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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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Sweets

Sweet Azuki Paste Stuffed Hoji-Tea Donuts
ほうじ茶あんドーナツ

I’ve been having craving for Azuki paste stuffed donuts.

I was even in the mood for making paste from scratch, but I was not able to find dry Azuki beans at any stores.

So I decided to try making a quick version by using this can.

Seeing “Kombu Seaweed” bewildered me a bit.

No one wants the taste or smell of seaweed in your sweet azuki paste.

These were how the beans looked after drained and rinsed.

No Kombu smell or taste!

I was relieved.

I added some water and sugar and cooked them until the paste had the right thickness.

I added ground Hoji-tea leaves to the donut dough.

Loved the combination of Hoji tea and Azuki.

They were good, but I will try a different donut dough recipe next time.

This was a bit dense, and it created a crust a bit too crispy to me, although my husband liked it.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Tofu

Koya-Tofu Nanban
高野豆腐南蛮

Chicken Nanaban is a popular dish in Japan.

It’s fried chicken coated with sweet tangy glaze and then served with chunky mayo-based sauce.

To veganize the dish I used Koya-tofu (freeze dried tofu) in place of chicken.

I “fried” my Koya-tofu in my air fryer first.

Make sure it’s coated well with this delicious sauce.

Soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes.

It’s best to enjoy this dish with white rice.

I can eat bowls of rice endlessly!

Traditionally, you add chopped boiled eggs to the mayo sauce.

But instead I used capers, which added some interesting flavor and texture.

I also added finely chopped radish.

Homemade vegan mayo, mustard, ketchup, salt, pepper, chopped radish, chopped capers.

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by : Reiko Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta, Tofu

Fettuccine with King Mushrooms, Ground Koya-Tofu, and Garlic Chives
きのこ高野豆腐”挽肉”ニンニクの芽フェットチーネ

I like pasta with red sauce.

And we have that a lot for a weeknight dinner.

It’s an easy and tasty meal.

But I also like pasta without sauce, especially when I have certain ingredients.

I love any mushrooms, but king mushroom is one of my favorite mushrooms, mostly because of its meaty texture.

Ground Koya-Tofu (freeze dried tofu; cooked with soy sauce based sauce).

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2023/04/10/rice-with-bean-sprouts-and-ground-koya-tofu

I can’t help buying it when I find fresh chive flower (or garlic chives) at the local Asian grocery store.

I also used baby bella mushrooms.

They (and garlic) were all sauteed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and combined with freshly cooked fettuccine.

No sauce needed.

Simple and delicious.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Tofu Cream Cheese キャロットケーキカップケーキ&豆腐クリームチーズ

Carrot cake is a popular choice for the Easter dessert.

But this year I went with something different. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2023/04/08/lime-lemon-cakes

‘

But when I saw all the pictures of other people’s carrot cake, I developed craving for it.

I like my carrot cake filled with a lot of chunks of nuts and dried fruit.

I used pecan nuts and dry cranberries this time.

This time I made my vegan “cream cheese” with tofu as the main ingredient.

Tofu (extra firm; extra water removed), coconut oil, sugar, salt, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar.

It was delicious, and I loved that it worked well for piping too.

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by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

Midnight Diner Curry Ramen
深夜食堂、カレーラーメン

Recently I re-watched “Midnight Diner”.

It’s a Japanese show based on a comic book.

It’s a fictional small diner in Tokyo, where people come for food, drinks, and human contact.

The owner of the diner is a middle-aged man with a visible scar over one of his eyes, which indicates he may have an interesting past.

The menu is short, but you can ask him to make what you want.

If he has the ingredients, he will make it for you.

Although each episode features a particular dish, the show is rather about the people who order the dish and their stories.

The curry ramen was features in Season 2.

When I saw it, I knew I had to make it myself.

This is an easy dish to make.

You pour curry over ramen (noodles and soup).

I also followed the suggestion made in the show and added cheese as a topping.

(I used my homemade vegan cheese).

There are other dishes I want to try from the show as well.

It’s too bad that only two seasons are available on Netflix.

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Uncategorized

French Toast with Pear Cinnamon Jam
フレンチトースト、洋梨シナモンジャムのせ

We usually like bread from Trader Joe’s, but the sourdough bread we recently got was unfortunately a bit dry.

So I decided to make it into French toast.

I used my recent go-to recipe, https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-french-toast/ .

This is really the best vegan French toast recipe!

This time I added a little almond extract.

This was from the jam set I got from Aldi.

There are a lot of big pear chunks, which I really liked.

It was delicious, served with homemade vegan butter and pear cinnamon jam.

The combination of almond flavor (from the French toast), butter, pear, and cinnamon was wonderful.

I was never a big caffeine consumer, but I’ve cut down on caffeine even more.

This herbal tea is pretty intense, but it’s good.

It’s only for people who like turmeric, though.

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by : Reiko Rice/Grains, Tofu

Rice with Bean Sprouts and Ground Koya-Tofu
豆もやしと高野豆腐そぼろでごはん

I love bean sprouts, but they are usually served as a side dish, never a main dish.

I had such a large bag of them, and I was in a mood for eating a lot of it with my rice.

So I made this yummy dish with thick rich sauce.

It’s sweet, sour, and spicy, all in one!

I got this freeze-dried tofu, Koya-Tofu, at the same Asian grocery store where I bought my bean sprouts.

This tofu was marked down because the use-by date was near.

The freeze-dried tofu is very unique.

The texture is firm, so it can be used in place of meat.

This time I made them into small pieces by using the food processor to make them resemble ground meat.

The bean sprouts were topped off with the Koya-Tofu ground “meat”.

Itadakimasu – Thank you for the food.

Generously place the bean sprouts-koya-tofu mixture on top of the rice.

Yum!

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