by : Reiko Breakfast, Salad, Tofu

Curried Okara Salad and Soy Lovers Meal
カレーおからサラダ＆だいずLOVER’Sごはん

I read somewhere that fresh Okara is only good for a few days, so I decided to use the rest of the Okara I had and make salad.

Remember Okara?

A byproduct from my recent soy milk production?

First things first.

I wanted to dress my Okara with mayo, so I made some.

This ↓ is the recipe I’ve been using for a long time.

https://www.thebuddhistchef.com/recipe/vegan-mayonnaise/

It requires only a few basic ingredients, it’s easy to make, and it tastes great.

This time I didn’t have a lot of ideas to use mayo after this salad, so I cut the recipe in half.

Okara is soft and mushy, so I added some crunchiness with radish, cauliflower, and red onion, which also gives a nice fresh spiciness (if you have to choose only one thing, pick onion).

I simply dressed them with my homemade vegan mayo, curry powder, salt, and a little sugar.

This was so good!

Kind of reminded of my mother’s potato salad.

I was going to serve my salad for lunch, and I decided to do a Japanese-themed meal.

This is sesame soy-milk miso soup.

The soy milk curdled, but I personally didn’t mind.

Now I have to call this Soy Lovers Meal because there is so much soy in this meal.

Okara, Natto, soy milk, and miso.

Can you find them all?

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Gluten Free

V/GF Lemon Lavender Okara Pancakes with Kiawe White Honey
レモンラベンダーおからパンケーキ、キアヴェホワイトハニーがけ

The main ingredients of these pancakes are Okara and rice flour.

I just made my first soy milk (previous post), and luckily I was left with its byproduct, Okara.

So I decided to try this recipe (in Japanese). ↓

https://www.instagram.com/p/CY1JtakPu-z/

This time I decided to flavor with lemon zest and lavender.

I thought this combination would go well with the honey I was planning to serve with them.

I didn’t have mirin that was one of the ingredients, so I used a mixture of bourbon and honey instead.

This is the honey I was excited to try.

I bought this in Hawaii from our recent trip there.

It was expensive ($21) for this small jar, but I heard this type of honey is rare and unique.

I really liked it.

It has a nice mild sweetness, very gentle, if that makes sense.

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Other

Homemade Soy Milk – First Try
うちで豆乳を作る、の巻（初挑戦）

Making soy milk at home has been on my list for a long time.

I hesitated to do so because today soy milk is easy to get from stores, there are good quality ones, made with simple ingredients, which we like, and the price is not bad at all.

In a nutshell, I don’t NEED to make it, but my curiosity won.

I just wanted to try it to see if I can do it.

I decided to follow the directions provided here. ↓

https://www.alphafoodie.com/simple-homemade-soy-milk-recipe/

This is what my soybeans looked like after being soaked in water overnight.

This is what they looked like BEFORE being soaked in water.

I was initially afraid that I got a wrong kind of beans because they were round, not oblong, the shape I expected for soybeans.

But as you can see above, they changed their shape when soaked in water to the shape I’m familiar with.

Then I peeled the skin.

Okay.

This was a tedious job.

It’s not difficult.

The skin comes off easily, but there are A LOT OF beans.

It took me almost an hour to complete this part of the process, definitely the longest and my least favorite step.

Here are the skins I peeled.

I hope you can see how much work it was.

The basic process of making soy milk is pretty simple.

`1. Soak soybeans in water overnight.

2. Peel the skin (optional).

3. Puree with water.

4. Cook.

5. Squeeze the milk out and remove the solid.

How did my first homemade soy milk turn out?

Good!

When my husband and I initially did the tasting, I stirred it first.

It was good, tasting just like soy milk, but I did also taste “egumi (Japanese)” in it.

It’s hard to explain what “egumi” is, but I would say it’s the bitterness often associated with some vegetables.

My husband called it “earthy”, so earthy bitterness may be a good way to describe it.

But later when I finally decided to move my soymilk to a glass container (top) from a bowl, where the milk had sat overnight, I carefully scooped up the milk without touching the bottom, where I noticed there was some solid.

Now this helped a lot to get rid of the “earthy bitterness”.

So I will definitely do this next time too to make sure to avoid the bottom part.

I also read somewhere that it starts producing this earthy bitterness when cooked for over 10 minutes after boiling.

Another thing I will try next time is NOT peeling the skin.

It will be so much faster if I skip this step.

I made this Matcha Latte with my soymilk, and it was delicious!

