I call this “Sushi Bites”.
But this can be also called “lazy sushi” because this really does not involve any complicated process.
No shaping.
No rice-shaping.
No rolling.
You just put sushi rice on seaweed sheets, and then add toppings.
This time I used avocado, Next Meats vegan meat, homemade vegan mayo, and fresh radish.
Simple, yet delicious!
These are not only delicious, but also pretty and easy to eat.
Just grab one, dip in soy sauce, and enjoy!
Traveling is a fun experience itself, but I also like the part that the new experience adds something new to my life home.
We recently took a trip to Milwaukee, and we had a fabulous dinner at a plant-based restaurant called Strange Town.
Their food was unique, and their drink menu was not an exception.
We found something we had never heard of, and after listening to the description given by our server, we decided to try it.
That was Tepache.
We absolutely loved it, and I was already googling recipes that night.
Tepache is a Mexican fermented beverage, made from water, piloncillo or brown sugar, pineapple rind, and spices (e.g,, cinnamon).
It’s super easy to make.
Mix water and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves.
Add pineapple rind and core.
I also added cinnamon sticks.
Loosely cover and wait.
Many recipes said wait for 24 to 36 hours, until it starts bubbling, showing fermentation.
But mine did not start bubbling until 4 days later.
After that you can take the solid out and put it in the fridge, or you can let it continue to ferment.
The timing was tricky.
I tasted mine every day since it started showing fermentation, and it was tasting better and better every day.
I let it keep fermenting until 6th day.
This turned out amazing!!
It was as good as the restaurants, if not better!
It definitely has the fermented taste which I loved, and the cinnamon gives a depth in the flavor.
You don’t necessarily taste the cinnamon, though.
If you don’t know, you won’t know there was cinnamon, although you will probably guess some kind of spice was used.
This is super refreshing and delicious.
Okonomiyaki is typically made of flour.
I’m not on the gluten-free diet, but I like my Okonomiyaki made of oatmeal.
I simply like the taste and the texture created by oatmeal.
You can basically add anything you like (cabbage is a must for me), and this time I added Shungiku, one of my favorite green leafy vegetables.
I like my Okonomiyaki smothered in sauce, as you can see.
I was so excited when I learned that the Japanese vegan meat, Next Meats, came to the U.S.
But then I found out that they were only being sold in certain states, such as California.
I knew it would eventually come to the Midwest, but I felt being left out whenever I saw my Instagram friend in California enjoying their meat.
And I recently found out that they ship their meat!
I purchased a set of four package of short ribs and four packages of skirt steak.
I have so many ideas of how to use this meat, but our first dish with Next Meats was pizza!
This is out favorite crusty tofu sheet pan pizza.
Toppings were Next meats, Yakiniku sauce, fried onions, vegan cheese, and yuzu pepper mayo.
This looked and tasted amazing!
I’ve never had a chance to try this famous Taiwanese pineapple cake made by professionals.
When I learned about it, I was already on the plant-based diet, and I just couldn’t find any pre-made pineapple cake that was vegan.
So when I found this recipe in a Japanese magazine, I asked my mother to get the edition for me.
This turned out great!
As I said I’ve never tried professionally made pineapple cake.
So I don’t know how clot this is to the real thing, but I really liked (and my husband did too).
We just got back from our quick getaway to Milwaukee.
I like to bring from our trip something that I can use to make a new dish.
I found this at the public market, and I thought it would be fun to try it.
It’s pureed black garlic, which is aged and fermented and gives a rich flavor.
I added the black garlic puree to my creamy bechamel sauce.
Because I had time today I decided to make pasta myself.
This eggless “egg” pasta is my favorite.
For two…
3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup chickpea flour, salt, 1/4 cup water
Mix, knead, let the dough rest.
Flatten and cut.
Cook for a few minutes in boiling water.
This turned out delicious!
The black garlic puree takes the usual cream pasta to the next level.
It definitely gives a depth in flavor.
I also tried the pasta with just the puree.
It wasn’t bad, but I definitely preferred the cream version.
Later I added red pasta sauce to it, and it became so much better.
In my opinion, this black garlic puree is better when combined with something rather than itself.
It’s not quite summer yet.
But I know once winter is over, summer comes quickly here in Minnesota.
The soup is cold.
Spicy.
Sweet.
