I was in the mood for a bowl of soba soup.
The craving comes once in a while, and when I make it, I ask myself why I don’t make it more often.
I wanted some kind of tempura.
Kakiage is one of my favorites.
Kakiage is a medley of vegetable pieces put together, battered, and fried.
This time I added some chickpeas to onions and carrots.
Craving…
Satisfied.
Matsutake is considered a delicacy in Japan.
It’s something that is enjoyed only during the fall season, and yes people spend big bucks for it.
I was lucky because a friend gave them to me as a gift.
And she even gave me Sudachi as well.
Sudachi is a citrus fruit that typically accompanies Matsutake.
I simply grilled the Matsutake.
When the ingredient is tasty, you don’t want to do too much to it.
This one plate meal consisted of grilled matsutake, herb chickpea salad, cranberry-pecan Kabocha salad, mushroom soup, and toasted Boule.
Kabocha, homemade vegan mayo, salt, pepper, maple syrup, dry cranberries, pecan nuts.
Chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, yellow pepper, cumin, mint, basil, olive oil, white vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper.
This is a dish I made as part of my Sunday meal prep.
That’s when I try to make several vegetable and protein dishes for the week with whatever I have in the fridge.
As a result, they usually end up with a no-name dish.
And it’s also often the time when a really great dish is created.
This dish is one of them.
It’s a rather long story.
But in the morning, I made this for breakfast.
A few days ago I finally bought Marmite which I had been wanting to try for a long time.
When I first tasted it, I didn’t think it was for me.
I don’t know what I expected, but it tasted totally unexpected.
But I didn’t want to give up on it too quickly, and asked people if they knew a good way to use it.
Someone sent me a recipe where you roast potatoes with Marmite.
I didn’t have any potatoes at hand, but I had dried hash browns, and I decided to use Marmite for it,
It turned out…
Hmmm, how can I put it…
Interesting?
It wasn’t bad, but it was not great either.
Since I didn’t think either I or my husband would eat the leftover, I decided to use it to create a different dish.
That’s how this stew was born!
I just threw things in, but it turned out super tasty!!
Marmite definitely gave depth and richness in the flavor.
I will leave a note here for future reference for myself…
Cauliflower Potato Thyme Stew: olive oil, garlic, ginger, cauliflower, water, Marmite hash browns, soy milk, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, sugar, salt, pepper, thyme
When the temperature dips from 90F degrees to 60F degrees in just one day, I know it’s time to make a big pot of soup.
Napa cabbage is one of my favorite ingredients for my autumn/winter soup.
I wanted to keep this soup tasty, but I didn’t want to add too much stuff to overpower the natural flavor of each vegetable.
Here is the secret ingredient, although I am going to tell you what it is, so it’s not that secret.
This is something I started about two weeks ago.
It’s a mixture of Koji, grated onions, and salt, and it was slowly fermented over the period of two weeks.
Koji is a naturally occurring culture that is used to make various things, such as sake, miso, and soy sauce.
When it is fermented, it becomes an umami powerhouse.
A few spoons of my newly created onion koji really worked well in this soup.
This soup is packed with veggies, tofu, and noodles.
It’s warm and comforting.
Exactly what I wanted.
Since I bought the air fryer, I cannot stop thinking about what to make with it.
What fried food I liked but avoided making because I didn’t want to use too much oil?
Well one of those foods was “katu”, panko-crusted deep fried meat.
This time I used Koya Tofu ↑ for meat .
Koya tofu is basically freeze-dried tofu, and its texture works great for “katsu.”
With the air fryer…
The katsu turned out great.
Since I got my air fryer was out, I went ahead and fried Enoki mushrooms too.
I lightly dusted them with flour first, sprayed oil, and voila!
The Katsu Curry was served with cheesy corn cream.
The sweet corn balanced the spicy curry well.
That’s a lot of fried food in one bowl.
Can you tell how much I like my air fryer?
Last time I made a kind of sticky curry with Natto,
I said it was just okay.
Well, this time I made it a bit differently, and I LOVED it!
As you can see in the title, this time I added a few other sticky things, like this one, Okra.
The reason I decided to make this curry was because I found this at the local Asian grocery store.
It is Japanese nagaimo.
And as you can guessed, it is sticky.
Nagaimo is interesting.
Nagaimo literally means “long potato” in Japanese, but this “potato” can be eaten raw.
And the texture is unique.
Nagaimo is often enjoyed grated in Japan.
But because of the wonderful texture I like it diced.
And you can’t forget Natto.
The king of sticky food, if you ask me.
Are you ready for this?
Another thing I did differently is that I made the curry a bit thinner without losing flavor.
I think this soup style curry works well for this sticky curry.
It’s getting better and better with rice and a vegan egg.
This was so delicious, but I know it’s a love or hate kind of food.
It’s not quite summer yet.
But I know once winter is over, summer comes quickly here in Minnesota.
The soup is cold.
Spicy.
Sweet.
And a bit sour.
It’s also got texture, from onions, ginger, and sesame seeds, which cling to the noodles so well.
In addition to a lot of veggies, I added vegan omelet (homemade) and vegan mini egg rolls (from Costco).
I have a feeling that I will be eating this a lot for the next several months.
I like Natto, and I like curry.
But I’ve never thought about putting the two together.
I saw someone doing it on Instagram, and she said it was her favorite way to eat curry.
So I had to try it.
When I was little, my parents would eat their curry with a raw egg.
I did eat my curry that way for a while because I thought that was how you were supposed to eat curry, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t really like that.
Since I turned a teenager, I’ve only eaten my curry as is (just over rice).
So this was kind of a big deal, and I was so excited to try it.
A verdict?
Well, I liked it.
But it was rather 2 + 2 = 4.
So it tasted what I had expected.
It’s not a bad thing, but it was not what I wanted.
I wanted it to be 2 + 2 = 10.
This time I also added a few other things.
These were actually fun to add to my curry plate.
I don’t think I will do Natto Curry again, but I’m open to other topping suggestions.
If you have any favorite curry topping, let me know!
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.
I like curry, and I like “katsu”, fried chicken.
That means Katsu Curry is a winner!
This is homemade vegan chicken, panko-fried.
When I have time, I make my own curry roux, but premade one certainly comes in handy.
There are different brands, but not all are vegan.
This is one of the vegan ones, and this is one of my favorite ones because its ingredients are simpler than others.
This bowl was sold as a “curry bowl”, and it IS perfect for curry.
Who else likes Katsu curry?
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