I was in the mood for soup.
And it was a good day for it because I had some vegetables that I wanted to use up.
Onions, carrots, cabbage, kale, Kabocha…
I could eat soup like this everyday!
Served with an avocado toast.
Made a perfect lunch!
I get craving for the Japanese style curry like this.
My mother, like everybody else, always used the same things to the curry, onions, carrots, potatoes, and some type of meat.
So for the longest time I had a hard time imagining curry without those.
But then switching to the plant-based diet changed everything!
You just have to think out of the box almost all the time.
So in this curry you’ll see onions, carrots, and chickpeas!
The curry was great!
But the star of this meal was this vegan egg.
It just gives the whole dish a complete look that I love.
A comfort food.
Soup and stew type food is perfect for this time of the year.
Creamy, spicy, flavorful, and tons of mushroom and tofu chunks in one dish.
What not to love?!
I like any type of curry, and Thai curry is not an exception.
Garlic chives are one of the things I look for when I go to an Asian grocery store.
The other toppings other than the garlic chives you will find in this beautiful bowl are tofu crumbles, sprouts, and hemp seeds.
This is the chili I made the other day.
At the last minute we decided to visit my mother-in-law, and we offered to bring lunch.
(that makes things easier because she doesn’t have to think about what the heck she can make for us to eat(lol).)
We brought this chili, homemade sourdough bread, and a bag of Asian salad (that she likes, from a grocery store close to her house).
For the “meat” I used seitan meat and walnuts.
I’m so grateful that my mother-in-law is always so open to new food.
She finished her chili saying it was very good.
Later we accidentally found out that she had been at my brother-in-law’s place the night before and chili was served for dinner…
I usually go for cornbread when I have chili, but I found sourdough as a good option too.
We like our chili with homemade vegan cheddar.
It definitely adds extra depth and richness in flavor.
Several weeks ago I started this little project, visiting ethnic grocery stores in the Twin Cities area, one a weekend.
I’ve been rather busy the past few weeks, and I’m taking a little break from it.
But the last store I explored was a Korean store, and some of the things I bought included this Korean rice cake.
This was my first time to cook it, and I decided to serve it in a traditional way.
I didn’t buy these from the particular store, but I’ve already had them in my pantry/fridge.
I don’t know much about Korean cuisine, but I believe these are some of the things they use a lot, and I was glad I got to use them for this dish.
My first impression after my first bite was “HOT!!”
But after the first bite, I really enjoyed this dish.
Yes, it is spicy, but it’s also very flavorful.
My husband and I don’t do well with spicy food (we always ask for “mild” whenever restaurants offer that option!), but we both agreed that this was a good spicy dish.
Once in a while I get craving for Japanese curry.
Japanese curry goes with anything, from rice, to udon, to spaghetti, to ramen noodles.
Ramen for lunch!
To tell the truth, I couldn’t decide if I wanted Ramen or Mapo Tofu-Wood Ear.
What do you do when that happens?
Well, you have both!
This was SO GOOD!!
I found beautiful wood ear mushrooms at the local Asian grocery store today, and it was perfect for this.
I still have some homemade Mochi, and I decided to add some to my chili.
Well, Mochi is so versatile, basically just another type of carbs, like rice, pasta, or bread, so I knew this would work well.
Remember Mochi?
The sticky Japanese rice cake.
I toasted a couple.
This is an East-meets-West comfort food!
What do you do when you overcook broccoli?
Well, making soup was the only thing I could think of.
This turned out to be delicious!
I may “accidentally” overcook broccoli just to enjoy this soup again.