And a bit sour.
It’s also got texture, from onions, ginger, and sesame seeds, which cling to the noodles so well.
In addition to a lot of veggies, I added vegan omelet (homemade) and vegan mini egg rolls (from Costco).
I have a feeling that I will be eating this a lot for the next several months.
I like Natto, and I like curry.
But I’ve never thought about putting the two together.
I saw someone doing it on Instagram, and she said it was her favorite way to eat curry.
So I had to try it.
When I was little, my parents would eat their curry with a raw egg.
I did eat my curry that way for a while because I thought that was how you were supposed to eat curry, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t really like that.
Since I turned a teenager, I’ve only eaten my curry as is (just over rice).
So this was kind of a big deal, and I was so excited to try it.
A verdict?
Well, I liked it.
But it was rather 2 + 2 = 4.
So it tasted what I had expected.
It’s not a bad thing, but it was not what I wanted.
I wanted it to be 2 + 2 = 10.
This time I also added a few other things.
These were actually fun to add to my curry plate.
I don’t think I will do Natto Curry again, but I’m open to other topping suggestions.
If you have any favorite curry topping, let me know!
Today we had my mother-in-law over for brunch to celebrate Mother’s Day.
Since I really liked Whole Orange Cake (you can search in my blog), I decided to make the lemon version for dessert because my mother-in-law loves lemon flavored sweets.
First you wash an organic lemon, and then cook it in water.
Once it becomes soft, you cut it up.
Then puree it in a food processor.
One great thing about this recipe is that it’s so easy to make.
Once the lemon is pureed, you add the rest of the ingredients and mix them in the food processor.
The batter is ready!
It took me a while to decide which pan to use.
But I decided to go with this.
One thing about this pan is that I have this fear that cake may not come out or crumble.
So, I was relieved when all the four cakes came out intact.
They are so pretty!
The cake is so lemony and so moist.
It actually is better a few hours later.
Perfect with coffee or black tea.
I served them with a drop of coconut cream.
This is the brunch we had.
The main was the gluten-free cinnamon banana pancakes.
I kept the menu simple, and everything went so smoothly, with help from my husband, who cooked all the pancakes.
I love that my mother-in-law tries every vegan dish I make.
Happy Mother’s Day!
This was the reason why I’ve been absent from this blog for a while.
I’ve been busy with a vegan macaron making project.
It was supposed to be a quick one-day activity, but unfortunately, I ran into countless unexpected obstacles.
I’ve made vegan macarons on occasion in the past.
Not all of them turned out great, but they usually turned okay for the most part.
Well, this time I really struggled.
It was like I lost my mojo!
I’ve never encountered this many baking failures in the past.
And this time I was making shells for someone else!
Pressure possibly???
Usually I don’t do this, but this time I wanted my shells to look uniformed.
I started out using a new recipe this time.
And it was a major failure!
So, I went back to the recipe I had always used. ↓
https://www.supergoldenbakes.com/vegan-aquafaba-macarons/
For some reason, that didn’t turn out well either.
So I tried a new recipe. ↓
https://okonomikitchen.com/vegan-macarons/
I had some success with it, but it was not consistent.
I was able to make enough good-enough ones, but it was so frustrating because I did not know what resulted in the good batch or the bad batch.
I read so many guides and forums online for macaron troubleshooting.
But often times, they say something like… the reason this happened is because either the batter was overmixed or undermixed, or the oven temperature was too high or too low…
Can you see why it’s frustrating?
So basically, every process of macaron-making has to be PERFECT, which is, as you know, hard to do (sigh)…
Anyway, these are some of the shells that turned out better than others.
Blueberry buttercream.
Chocolate ganache.
Lemon buttercream.
I love this color combination.
Muted and elegant.
(Actually I wanted one of the colors to be “gray”, and I bought and used “super black” coloring gel. And this is what I got (the blue looking one). It’s still pretty, but it’s definitely not black or gray. I was completely perplexed. )
I put some blueberry syrup to the buttercream, but I thought it would be fun to place syrup and syruped blueberries on top for extra blueberry flavor.
It’s pretty this way, too!
I probably won’t make macarons for a while after this experience.
I need a little break.
But next time I do, I will either go back to the old recipe or try something different, maybe this one ↓.
https://projectveganbaking.com/vegan-macarons/
