by : Reiko Fruit, Other

Strawberry Rhubarb Amazake Mojito & Grapefruit Amazake Mojito
苺ルバーブ甘酒モヒート風カクテル＆グレープフルーツ版

I don’t drink alcohol much at all.

If you ask me how much I drink, I would say a few times a year, a few sips in one setting.

Zero beer (too bitter!).

Zero zake (too strong!)

A bit of wine.

Cocktail? Yes!

Mojito used to be one of my favorite cocktails.

And I thought it would be fun to make a mojito-like cocktail with my homemade Amazake and fresh mint I got from the farmers market.

This turned out to be absolutely delicious!!

It’s almost dangerous because it’s so good that I drink too much.

You can make this amazing cocktail by combining strawberry puree, rhubarb jam, sugar, Amazake, mint, club soda, and ice cubes.

I also happened to have sweet juicy grapefruits, and I made the grapefruit version too.

Which would you like to try?

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Sandwiches

Azuki Cream Cheese Rhubarb Croissant Sandwich – Vegan
あんクリームチーズルバーブクロワッサンサンド（ヴィーガン）

I bake all different types of bread myself, but croissant is one of a few ones I realy on others, vegan or regular.

Thankfully, Whole Foods sell vegan croissants.

I don’t buy them very often, but once in a while I like to get them as a treat.

Remember the second batch of rhubarb I got from my mother-in-law’s backyard?

I made it into jam.

You can’t eat rhubarb as is because it’s too tart, so it’s easier to use when it’s sweetened like this.

To make sweet Azuki bean paste I used this canned cooked Azuki again.

This time I added some more water and cooked the beans first to soften them, and then added sugar and cooked some more.

What you are seeing here are a vegan croissant, sweet Azuki bean paste, homemade vegan cream cheese, and rhubarb jam.

It has all the flavors and textures you need!

Sweet, salty, fatty, creamy, tangy, and fruity…

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

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by : Reiko Air Fryer, Japanese Food, Rice/Grains, Tofu

Tofu Karaage Onigiri Lunch
豆腐唐揚げおにぎり定食

It was a busy week, and I was glad that I decided to give myself a day off today.

You need to listen to your mind and body, right?

Instead of working, I decided to make a nice lunch for myself and my hubby.

This salted Kombu seaweed is one of my favorite things to keep in my pantry.

It’s not always easy to find in the U.S., so when I find it, I always buy it.

The salted Kombu and chopped pickled beets were added to freshly cooked Japanese rice.

Taste it first and then add salt if it’s needed.

The salted Kombu is quite salty, so you want to make sure if additional salt is needed first.

These Onigiri turned out so pretty with the pink color from the beets.

But they are also super tasty!

Kombu Onigiri is one of my favorites.

I also made Karaage with the extra firm tofu from Costco.

The Costco tofu is so firm, firmer than the regular extra firm one I buy from other stores, and it works great for this dish.

Karaage is a Japanese fried chicken.

You marinade the chicken first, and I do the same with my tofu.

I used my air fryer to fry the marinated and floured Tofu.

It works every time.

Also found the lunch tray are miso soup, kimchi, and curried chickpea salad.

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Rhubarb Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls
ルバーブ苺シナモンロール

The rhubarb season is here!

I’m so lucky because my mother-in-law grows the most beautiful rhubarb in her backyard.

If you’ve never seen the rhubarb plant, this is how it grows.

The freshest rhubarb!

I thought about adding rhubarb or/and strawberries to the cinnamon sugar, but I decided to add them later on the top.

So what you see here (↑) are plain cinnamon rolls (vegan).

I used the recipe. ↓ Highly recommended!

This recipe makes 14 rolls.

https://tasty.co/recipe/the-best-ever-vegan-cinnamon-rolls

Rhubarb jam goes first.

Then, strawberry glaze.

Yum!!

Recommended beverage: Black coffee. Hot.

I brought some to my mother-in-law.

She called me later and told me she liked them very much! 🙂

And she gave me more!

What should I make next?

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by : Reiko Japanese Food

Homemade Takuan (Japanese Pickled Daikon)
自家製たくあん

Growing up I ate a lot of pickled vegetables.

We call Japanese pickles, “Tsukemono”, and since I loved it so much that my mom would call me “Ms. Tsukemono”.

Takuan is one of the tsukemono I loved.

It was always yellow, but I never gave a lot of thought to that.

For some reason as a kid I vaguely believed some Daikon was naturally yellow, although I never saw yellow Daikon sold at stores.

When I found out later that the yellow color was usually artificially added, I was shocked.

So I decided to make Takuan myself.

First, I got a Daikon from the largest Asian grocery store in this area, United Noodles.

Just pickled.

Day 1.

Day 5.

You may ask if I used artificial yellow dye.

Well, the answer is NO.

I still wanted my Takuan yellow, so I used Turmeric.

So it’s a “natural” yellow color.

My first homemade Takuan turned out great!

I don’t know why I didn’t make it sooner.

