by : Reiko Asian Food, Rice/Grains, Tofu

Vegan Bibimbap
Ⅴビビンバ

Vegans and plant-eaters.

Who is tired of “subtraction” vegan dishes?

Well, I am.

You go to a restaurant.

Find a dish that says “vegan upon request” and ask about it.

Your server tells you it’s “no problem” to make the dish vegan.

They will just remove this, this, this, and that.

So you’ll end up with something really bland.

Once in a while, the server will go to the kitchen to talk to the chef, and he may offer “substitution.”

Avocado for cheese, or sautéed mushrooms for bacon.

Unfortunately, this happens rarely, and often times I have to initiate the process and make substitution suggestions.

And interestingly, I often get charged for the “extra,” like one vegan item I got in place of five nonvegan items.

The other day I had craving for bibimbap.

I found a restaurant whose website says they accommodate vegans.

When we asked them to make their tofu bibimbap vegan, our server said “no problem.”

He would just take the egg out.

I was not too happy about it, but what could I do at that point.

I was hungry, and when our food came, our bibimbap had this beautifully cooked egg on top.

We had to remind our server that we do not eat eggs, he apologized fiercely and took the dish back to the kitchen.

When he came back, our bibimbap had an empty spot in the middle.

It just looked sad.

That’s when I decided to tell myself, “no more subtraction.”

Each ingredient has a role in the resulting dish.

Egg is an important component of bibimbap, and I simply didn’t want my bibimbap “sans egg.”

It took me a while to come up with this idea, but I decided to try grated naga-imo.

Naga-imo is not a new food to this Japanese girl.

It has a very unique sticky texture, but the flavor is very mild.

I thought this will give the rich creamy component I was looking for.

In this bowl over the rice you’ll find tofu, portobello mushrooms, sesame carrots, sprouts, and zucchini.

It was served with grated naga-imo and gochujang on top.

Naga-imo has a very unique texture and if you’re not familiar with it or you are not a fan of sticky food in general, this may not be for you.

But to me this was DELICIOUS!

Loved the creamy naga-imo mixed together with everything else.

No more subtraction!! 🙂

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains, Tofu

T-Rice Bowl
うちのとうめし

Instagram is an awesome thing.

I was away from the Japanese food scene for a long time, but now I feel like I’m catching up.

When I saw a picture of a dynamic tofu rice bowl, I knew that was something I wanted to create myself.

Apparently, this is a special dish served at a restaurant called “Otako-Honten” in Japan, and it has been very popular since stories about this dish were picked up by the media a few years ago.

They call this dish “To-Meshi,” in Japanese.

I’m assuming that the “TO” is a shortened “tofu” and “Meshi” means rice.

My tofu was slow-cooked for hours in slightly sweetened soy/seaweed/mushroom-based broth.

At the end of the process the tofu has absorbed all the delicious flavors.

A bowl of miso soup and a small dish of kimchi complete this awesome meal.

Simply delicious.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Root Vegetables, Tofu

Carrot Shiri-Shiri Roll
にんじんしりしりパン

Carrot Shiri-Shiri is a simple dish that originated in the Southern island of Japan, Okinawa.

The very basic is shredded carrots sautéed with eggs.

I used tofu in place of eggs, and I also added “shira-taki” which is a type of traditional Japanese noodles made of konjac yam; I cut them into small pieces.

This is a very simple dish, and by not adding too strong flavors, you can really enjoy the natural sweetness of the carrot.

I usually serve this with rice, but I really enjoyed my sandwich roll version, too.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains, Tofu

Tofu Miso Katsu Rice Bowl
トーフ味噌カツ丼

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!

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by : Reiko Sandwiches, Tofu

Tofu Cutlet Wanpaku Sandwich
豆腐カツわんぱくサンド

I was in the mood for a big sandwich, and I decided to make Wanpaku sandwich for the second time.

Wanpaku sandwich is a popular Japanese sandwich.

I’m not sure exactly what is the definition, but basically it’s a sandwich with a LOT of stuff sandwiched.

Like those New Jersey deli sandwiches, as my husband says.

(“Wanpaku” means naughty or mischievous, typically used to describe physically active young boys.)

These tofu cutlets are so delicious!

People say anything deep-fried tastes good, and I do agree (lol).

The first time I made Wanpaku sandwich a few years ago, it was a disaster.

Although I was still not sure how much I could actually pile up, but I wanted something really voluminous.

I’m happy to announce that this time I succeeded.

Inside this sandwich you’ll find spinach, carrots, tofu cutlet with Japanese worcestershire sauce, radish, and purple cabbage.

