by : Reiko Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Vegan, Vegetarian

Curry Udon
お揚げさんdeカレーうどん

Another comfort food for me.

Curry Udon.

You can use any type of noodle to serve your tasty curry soup with, but for some reason udon seems like the best choice.

I love the thick chewy texture in the rich curry soup.

To make curry you can basically use any vegetables and meat, but onion and carrot are probably two must-have ingredients for me.

This time I added “abura-age” fried soy as well.

So tasty!

I made the curry soup after work, and I let it rest in the fridge overnight.

For some reason curry always seems to taste better the next day.

This is “abura-age”, a fried soy product.

I keep it in my freezer all the time.

Since abura-age is deep-fried, it always gives wonderful rich flavors to any dish that is added to.

While visiting Kyoto I bought some beautiful Japanese fabrics.

The design is very traditional, and these muted colors are my favorite.

These would be great to wrap my BENTO boxes, too.

The following are some of the pictures from Arashi-Yama, Kyoto.

If you ever go to Kyoto, I would highly recommend visiting this beautiful area.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Curry Udon

curry soup
– canola oil
– 1~2 onions, cut into bite sized pieces
– 2 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
– 2 “abura-age” sheets, cut into stripes
– salt and pepper
– 5~6 cups water
– Dashi Kombu (Japanese dried kombu seaweed)
– 2~3 tablespoons cane sugar
– 4/1~1/2 cup soy sauce
– 1~3 tablespoons curry powder
– dark roux (1:1 flour/canola oil (about 1/4~1/3 cup each) cooked over medium heat until dark)
udon noodle, cooked
chopped scallion

1. Make curry soup. Sautee onions, carrots, and abura-age in oil. Salt and pepper.
2. Add water and Dashi Kombu. Boil and then turn down to low heat. Cook until all the vegetables are cooked through.
3. Add sugar, soy sauce, curry powder, and roux. Mix well. Salt and pepper if needed.
4. Serve with cooked udon and chopped scallion.

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Root vegetable, Seaweed, Vegan, Vegetarian

Sticky Noodle Salad
ねばねば麺

Yesterday was my first day back to work after a long vacation.

I was waking up way before 8 a.m. during my vacation, yet, it was so hard to get up at 8:15 yesterday morning.

I did it though.

I survived my first day and I hope it’s going to be easier for the rest of the week.

When I got home from work I wanted something comforting, and sticky noodle salad seemed like a good idea.

What makes this salad sticky?

Well, this Naga-Imo yam is certainly one of them.

And don’t forget “NATTO” (fermented soy beans).

I know sticky foods are not very popular in the U.S., but they have been loved for many years in Japan.

Sticky foods are in general often considered to have many health benefits, too.

Mise en place.

In addition to those sticky food, on this plate you see Hijiki seaweed, tomato, scallion, and Thai basil.

You place everything on freshly cooked noodle and serve with homemade soy sesame maple dressing.

Yum!

Sticky Noodle Salad100g cooked noodle
1/4 cup chopped naga-imo yam
1/4 cup natto (Japanese fermented soy beans)
1/4 cup cooked hijiki
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped scallion
1 tablespoon chopped Thai basil
soy sesame maple dressing
– 1 tablespoon soy sauce
– 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
– 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
– 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
– a few drops sesame oil
– salt and pepper

1. Make dressing. Combine and mix well all the ingredients.
2. Place yam, natto, hijiki, tomato, scallion, and basil on cooked noodle.
3. Serve with the dressing.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

by : Reiko Egg, Mushroom, Pasta/Noodle/Rice

Thai Basil King Mushrooms
きのこカリフラワーガパオライス

We traveled so much this time during our stay in Japan, and we didn’t have a lot of time to spend at my parents’ house.

But when we were at their house, I enjoyed my time with my family, and my mom and sister cooked us terrific meals.

Our last meal the night before our departure was prepared by my mother and my sister both.

For an appetizer my mother made us veggie tempura which was divine, and for the main dish my sister made Thai basil chicken over rice, which is called “Gapao Rice” in Japan.

This dish was new to both of us, but the combination of basil, fish sauce, spicy and sweet flavored sauce, and a fried egg was intriguing, and my husband and I both devoured it.

So, here is my arranged version I made last night for dinner.

I used king mushroom and cauliflower in place of chicken, and this turned out delicious!!

You break the egg yolk and make each bite where you can enjoy everything together, the rice, the veggies, the egg, and the basil…

Thai Basil King Mushrooms

canola oil
3~4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 king mushrooms, chopped
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1/2 green or red pepper, chopped
salt and pepper
crushed red pepper
1~2 tablespoon cane sugar
1~2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1~2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon toban-djan (chili bean paste)
Thai basil, chopped
2 cups cooked rice
2 fried eggs

1. Cook garlic in oil.
2. Add mushrooms, cauliflower, and pepper, and continue to sautee. Salt and pepper. Sprinkle crushed red pepper.
3. Add sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and toban-djan.
4. Add basil, and combine well.
5. Serve over cooked rice and a fried egg. Sprinkle fresh basil.

Stores and shops in Japan I like to visit to look for kitchen/dining stuff…

–Nitori: Furniture, home decor. Reasonable. Stores located all around Japan, but not in Hokkaido or Okinawa. The wooden trays (photos above) were bought at Nitori.

–Mujirushi-Ryohin: Furniture, home decor, clothing, food. Reasonable. Simple design.

