Rice/Grains

Osekihan, or Azuki red rice is something we eat for special occasions, typically to celebrate something.

You use sticky rice for this, and cook it with Azuki beans.

The beautiful red color comes from Azuki.

This was my first attempt to make Osekihan, and it turned out perfect!

I hadn’t eaten Osekihan for such a long time, and it was such as nice treat.

There was no special celebration, but being able to eat this dish after so many years itself was kind of a celebration (lol).

Nigiri and rolls are popular types of Sushi in the U.S., but there are so many other kinds of sushi in Japan.

Bamboo sushi or “Sasa-sushi” is a type of pressed sushi and wrapped in bamboo leaves.

I recently bought a package of bamboo leaves, and I thought it would be fun to try making bamboo sushi for the first time.

(There were one hundred leaves in the package!)

These are so pretty.

Super happy with how they looked.

This time I made two versions.

It was so much fun to make them, as it was like artwork.

I liked them both.

No, I can’t choose which I like better.

One was white rice sushi, topped off with lemon, vegan smoked salmon, red onion slices, and capers.

The other was brown rice sushi, with vegan sausage, turmeric tofu, sauteed Bunapi mushrooms, and edamame.

This sushi is delicious with the wonderful toppings, but there is a reason why it’s wrapped in leaves.

The aroma from the bamboo is transferred to the sushi and creates an amazing unique flavor.

Very refreshing and perfect on a hot summer day.

Japanese curry served over brown rice.

I like to make my curry from scratch, but this time I used store-bought roux.

I do admit it’s easy.

I mean really easy!

Anyway one of the things I added to the curry was Kuruma-fu which is a Japanese gluten product and gives a nice meat-like firm texture.

Another thing I’m excited to introduce today is this.

These are sweet picked shallots, called Rakkyo, in Japan.

When we were there last time, my husband really liked them, and we ate them a lot.

So I was happy to find this at the local Japanese grocery store back home (Minnesota) a few weeks ago.

I like to serve my Japanese curry and rice with some pickled vegetables.

In this picture you see Rakkyo and homemade sauerkraut.