by : Reiko Bread, Soup/Stew

Happy St.Patrick’s Day! Vegan Green Irish Soda Bread & Vegan Irish Stew with Dumplings
聖パトリックデーを祝って、緑色のアイリッシュソーダブレッド＆ダンプリング入りアイリッシュシチュー

We don’t always make meals to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but this year my friend suggested that we have a St. Patrick’s Day dinner together.

I was not so sure first because Irish food did not seem very vegan-modification friendly, but when I did a little research, I felt it was durable.

My friend actually sent me a link to this recipe.

https://www.landsandflavors.com/green-irish-soda-bread/

It turned out great!

The recipe calls for spinach, but I just used kale which I happened to have, and it worked just fine.

Look at the beautiful green color!

It was a big hit!

And this was my other contribution.

Vegan Irish stew.

I was so excited that my little secret ingredient, Miso, added wonderful richness and depth to the stew.

Everyone loved it.

You may ask where are the dumplings?

Unfortunately, this is the only picture with the dumpling.

I am planning to post a video of the stew simmered with dumplings on Instagram, so I hope you go check that out.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

Can’t believe my friend talked me into wearing something green.

So, this was me with a summer dress over a turtleneck sweater…

The summer dress was the only piece of (right) green-colored clothing that I owned.

Are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today?

What are you cooking/eating???

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta

Natto Radish Spaghetti for One
納豆ラディッシュおろしスパゲッティひとりごはん

My husband was out and about, and I was on my own for lunch.

So, a Natto dish was perfect to make!

My husband likes a lot of Japanese food, but Natto is not one of them.

I LOVE Natto, and this turned out to be a fabulous meal for me.

Freshly cooked spaghetti was served with Natto, grated radish, scallion, roasted Nori, olive oil, and soy sauce.

Itadakimasu – Thank you for the meal.

He usually detects the smell, but not this time.

I ate lunch early, washed everything well, and even took out the garbage.

I don’t blame him.

Natto does have a strong smell…

*I updated my Instagram page, and it now shows highlights from our 2023 vacation in Spain. Check it out!

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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by : Reiko Gluten Free, Sweets

V/GF Coriander Banana Apple Cake
コリアンダーりんごバナナケーキ

The sweets we had in Spain and Portugal were all fantastic.

I found them perfectly sweet, by which what I really mean is that they were not as sweet as the sweets typically found in the U.S, and I loved it.

That experience encouraged me to make and eat the sweets that I truly love.

The best way to do so is making my sweets myself so that I have control over the sweetness of my treat.

This was my first time to try “SnapDragon” apples, and I was excited.

I’ve made this cake before, and I liked the combination of apple and banana.

But really.

How could that go wrong?

I wanted to add some spice.

First, I thought of cinnamon.

I knew it was going to work just fine.

Then, I thought “hmmm, maybe cardamom”.

I LOVE cardamom.

Unfortunately, I was out of cardamom.

Then I saw this bottle of corriander.

I never used coriander for baking, but when I quickly did some google research, I found out that coriander is “sweet and citrusy”.

That sounded like it would work.

Done!

The coriander flavor was subtle, but I liked it.

I will definitely use it again for baking, and next time I will add more.

I paired the cake with my favorite spiced tea.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food

Wabi Sabi Bento
地味地味弁当

It’s been a while since last time I had bento.

I don’t go anywhere, but it’s still fun to make bento once in a while.

Braised Potato Hijiki (seaweed) is one of my favorite potato dishes!

This is similar to the popular Japanese dish, “Niku-jaga”, which literally means meat-potato.

I use hijiki in place of meat, and I don’t miss meat.

Hijiki makes this dish plenty flavorful.

I also prepared sesame carrots, oregano balsamic baby bella, and gochujang bean sprouts.

When I make bento, I like to wrap it although I don’t have to take it anywhere (lol).

It just makes the lunch time special.

It’s like opening a present.

Who else likes bento?

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by : Reiko Sandwiches

Bagel Open Sandwich (Sour Cherry BBQ & Tomato Avocado Scallion)
ベーグルオープンサンドイッチ（サワーチェリーバーベキュー＆トマアボねぎ）

I was making bagel sandwiches wrong for the longest time.

It was always too messy to eat.

I know I tend to put too much stuff, which was probably one of the problems.

But now I learned that open sandwich is the way to go.

My favorite tablemat!

Lunch is served.

Bagel open sandwiches, salad, and soup.

This one is homemade vegan cheese, sour cherry BBQ soy meat, and sweet scallion oil (chopped scallion, sugar, salt, olive oil).

This is avocado, tomato, and sweet scallion oil.

Big salad is always a good idea, if you ask me.

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by : Reiko Bread

Chubby Bagels
ぷっくりベーグル

Bagels are always fun to make.

But I’ve been getting different results.

This time they turned out so well that I want to make a note here so that I will remember what to do the next time.

  1. Boil water but turn the heat down when you put the dough in.
  2. Don’t boil them too long. 30 seconds each side is fine.

I love how plump, shiny, and smooth they are.

I also liked that they got the beautiful brown color.

I made five bagels, two plain and three with “Everything but the bagel sesame seasoning blend”.

Everything bagels is my husband’s favorite.

Me feeling accomplished.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains

Yearning for Spring… Veggie Sushi Rolls 春待ちきれず、薄桃色ごはんでベジ巻き

You would think that there should be some signs of spring in March, but it’s snowing again in the Twin Cities.

I wanted to make the sushi look a bit spring-like, so I added a light pink color (from radish) to the rice.

Apparently, the color was too light, and unfortunately it’s hard to see in the pictures…

This (pickled radish), on the other hand, shows a beautiful pink color.

Itadakimasu – Thank you for the meal.

Hot green tea to complete the meal.

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by : Reiko Pizza/Flatbread, Potatoes/Squash, Vegan Cheese

Potato Onion Chutney Black Pepper Flatbread
ジャガイモと玉ねぎチャツネと黒胡椒のピザ

We had this for lunch, but this will be great for snack with a glass of white wine.

I don’t really drink anymore myself, so that would be an idea for someone else though.

I liked this onion chutney, a gift from our neighbor, so much that I decided to use this for our flatbread, too.

Loved the combination of the onion chutney, potatoes, and black pepper.

And homemade plant-based cheese.

It’s the best.

This one was tofu-based.

It was a quick concoction.

To tofu I added salt, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, and a little sugar.

Itadakimasu – Thank you for the meal.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Matcha Sesame Cookies
抹茶ごまチュイール

I cooked a lot during our vacation, but I missed baking.

I looked through my cookbooks, and I decided on sesame cookies as my first baking project after our vacation.

Me giving the cookies good energy through the oven door (lol).

I’ve used this recipe before, but this time I added Matcha.

It didn’t show the color much, but you can certainly taste Matcha.

I really enjoy baking and eating home-baked sweets.

Hope I can bake much more before going back to work.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Soup/Stew

Soul-Warming Ginger Ankake (Thick Soup) Udon
生姜あんかけうどん

Ankake (Japanese thick soup/sauce) makes the noodle soup so satisfying.

We avoided the coldest part of the Minnesota winter, but the cold weather is still lingering.

So, noodle soup was perfect for today’s lunch.

The addition of ginger gave the right spiciness and helped it even more soul-warming.

Let’s stay warm and healthy.

We are almost there to experience the beautiful spring weather.

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