Tofu Salad

Today, I cooked Tofu Salad. It has various texture. I like it.

comment from Mrs. P.

The tofu Salad is colorful and tasty. Delicious!!

ingredients (serves 2-3)

1 bunch of coriander, chopped

2 cups of diced grape tomatoes

1cup of diced celery

1 cup of boiled black beans

1/3cup of black olives sliced

2-3 tablespoons of pine nuts, roasted

1/2 firm tofu

1/2 cup of rice flour

1/2cups of balsamic vinegar

extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, lime juice

directions

Put the balsamic vinegar in a small pan and boil down it until it has body.

Press the tofu to drain its moisture. Wrap the tofu in a paper towel and place on the dish. Put another dish on it and put something heavy as weight ( 1 gal water bottle, a kettle of water or something else) on the dish and leave it 1 - 2 hours.

Cut the tofu into cubes. Sprinkle the rice flour on the tofu and fry it with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it becomes crisp.

Put the tofu in the pan which has the balsamic vinegar and stir.

Put the coriander, the tomatoes and the celery in a big bowl and add 2 pinchs of sea salt, black pepper and 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, and stir well. Add the black beans, the black olives, the pine nuts and the tofu, and stir lightly.

Dish it up and sprinkle a bit lime juice.

If you don't like tofu, of course you can make a beautiful salad without tofu.

It also is yummy.

Pasta with Sun Dried Tomato and Snow Peas : Mustard Flavor

This is very easy and yummy.

comment from Mrs. P.

The mustard and mustard seeds add a secret dimension to the pasta!

Makes you wonder, "What is that delightful taste?"

ingredients

3cups of your favorite short pasta

2cups of snow peas, cut in half

8-10 sun dried tomatoes marinated in olive oil, sliced

2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard

1/2 table spoon of mustard seed, crushed

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

directions

Mix the olive oil and the mustard in a big bowl.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the salt ( 1.3 tablespoons for 0.5 gal ). Put the pasta in the water and cook as long as indicated. Add the snow peas to the water 2 min before the pasta is done. Drain the pasta and the snow peas and put them in the bowl which has mustard oil and mix well. Add the sun dried tomatoes and the mustard seed and mix lightly.

Salt to taste.

Black Sesame Seeds Bread

These breads were made from my homemade live yeast.

The smell is great!

You can make them with ordinary dry yeast

if you don't have the live yeast.

comment from Mrs.P.
These little breads have a wonderful tender texture.

The black sesame seeds made a delightful surprise.

Good frangrance when toasted!

ingredients

220gm bread flour

30gm whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons of roasted black sesame

130ml lukewarm water

1 tablespoon of honey

1 teaspoon of sea salt

100gm live yeast or 4gm dry east

directions

Put both flours into bowl.

In another bowl mix the yeast, the honey and the water.

Pure the mixture in the bowl of flour and mix well. Add the salt and mix with your hand until the dough is very well combined. Add the sesame seeds and mix well.
Cover the bowl with a wet paper towel and cover it with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place ( about 27c/80f ) to rise until the dough becomes twice its original size. This will take 2-3hours)
Push the dough to release its gases and divide it into eighths with a knife or a card.

Shape into balls, put them on your plate and cover with a wet towel. Leave it for 15min. to rest.
Shape into balls again and put them on parchment paper with their joints down. Leave it in a warm place to rise again. This will take about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 220c/430f.

Sprinkle some whole wheat flour(out of the ingredients) over the rolls.
Make shallow cut (qoop) on each roll with your sharp wet knife.

Spray water around the dough and also spray water into the oven (6-7 pushes). The water makes the crust thin and crisp.

Put the rolls in the oven and reset the temperature to 210c/410f.
Bake it for 15min.

Process of Live yeast

Put organic raisins and water in a clean bag

Shake it and open the bag to exchange the air a few times a day.
It will take 7-8days

Filter out the raisins.

Put the liquid and whole wheat flour in a clean bag and mush.
Leave it in a warm place until it doubles in size.
Keep it in a refrigerator to rest for 1 night.
Repeat : add the liquid and water, let if rise and rest for 3-4days.

Keep it in the refrigerator.

Curry Flavored Soup

1. 

It is snowing today. We need warm soup!

comment from Mrs. P.

Boy, was that good!!!

