy.
But it also usually means that you get a balanced meal.
