I was not happy with my first attempt, so I had to try this again.
I made a few changes, and I already knew by the firmer consistency of the batter that I was going to have a better result this time even before I put them in the oven.
And I was right!
I’m super happy with how they turned out.
These cream puffs do not contain egg, dairy, or wheat flour.
I filled them with maple yogurt cream.
Scrumptious!
I was in the mood for a sandwich.
Not any sandwich, but something with cabbage.
So this is what I came up with.
A lot of cabbage sautéed and flavored with caraway seeds and celery seeds, seitan steak slices, and homemade vegan cheddar.
I served it with fry sauce (ketchup and mayo).
Tasty!
Sweet bean and butter toast is one of the specialties in Nagoya, where I’m from.
It’s super easy to make if you have sweet beans prepared.
Place sweet beans (usually Azuki, but this time I used black beans) and butter on a toast.
That’s it.
My Shoku-pan, Japanese Pullman loaf, was perfect for this.
And I just freshly made vegan butter as well.
You can of course dress it up with fruit or jam like this.
I topped it off with lingonberry jam.
The crispy/soft toast, sweet beans, fatty and slightly salty butter, and tart jam together.
It’s heavenly good.
But of course, you can keep it basic, like this too.
When I made pot stickers, I had some leftover, not the pot stickers themselves (we ate them all), but wrappers and filling.
I could have made more pot stickers the next day, but I wanted to create something a bit different.
So that’s how I ended up with the deconstructed pot stickers.
First fry the wrappers.
As I said in the previous post, these wrappers are so thick that they stay chewy inside while the outside gets crispy.
I used the leftover filling to sprinkle on top.
But I did add Koya-tofu (freeze-dried tofu).
This time I processed it in the food processor.
I really liked how it tasted this way too.
Can’t wait to use it for other dishes.
It was served with sweet and spicy chili sauce.
We like pot stickers, both constructed and deconstructed.
When I made the sweet beans (previous post), I knew I wanted to make stuffed buns with them as filling.
I made ones with the sweet black bean smooth paste, and the others with the raspberry bean paste.
Some sake-kasu (sake lees) was added to the buns, which gave the bread subtle yet interesting flavor and also made the buns soft and light.
Sweet black bean bun.
Raspberry bean bun.
They were both so good!
Sweet bean paste is very popular in Japan.
Using beans for dessert/sweets may sound strange to Westerners, but it’s something many Japanese people who live outside Japan crave.
There are three main types of sweet bean paste.
One is “Tsubuan.”
It’s typically made of Azuki beans.
It’s the chunky type, and you keep the beans mostly intact.
Today you can find dried Azuki beans at many Co-op stores in the U.S., so I could make it myself if I really wanted to (it’s not difficult but time-consuming), or I could also buy premade one at Asian grocery stores.
But the other day I asked myself, “isn’t there a different way to make sweet beans that makes better sense to someone like myself who lives outside Japan?”
Why not using an ingredient which is easy to come by in the U.S.
So I decided to use canned black beans.
I drained the beans, removed the excess liquid as much as I could by folding the beans with a few paper towels and pressing them, added sugar and a little salt, and cooked.
A good thing about it is that I can control the amount of sugar.
Here is the “Tsubuan” I made with the black beans.
If you really love the Azuki taste, or if you are teaching someone traditional Japanese cuisine, you should definitely use Azuki.
But for me this black bean version completely satisfies my craving, and it’s so (ridiculously) easy to make.
This is “Koshian.”
Traditionally, again it’s made of Azuki beans.
Here is my black bean version.
Koshian is the smooth-type.
I just used my hand blender and made it into paste.
Another main sweet bean paste popular in Japan is called “Shiroan.”
It’s made of white beans.
For this I used canned butter beans.
How to make it is the same as the “Koshian” version.
I drained the beans, removed excess liquid, added sugar and a little salt, cooked, and made it into paste with a hand blender.
Shiroan is versatile, and you can add different flavors and colors.
Here is something I created by adding raspberry powder.
This raspberry Shiroan is sweet but slightly tart.
Again, these are NOT how to make traditional Japanese sweet beans/bean paste but super easy ways to satisfy my craving.
Time to make Shokupan again.
I’ve been tweaking the recipe for a while, but this one turned out really great.
It’s always exciting to tear the bread open like this.
Can you see how soft it is?
I was very happy with how the crust turned out too.
It was still very soft when cooled.
So it took us both to slice it (I hold the bread, and he cuts it).
We work together well when it comes to a food-related task (lol).
You probably noticed, but I’ve been really enjoying making muffins lately.
This one is Kinako flavored.
Kinako is Japanese roasted soy bean powder, and it’s one of my favorite things to use for baked goods.
Simple, yet so tasty.
Sake-kasu is the solid left from the sake production.
It has the miso like paste texture and very unique flavor.
It’s been traditionally used to flavor fish, soup, and pickled vegetables for many years.
But it has become so much more in the recent years, and it’s now used to flavor many baked goods as well.
They are so good as they are.
These are slightly sweet, but more like a snack than a dessert.
These are perfect for an afternoon wine/beer time.
At the last minute, however, I decided to add a little more sweetness (who doesn’t like extra sweetness?!) and color.
Pretty and tasty!
I’ve been trying to perfect my vegan pot stickers for a while.
For the filling, I’ve tried different things, like various veggies, mushrooms, and tofu…
I think this one may be the best I’ve ever made.
One new thing I tried this time was clear noodle.
I got the idea from a ramen shop in Kyoto where we had the best pot stickers.
I’ve never thought about putting noodles in pot stickers, but it works!
Another thing I added to my filling this time was this.
I found it at the local Asian market, and the label said “garlic flower.”
I believe it’s garlic chive; well it certainly tasted like one.
Filling: salted cabbage (excess liquid removed), onion (microwaved), clear noodles (cooked), garlic (grated), ginger (grated), garlic chive, soy sauce, corn starch
The wrappers I got from the Asian market were so thick!
The thickest I’ve ever seen.
Put them on the griddle like soldiers.
Perfectly browned.
I was not sure about the thick wrappers, but they turned out great.
We really liked the nice chewy texture.
