by : Reiko Bread, Gluten Free, Japanese Food, Salad, Soup/Stew, Uncategorized

V/GF Curried Cabbage Bread, with Japanese Oden Stew and Shungiku Apple Salad
ちゃちゃっとできちゃうカレーキャベツパン、そして、おでん、春菊りんごサラダでワンプレート

This bread is so easy and quick to make.

But it’s also so tasty!

That means I make it a lot.

This is the same bread as this one (below), with different fillings.

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2022/11/14/v-gf-tomato-onion-corn-basil-bread

This time I added curried cabbage, peas, and curried mayo.

It turned out great!

I put together a one-plate meal with the bread for lunch.

This is Japanese style stew called Oden.

The main base is Kombu stock and soy-sauce.

It’s an ultimate comfort food for me this time of the year.

This Shungiku apple salad was super refreshing.

I was happy that this plate turned out to be a not only tasty but healthy meal with lots of veggies!

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by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Salad, Vegan Cheese

Bok Choy Caesar Salad with Tofu Croutons
青梗菜シーザーサラダ、豆腐クルトンのせ

I saw my SNS friend posting a picture of Bok Choy Caesar salad that she recently had at a restaurant.

I thought using Bok Choy for Caesar salad was a great idea, and I decided to make one myself.

I got this at a local Asian grocery store.

I wonder what “Mui” means…

But whatever that means, I do like this kind.

I tend to like the stalk part of many Asian leaf vegetables, like this or Napa cabbage, as that’s where the flavor is concentrated.

I also like its firm texture too.

The Bok Choy Mui was dressed with homemade vegan Caesar dressing, and then served with crispy ginger air-fryer tofu and vegan homemade Parmesan cheese.

This turned out amazing!!

I really liked the bitterness of the Bok Choy in this salad.

I think I like this version better than the romaine version.

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by : Reiko Salad, Vegan Cheese

Caprese Salad with Homemade Vegan Mozzarella
ホームメードヴィーガンモッツァレラチーズでカプレーゼ

Well, when you succeed in making great vegan mozzarella cheese, you have to make this!

I think this popular but simple salad really showcases the deliciousnsess of the cheese.

So that’s why I went to the local farmers market to get heirloom tomatoes.

Luckily, we live within a walking distance, and I love walking there every Saturday morning.

This turned out so good!

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Salad

Peri Peri Napolitan Spaghetti
ペリペリナポリタンスパゲッティ

We call this dish “Napolitan Spaghetti”, but it’s really not an Italian dish at all (lol).

You sauté freshly cooked spaghetti with veggies, (ham or bacon if you like), and you add ketchup!

It’s a popular spaghetti dish in Japan.

This Peri Peri sauce is from Trader Joe’s.

I added a little of this to my Napolitan this time, and its fermented flavor does give a great depth.

I just have to be careful because it is spicy.

The lunch was completed with vegan chicken Caesar salad.

Perfect!

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Salad, Tofu

Curried Okara Salad and Soy Lovers Meal
カレーおからサラダ＆だいずLOVER’Sごはん

I read somewhere that fresh Okara is only good for a few days, so I decided to use the rest of the Okara I had and make salad.

Remember Okara?

A byproduct from my recent soy milk production?

First things first.

I wanted to dress my Okara with mayo, so I made some.

This ↓ is the recipe I’ve been using for a long time.

https://www.thebuddhistchef.com/recipe/vegan-mayonnaise/

It requires only a few basic ingredients, it’s easy to make, and it tastes great.

This time I didn’t have a lot of ideas to use mayo after this salad, so I cut the recipe in half.

Okara is soft and mushy, so I added some crunchiness with radish, cauliflower, and red onion, which also gives a nice fresh spiciness (if you have to choose only one thing, pick onion).

I simply dressed them with my homemade vegan mayo, curry powder, salt, and a little sugar.

This was so good!

Kind of reminded of my mother’s potato salad.

I was going to serve my salad for lunch, and I decided to do a Japanese-themed meal.

This is sesame soy-milk miso soup.

The soy milk curdled, but I personally didn’t mind.

Now I have to call this Soy Lovers Meal because there is so much soy in this meal.

Okara, Natto, soy milk, and miso.

Can you find them all?

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by : Reiko Nuts/Seeds, Salad

Black Walnut Salad
黒くるみサラダ

I’ve heard how tasty black walnuts were from so many people, and finally I got to try them myself!

This is how they look, after the outer part was removed and dried for several weeks.

I used a large pliers, but the shell was so hard, and it was a lot of work to crack them open.