–Tokyu-Hands: Home decor, appliances, electronics, stationary, everything! Fun and interesting stuff.

–Loft: Home decor, stationary, cosmetics…

-100-Yen Shops such as Can Do, Daiso, and Seria. I probably had the best shopping time at these 100-Yen shops. They have a great selection of fun kitchen stuff.

by : Reiko Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Potato/Squash, Root vegetable, Vegan, Vegetarian

Black Curry
黒カレー

Hi!

Sorry about the absence.

I just got back from my vacation in Japan.

It was great to see my family and friends, and there are a lot of things about this trip I would like to share with you, but I figure many of my blog readers are probably the most interested in food.

So I am hoping to make and post some dishes for that I got inspiration from my stay in Japan.

I made this black curry for dinner tonight.

I had never heard of black curry until this trip.

We had this wonderful black curry at a cafe in Nara, and I fell in love with it.

When I did some research, apparently black curry has been pretty popular in Japan lately, and many restaurants do offer their own version of black curry.

There appear to be many ways to make your curry black, but when I asked the server at the cafe she told me that it was “black sesame” that made their curry black.

So my black curry has a healthy amount of black sesame, but I also came up with some other secret weapons to add flavor depth and additional black color.

My black curry turned out DELICIOUS and very black!

My black curry was served with wild rice and roasted Kabocha, cauliflower, and carrots.

Black Curry

canola oil
2~3 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
3 cups water
1/4 cup Shio Kombu (Japanese salted seaweed)
1 cup Hijiki (Japanese dried seaweed), soaked in water and dried
1/4~1/3 cup black sesame
1~2 tablespoons canola oil
1~2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2~3 teaspoons curry powder
cane sugar
salt and pepper

1. Sautee garlic and ginger with oil in a large pot. Cook over medium heat while constantly stirring until browned.
2. Add water and Shio Kombu. Boil and then turn down to low heat.
3. In a tall container combine Hijiki and black sesame. Add about a cup of the liquid from the pot. Puree everything using a hand blender until smooth and creamy. Add to the pot. Mix well with a whisk.
4. In a separate small pan combine oil and flour. Cook over medium heat while constantly stirring until turned dark brown. Scoop about 1/2 cup of liquid from the pot, add to the roux, and mix well. Pour the loosened roux to the pot. Mix well with a whisk.
5. Add curry powder, sugar, salt, and pepper.

by : Reiko Leaf Vegetabes, Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Seaweed, Vegan, Vegetarian

Edamame Veggie Sushi Roll
枝豆べジ巻き

What do you make when you want to clean up your fridge?

Soup is usually my go-to dish in a case like that, but making sushi rolls can be a good way to use up all the things you have in the fridge, too.

How beautiful is it?

In this sushi roll you’ll find daikon radish, carrot, spinach, olive salad, and mashed edamame.

It’s just an example, and you can be creative with ingredients.

I cannot really think of anything that shouldn’t be used for sushi rolls!

You can serve them individually or on a large platter for sharing.

Edamame Veggie Sushi Roll

Japanese roasted seaweed sheet (nori)
sushi rice
-1.5~2 cups Japanese white rice, hot/warm
-1 tablespoon vinegar
-1 tablespoon sugar
-salt
1/3 cup edamame mash (cooked edamame salted and roughly mashed)
veggies (I used daikon radish, carrot, spinach, and olive salad from a jar)

1. Make sushi rice. Mix vinegar and sugar. Add to hot/warm rice. Combine well (do not mash rice; the rice needs to keep its shape!). Salt. Let it cool.
2. Place a roasted seaweed sheet (nori) on plastic covered sushi mat.
3. Put the rice on the seaweed sheet. flatten the rice with wet fingers (again do NOT mash the rice!).
4. Place edamame mash and veggies on the rice. Roll it. Slice. Serve with soy sauce.

by : Reiko Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Vegan, Vegetarian

Konjac Yakisoba Fried Noodles
こんにゃく焼きそば

I try not to eat too much carbs at night, so my lunch can be a bit carbs-heavy at times!

I love Japanese style fried noodles, Yakisoba.

This is a noodle dish, but I like to add a lot of vegetables to my Yakisoba.

Sprouts are one of my favorites to add to my Yakisoba.

This time I used Konjac instead of meat.

The texture is very unique, so this is something you either love it or hate it.

Apparently, I’m a big Konjac lover.

Mise en place for my veggie-loaded Yakisoba.

This was so good.

Terry is not a big fan of fried noodles, so this was my lunch while he was out for a pizza lunch with his friend.

There are different toppings you can use for Yakisoba.

But red ginger and roasted seaweed (nori) are a must for me.

By the way, our local farmers market just opened this weekend, and the beautiful sprouts and garlic chive used for this Yakisoba were from our morning trip to the market.

There aren’t many vendors yet, but I’m sure that will quickly change.

Konjac Yakisoba Fried Noodles

canola oil
1 cup chopped cabbage
1 cup chopped Konjac
2 cups sprouts
1/4 cup chopped garlic chive
1 bag noodles
salt and pepper
Japanese Worcestershire sauce
red ginger
roasted seaweed (nori)
Aonori seaweed (dried seaweed)

1. Sautee cabbage, Konjac, sprouts, and garlic chive in oil.
2. Add noodles. Continue to cook. Salt and pepper.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce.
4. Serve with red ginger, roasted seaweed (nori), and Aonori.