What’s your go-to meal on a hot and humid summer day?
Mine is cold noodles.
Soba noodles were served with homemade almond tofu, Wakame seaweed, and summer veggies.
So refreshing and tasty!!
My bitter melon adventure continues.
My first bitter melon dish, namul, did not fly.
I could not eat more than a few bites, because it was too bitter.
My next bitter melon dish was my previous post, smoothie.
It was still a bit bitter, but the bitterness was surprisingly pleasant.
Many people recommended tempura.
I was a bit skeptical, but when I heard some people say “I don’t like bitter melon, but I like it when it’s tempura,” I got encouraged.
I was initially planning to make simple tempura, but then I saw some meat-stuffed versions, and I thought it would be fun to stuff mine with tofu.
(I used scrambled tofu that was flavored quite heavily with various spices, including cumin, for the stuffing.)
It was still bitter, but I actually liked it.
I wonder if tempura makes bitter melon easier to eat, or it is me that is getting used to bitter melon.
I simply enjoyed it with Kosher salt.
I also really liked the combination of bitter melon and tofu.
Here was my bitter melon dish, number 4.
Braised bitter melon.
This was pretty tasty too.
Now I used up all the bitter melon I bought.
At this point I’m not sure if I will go back to buy more…
Remember my first homemade tofu, Sunflower Tofu?
Well, I liked it so much that I decided to make tofu again.
This time, an almond version.
It’s so easy to make, and it turns out great this time too.
Very creamy and smooth.
Happy Wednesday!
I started doing meal-prep a few weekends ago, and I’m loving it.
It makes it so much easier to prepare weekday meals.
Healthier.
And less stress.
However, it usually becomes challenging to create dinner that doesn’t make you feel like you are eating the same things over and over.
I got to come home from work a bit earlier tonight.
So I decided to spend a little more time than usual to make dinner using what has been prepped and also adding something new.
I happened to have a lot of foods already that would be perfect for pad thai, but I didn’t have rice noodles.
So I decided to go with spaghetti!
Lots of veggies.
And scrambled tofu flavored with fermented mango sauce (from Trader Joe’s).
As you can see this “pad thai” was not prepared the traditional way at all.
But who cares!
It’s a home-cooked and home-served meal, and as long as it’s tasty, it goes on our dining table.
The tofu we typically think of is made of soy beans.
But in Japan many other types of tofu exist.
Some popular ones are sesame tofu and peanut tofu.
I was going to make one of them, but I just didn’t have the ingredients for either one of them.
But I did have sunflower seed butter, and I decided to use it to make tofu.
So, here is my Sunflower Tofu.
It’s so smooth, just like tofu, but it’s creamier.
I’ve never made tofu like this (or any tofu!), and I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it turned out.
When something tastes this good, you don’t want to mess it up, and it’s best when it’s enjoyed simply.
So I decided to serve it with just wasabi and soy sauce.
So good!
I don’t know why I didn’t try sooner.
I used a glass container to make the flat one (above) and cut it into individual pieces, but I also made an individual pouch, just for fun.
This one is pretty, too.
This style of rice sandwich became extremely popular in Japan about five years ago.
It’s called “Onigirazu.”
At that time it seemed that everyone in Japan was making this.
I’m always a bit behind of trends, and now five years later I made my first Onigirazu.
You can basically use anything you like once you have roasted seaweed sheets and slightly salted rice, but for this one you’ll find tempeh, turmeric tofu, and Shiso (Japanese basil) coleslaw.
They were a bit loose but held the shape just fine.
I think this was a success!
I will definitely make Onigirazu again.
Another favorite breakfast sandwich of mine.
I recently discovered this salt, which gives unique egg-like flavor.
Interesting, right?
Fried tempeh.
Doesn’t it look good?
Fresh watercress.
Mise en place.
I always tend to pile up too much stuff and get afraid that they might fall!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Why making banh mi with croissant?
Well, why not?!
Vegan croissant from Eureka Compass Vegan Food, homemade vegan butter, Thai sweet basil, zucchini slices, tofu steak, seitan steak, Daikon-carrot Asian slaw, and mint.
My husband had a chance to share this sandwich with one of his friends, who is definitely NOT a vegan, reportedly enjoyed this sandwich, tofu, seitan, and everything!
Woo-hoo!
Happy Sunday, everyone!
When I received a food request from my hubby that is not “Swedish Meatball” I do accept it (lol).
(He says “Swedish Meatball” too many times, and sadly it is often dismissed…)
He wanted a sandwich with some kind of chicken-like meat and lingonberry.
So this is what I came up with.
When I want a really firm texture that will resemble that of chicken, I like to use a specific tofu from Trader Joe’s.
I forgot to take a picture before I took the tofu out, but at least you can see the package.
This is super firm, and my husband really likes it when I cook it like chicken.
Doesn’t it look good?
For the bread I used vegan croissants from my favorite local vegan bakery/Bodega, Eureka Compass Vegan Food.
Homemade vegan Swiss cheese also gets recruited to the sandwich.
Vegan croissant, garlic herb “ticken,” homemade vegan Swiss cheese, arugula, homemade vegan mayo, and lingonberry jam.
The jam is from World Market.
They recently changed their label, and it’s very pretty.
Is there a dish that you grew up eating all the time as a kid because your mom made it, and then later as an adult you realize that no one else makes it?
This “egg” and lettuce hot sandwich is one of those foods.
My mother made this for my sister and I all the time when we were kids, and I thought everyone else was eating it too.
I was apparently wrong.
You spread mayo and mustard on two slices of bread.
Place generous amount of lettuce leaves and soft scrambled eggs.
Sandwich and then cook it in an oven toaster.
Of course to make it vegan, I used soft tofu to make the scrambled “egg” and my own homemade mayo.
I also added mayo later after the sandwich was out of the oven because I was not sure how my mayo would react the high heat (I didn’t want my mayo to become liquid oil during the cooking process).
This was actually my second attempt to make this sandwich.
The first attempt was rather disappointing.
I thought it would be better to add lettuce later after the cooking to keep it fresh, but it was a big mistake.
Cooking the lettuce along with the eggs really makes this sandwich special.
The lettuce gets soft and almost sweet, but not soggy.
Of course you have to eat quickly as soon as it’s out of the oven, but it’s not a problem (lol).
The other key is the mustard.
You cannot skip mustard in this sandwich.
It’s a must.
It tasted exactly like the one my mother used to make.
Loved it.