And once open it was also tricky to get the meat out of it without letting it to be broken into small pieces.

It took me a few hours, but I was able to get about one and half cups of meat.

I thought salad would be a good way to really enjoy the taste of walnuts straight.

Well, the verdict?

Delicious!!

They definitely have a distinctly strong great flavor, definitely different from the regular walnuts.

I would almost describe them as flowery, in a good way.

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by : Reiko Potatoes/Squash, Salad

Autumn Sheet Pan Salad with Spiced Yogurt Dressing
秋の天板サラダ、スパイスヨーグルトドレッシングがけ

I was in a mood for a healthy but hearty meal for lunch today.

And I remembered the Pionner Woman’s show I had watched the other day.

It was a sheet pan episode, and I thought it was brilliant when I saw her making a salad on a sheet pan with roasted and fresh veggies.

I definitely got some ideas from her show, but you know me, I quickly digressed from the recipe.

It turned out amazing though!

I found this beautiful squash called “Sunshine Kabocha” at the local farmers market this morning, and this was so sweet and delicious when roasted.

On this pan you’ll find cauliflower, yellow pepper, and chick peas.

I bought this at an Indian grocery store the other day, because the name “Mango Pickle” fascinated me.

It’s a nice mixture of spices and super flavorful, but at the same time, I found it challenging to eat it as is.

But I knew its potential!

For my sheet pan salad, I made this dressing, a mixture of the Mango Pickle, unsweetened cashew milk yogurt, maple syrup, and salt.

This, I loved!

Doesn’t it look great?!

Served with homemade rye bread.

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by : Reiko Rice/Grains, Salad, Sweets

Ryemeal Cookies with Cranberries
クランベリー入りライミールクッキー

So remember my brother-in-law got rye from his farm coarsely milled and gave me pounds of it.

Since my attempt to use it as “oatmeal” (previous post) was successful, I decided to venture out a bit further.

This time I decided to make cookies using my mother’s “Anzac Cookies” recipe and replaced the oatmeal and coconut with the rye flakes.

These turned out great!

Thin and chewy.

Exactly the way I wanted them to be.

Well one of the reasons I bake these yesterday was that we had a big family reunion, and I thought it would be fun to bring it to the potluck especially it took place at the farm!

It was a big hit, and I was glad I brought these.

The best thing was it became a conversation starter, and I think people can now remember me as the “rye cookie lady”!: since it is a large group of relatives, and we don’t meet often, thus, it can be hard for people to remember me.

Another thing I brought to the reunion was this rye berry salad.

This also features the rye harvested from the land.

A lot of people commented that they liked the salad, too.

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by : Reiko Salad

Rye Berry Salad
ライ麦サラダ

Since we got so much rye from last weekend, I’ve been busy “cleaning” it.

Basically I go through by a very small handful and remove what shouldn’t belong there.

It’s a tedious job, but I don’t mind it.

I still have many baking ideas using rye flour, but today I decided to eat them without grinding it into flour.

I cooked the cleaned rye berries in salted water.

And made salad!

Loved the chewy texture of the rye berries.

I also just found out that Rye is a great source of fiber!

The salad was served with vegan sausage, sauteed turmeric cauliflower, and tomato basil soup.

All the colors on the plate made this meal a perfect lunch!

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta, Salad, Tofu, Vegan Cheese

Vegan “Parmesan” Crisps
パルメザン風豆腐チップ

The amazing base recipe is from https://www.instagram.com/neruko_diet/ (in Japanese).

She posts “diet” recipes, but many of her recipes simply use simple “healthy” ingredients, which I like.

Since I wanted to make it like “Parmesan” I swapped a few ingredients.

This is how I made this.

I used about 2/3 package of soft tofu.

Mix with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, and mash the mixture roughly.

Spread the mixture very thinly on a parchment paper lined microwave-safe plate.

The recipe said cook in the microwave oven (600w) for about 7 minutes.

My microwave is 1200w, so I cooked at the power level at 5 for 7 minutes.

But it was not crispy at all, so I cooked for another few minutes at 5 and then full (1200w) for another few minutes.

I strongly recommend that you closely watch so that it doesn’t burn.

It does go quick from not crispy to very crispy.

These are not only crispy but also delicious!

Hard to believe it’s made of tofu.

There are so many ways to enjoy these crisps.

This is Kale Caesar.

I even made croutons myself.

I actually used the GF baguette (previous post) for it.

This turned out so good too!!

This is great to serve with pasta as well.

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