By the way, I baked pullman bread for this sandwich.

This was not only pretty but also delicious!!

I could eat this everyday.

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Rice/Grains, Tempeh, Tofu

Deconstructed Bahn Mi Rice Bowl
解体バインミー丼

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?

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by : Reiko Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta, Tofu

Mushroom “Tosage” Herb Cream Pasta
きのこ ハーブクリームパスタ

Plant-based comfort food at its best!

I often use firm tofu and crumble it to make “sausage” with it.

Extra Firm Tofu sold at Trader Joe’s is extremely firm and provides a great texture.

I would particularly recommend this to first-time tofu eaters, as the texture is similar to that of chicken.

The cream sauce was accented with fresh thyme and sage.

Love the combination of these herbs.

They never fail to help create tasty sauce.

I like any kinds of pasta, but if I have a choice, I almost always choose long pasta.

On the other hand, my husband prefers short past.

So I usually cook both, which is really not a big deal, because I cook them in the same pot together.

We’ve become quite skilled at picking up our own pasta.

The pasta was served with this simple salad and sauteed zucchini (no photo).

Have a great week everyone!

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Tofu

Southern Style Ticken and Waffles
南部風〝ティキン”＆ワッフル

Chicken and Waffles is probably the best example of a great sweet-savory dish.

To tell you the truth, I’ve never had chicken and waffles in my life, and then I started a plant-based diet.

But I was always interested in the concept, and this morning I decided to make my vegan version.

If I would make chicken and waffles, I knew my “chicken” had to be the southern style fried chicken.

I used super extra tofu from Trader Joe’s.

The tofu was microwaved for about a minute to remove excess water.

I tore pieces up so that each piece had an irregular shape to make them look like chicken.

They were marinated first for about 15 minutes, and then coated with spiced flour before deep-fried.

And voila!

How beautiful isn’t my “Ticken”?

And here is the end result.

The waffles were light, crunchy, and slightly sweet.

My Southern fried Ticken was placed on the waffle.

Served with fresh baby arugula/spinach and radish salad, homemade curried fig mayo, and a little drizzle of maple syrup.

This was absolutely delicious, y’all!

When you make a bite with everything, waffle, Ticken, salad, mayo, and maple syrup, the flavors explode in your mouth.

I would personally give it the title of the king of sweet-and-savory brunch.

After the big meal, I thought a little walk would be a good idea.

So my husband and I strolled down to the local farmers market.

I was really hoping to find figs, but no luck…

Instead, however, I found beautiful flowers, and my husband bought these bouquets for me.

The yellow color always brightens up my white kitchen and my spirit!

Happy Sunday everyone.

Note to myself…
Southern Style Ticken: super extra tofu (torn with hands), marinade (soy milk, a lot of Louisiana hot sauce; it curdles; keep it refrigerated), spiced flour (1.5 cup (more than enough but easy to work with) all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of paprika, salt)
1. Microwave tofu for about one minute and remove excess water. Sprinkle salt generously. Cover and refrigerate for 10~15 minutes.
2. Marinate the tofu in the marinade for about 15 minutes.
3. Put marinated tofu in the spiced flour and coat well. Splash the marinade on the tofu and coat with the flour again to create the clumpy bits. Deep-fry in 350F oil until browned and crispy.

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by : Reiko Jackfruit, Rice/Grains, Tofu

Taco Quinoa
タコキノア

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.

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by : Reiko Jackfruit, Salad, Tofu

Birthday Party with Tacos!
タコスでバースデーパーティー

Today we had an official birthday party for my husband.

Celebrated it with the family, and it was great to see everyone.

It was originally my mother-in-law’s idea, and she even offered her place for the party.

Since my husband always tells me not to throw a surprise party, so I didn’t hide the plan from him.

At the same time, I felt a bit bad because my mother-in-law maybe wanted it to be a surprise for him, and I took the fun away.

We decided to keep things simple and decided to make tacos, because we thought it wouldn’t be too complicated to feed vegans (basically the two of us) and non-vegans (everyone else).

I cooked non-vegan “meat” and my mother-in-law made the actual meat version.

(One of the guests thought the tofu was “chicken”!)

I also made black bean corn quinoa salad and baked three different kinds of cookies.

I initially thought about making a cake myself, but since I haven’t perfected the frosting (non-coconut flavored) yet, I decided to order it from Dulceria Bakery.

My husband picked this Mexican Cajeta Cake (caramel cake).

I thought it was a bit too sweet for me, but he liked it, so I was happy.

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