Soy Milk Matcha Latte: 1 tablespoon Matcha powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, lots of ice cubes, soy milk

Here is Okara, the solid from which soy milk was squeezed out.

There are a few things I want to try making using this Okara, so I am excited.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Leaf Vegetables

Edamame Oatmeal Okonomiyaki
枝豆オートミールお好み焼き

We are big vegetable eaters, and there are always some kinds of vegetable in our house.

I try to eat a variety and always looking for something new.

But one thing you always find in our fridge is cabbage.

A few reasons.

One, yes my husband and I both live cabbage.

Two, it’s versatile.

You can eat it fresh or cooked.

Three, it lasts relatively longer compared to other vegetables.

But last time I went grocery shopping, I went a bit overboard and bought two big heads, one green and one purple.

Now we have almost too much cabbage!

So, in order to accelerate the consumption, I decided to make Okonomiyaki, Japanese savory pancake, for lunch today.

Traditionally, Okonomiyaki is made of flour, but I’ve started making mine with oatmeal lately, and I absolutely love it!

This time I added chickpea flour and rice flour to the batter.

Included in the toppings were cabbage (lots of it!), scallion, homemade vegan meat, shio-kombu (salted kombu), and edamame.

I usually like to drizzle a little mayo on top, but since I didn’t have any at hand, I drizzled Dijon mustard, which worked beautifully (I may like it better than mayo, actually!).

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by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Sandwiches, Tempeh, Vegan Cheese, Vegan Egg

Okara Bread Breakfast Sandwich
おからパン朝食サンド

I love all the colors in this sandwich, don’t you?

Homemade vegan “goat” cheese, tomato slices, tempeh steak, vegan omelet, and kale salad.

I baked the bread myself, too.

This bread is mostly made of Okara powder.

I bought a bag of Okara powder a few weeks ago, and it’s almost gone.

I loved everything I made with it, and I will probably buy the powder soon.

The only thing is that it’s a bit expensive for the small amount…

But the quality is good, and I know it’s imported from Japan, so I guess it’s a justified price.

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Leaf Vegetables

Veggie Momos
ネパール風餃子モモ（ベジ）

When we moved to the city, several people told us about this Tibetan-Nepalise restaurant.

Everyone said we had to try their momos.

So that was how I got to try nepali dumplings for the first time.

And I loved it!

I had been in the United States for many years now, and I thought I had tried all the ethnic foods available in this country.

But I was wrong.

I’ve only tried vegetable version, but it was so good that I didn’t even want to try the meat version.

Last weekend I was in the mood for momos.

We usually get them from our favorite restaurant, but since I had a lot of time that day, I decided to make them myself.

I like my dumpling filling simple.

I’ve experimented with different things, like tofu, mushrooms, vegan meat, etc, but I always preferred my simple version.

Garlic, onion, cabbage, and green onion.

That’s it.

This time I used Napa cabbage and an addition of kale just because I had some of these I needed to use up.

It worked beautifully.

To tell the truth, this was my second time making momos.

The first attempt was not very successful.

I made a mistake and made the wrappers too thick.

I didn’t know it gets puffy when steamed.

They were mostly fine, but the top part where the wrapper was gathered turned out to be too thick.

I still remembered the mistake, so this time I was careful when I flattened the wrappers and folded them.

I think I did a pretty good job this time.

They look so good!

And they tasted awesome!

This time I made the sauce, too.

Garlicky and gingery.

A bit spicy.

So good.

Oil, garlic, ginger, crushed red chili pepper, tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, cashew nuts (for thickening).

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by : Reiko Breakfast

No Sugar Blueberry Almond Oat Muffins
ノー砂糖ブルーベリーアーモンドオーツマフィン

I love muffins, but many muffins from stores are too sweet for me.

I feel fine if I eat them for a snack, but for breakfast I like something less sweet, less cake-like, and more wholesome.

(And a muffin is usually not my choice if I want something sweet for a snack. So, I hardly ever buy muffins anymore…)

These are made of a few simple ingredients, and the only sweetness is from bananas, apples, and blueberries.

But it’s really perfect for my breakfast!

Blueberries are generously added.

You can see them on top and also inside.

The texture is dense and rather wet, as my husband puts it “more like overnight oats’.”

This makes you full and gives you all the energy you need for an entire morning.

I bought these cups several years ago.

I’m not a compulsive shopper, but once in a while I buy things (cheap things! Mostly for the kitchen), and this was one of them.

I’m glad I finally got to use them.

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