I used this recipe (Japanese) ↓　

https://cookpad.com/recipe/2570586

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by : Reiko Uncategorized

Panini Sandwiches and Mother’s Day Potluck
母の日ポットラック、パニーニサンドイッチ

To celebrate Mother’s Day we made a plan to have lunch at my mother-in-law’s house.

The five of us, me, my husband, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and his wife, were going to be there.

To make things easy, we decided to bring food to share so that we would have something to eat (vegan) and my mother-in-law did not have to cook.

I brought panini sandwiches, salad, and soup for lunch.

The panini was made with homemade vegan “cheese” spread, onion jam (or fig jam), two kinds of vegan meat, and arugula/spinach.

My brother-in-law and his wife brought burgers, corn, and potato salad.

It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we had lunch outside.

I also brought a cake for desert.

I wanted it to taste fresh, so I decided to serve it in the “build-your-own” style.

So an almond cake, cream, and berries were served separately, and everyone made their own cake plate.

I made the cream by combining Cocojune vanilla yogurt, coconut cream, and sugar, and it turned out delicious!

I loved it because it was light and so refreshing.

If you want something different from traditional frosting, try this.

My mother-in-law liked it too.

By the way, the Cocojune yogurt is so good, and I think it is probably the best plant-based yogurt I’ve ever tried.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Soup/Stew

Kasu-Jiru (Japanese Sakekasu Soup) Lunch
アジア食料品店で仕入れた色々で、粕汁”地味”ごはん

I had a lunch date with a friend in Minneapolis last weekend.

So, I decided to stop at the largest Asian grocery store, United Noodles, which is located about 10 minutes from the restaurant where I met my friend.

I used to go there all the time, but since they opened a smaller store close to our home, I haven’t been there much.

I was excited to find out how they have changed.

I heard a lot of nice things about this rice, so I decided to try it for the first time.

I was glad that they carried this rice.

The rice (shape and size) looked very similar to the kind of rice I grew up with in Japan, and when cooked it was very tasty!

It’s a bit pricey, but it definitely tastes different and much better than the other cheaper ones I’ve had.

I don’t know why I didn’t try this sooner.

I told you about this Sake Lees in my previous posts.

Another thing I wanted to make with this was soup.

Since I was out of miso, I bought this one at the store too.

This was a new brand for me to try.

These are Daikon leaves.

If you ever see a Daikon with leaves attached, buy them and do not discard the leaves.

I always loved them in my miso soup, so I was so excited to find these at the store.

The soup turned out so good!

The sakekasu (Sake Lees) gives a nice flavor and depth to the soup.

I also made this gochujang braised potato, with tomatoes and Hijiki seaweed.

The idea came from a traditional Japanese dish called “niku-jaga” which literally means meat-potatoes, but this gochujang-tomato version seemed to appeal better to my husband because it has a stronger flavor.

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Amazake Cranberry Muffins
甘酒クランベリーマフィン

We cleaned our condo thoroughly this morning because we might have a visitor this afternoon.

I probably shouldn’t have used the kitchen, but I really wanted to bake with my freshly made (yesterday) Amazake.

(I made a big batch. I froze most of it but kept some in the fridge for today’s use.)

The kitchen smelled so good!

I hope you can tell how light, soft, and fluffy they are!

This is going to be my breakfast this week.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Other

Plum Amazake Cocktail
梅酒甘酒カクテル

I don’t drink alcohol much.

Beer is too bitter, and wine taste too grown-up.

But I do like certain cocktails.

I found this Sake Lees at the largest Asian grocery store in the city, United Noodles.

You can use it for many different things.

But one of the reasons I bought was because I wanted to make Amazake.

There are two ways to make Amazake, and this version with the use of Sake Lees is the easier one.

You combine and cook Sake lees and water, and once it’s boiled you add sugar (I added a little salt, too).

Amazake has a very unique taste, and it is probably one of those that you either love or hate.

I happen to love it.

This is my homemade plum wine.

It’s delicious when served over ice like this.

I thought it would be fun to mix them together to make a cocktail.

It turned out great!

This was so good that I had a bit too much.

I wish I served it in a pretty glass and garnished with mint or something.

Well, next time.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Azuki Brownies – Vegan
ヴィーガンあんこブラウニー

I had a sudden craving for brownies.

I get that once a month or so.

This happens to everyone, right?

I have a good vegan brownie recipe (I’ve tried and liked),

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2023/03/19/very-good-brownies-vegan

and one of the great things about this recipe is that you usually have all the ingredients.

I love that you don’t have to go shopping just to make brownies.

But one important thing I didn’t have was chocolate chips.

What I did have was a bar of salted chocolate from Aldi (which I really like).

So I tore it into small pieces with my hands and used them in place of chocolate chips.

I was afraid that they would completely melt.

Well, it did melt, but not disastrously.

I was going to wait to take pictures or eat until it completely cooled down and the chocolate got hardened, but who am I kidding, of course I didn’t have that kind of patience (lol).

It actually tasted great with the melting chocolate.

But I’m sure it will taste even better later, so I’m excited.

One more thing about these brownies.

I added these sweetened Azuki beans to the batter.

It gave interesting texture and flavor, and I really liked it.

Who knew Azuki and chocolate go so well together.

Recommended beverage: black coffee.

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