Delightful, delicate curry and tomato. Really good!!!

ingredients (serves 4)
1 onion, sliced
1 onion, grated
7-10 medium Baby Bella ( or your favorite) mushrooms, sliced
1 pack of Baby Brown beach ( or your favorite) mushrooms, broken apart
1 tablespoon of shitake-mushroom powder (crushed dried shitake)
2 cups of boiled chick peas
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup of TVP boiled with a pinch of combu-tea powder (or combu-dashi powder)
1 cup of canned diced tomatoes ( no-salt )
2 tablespoons of parsley, minced
1 tablespoon of curry powder
2 teaspoons of kombu-tea powder ( or komb-dashi powder)
1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of Paprika
1 teaspoon of Herve de Provence
extra virgin olive oil, sea salt

Brown beach mushrooms

Textured Vegetable Protein

directions
Put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic in a thick pan. Saute over it on low heat. After the oil reaches the boiling point, add the TVP, the sliced onion and the curry powder and stir lightly.
Add all of the other ingredients but salt. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 1 hour.

beginning

in 50 min 

Remove from the fire and cool it down. - This allows the flavors of the soup to harmonize.
Put the pan on medium heat again and add 1/2 -1 cup of water if the amount of liquid is too little. Simmer it for 10-20min. Salt to taste.

Good soup makes us happy!

Broccoli Pasta

This is my lunch for today.

My husband doesn't like broccoli but I like it very much. So I often cook it for myself at lunch.

It is easy, healthy and yummy! And pretty!

ingredients (serves 1)

1.5 cups of small cut broccoli

1 clove of garlic sliced

1 pinch of crushed red pepper

100g of your favorite pasta ( I chose 1.5 cup of Farfalle)

extra virgin olive oil, sea salt

directions

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the salt ( 1.3 tablespoons for 0.5 gal ). Put the pasta in the water and cook as long as the indicated.

Put 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, the garlic and the pepper in a sauce pan. Saute over low heat until the garlic becomes golden. Put 1 tablespoons of the boiling water in the pan and shake it until the sauce becomes milky.

Add the broccoli to the water 4minutes before the pasta is done. Use a timer and make sure the pasta is Al dente.

Drain the water off the pasta and broccoli. Put them to the sauce pan and stir well with crushing the broccoli lightly. Drizzle the olive oil to taste. Dish it up!

Kohlrabi and Parsley Root Salad

I got some kohlrabies. I had never seen them before. I studied about this unique vegetable in a recipe book which I borrowed from Mrs. P. It stated that the taste is a cross between an apple and daikon. Daikon is a Japanese vegetable, a kind of radish, and my favorite. I imagined that the kohlrabi definitely would be good! We were able to get daikon in an ordinary American market recently but Japanese daikon is sweeter and juicier than an American one. I thought the kohlrabi might be just like, or much sweeter than a Japanese true green neck daikon. I tasted a little bit. It was soooooooo good!!! Fresh, crispy and sweet. Just like kabu (a kind of Japanese radish). I like it!! So I cooked the salad, kohlrabi/daikon and parsley root/burdock.

comment from Mrs. P.
The salad is amazing with all the different chopped textures, colors and tastes. Kohlrabi is Good! So is parsley root!

ingredients (serves 2)

1 large parsley root

2 kohlrabies

8-10 Boston lettuce leaves, torn
4-6 radishes, sliced

1/2 fennel, sliced : sprinkle a teaspoon of sea salt, leave 10min, squeeze and cool in a refrigerator.

Ponzu*, Tahini*, extra virgin olive oil, roasted white sesame seeds, lemon juice
*http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-282-kikkoma-ponzu-1503fl-oz.aspx *http://www.amazon.com/Tahini-Ground-Sesame-Seeds-ziyad/dp/B000LRH9SS/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1262739110&sr=8-8
1 sheet of fried yuba* crushed or some cornflakes ( for topping )

* http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/312660-tochigiya-hira-yuba

my seasonings

directions

1 : Shave 1 large parsley root like a pencil

wash the parsley root and scrape off its skin with a knife's back under the water.

　shave off the end of the root like a pencil

with your sharp knife or a peeler.

This way of cutting makes them soft and produces a nice texture.

Called "sasagaki," it means bamboo leaves.

sauce for parsley root : mix every thing well =(a)

2 tablespoons of tahini

2 tablespoons of ponzu

1 tablespoon of crushed sesame seeds

Put the parsley root into the boiling water, cook for 20-30 seconds and drain it. Put it in a bowl, add a half of sauce(a) and mix well. = (A)

Keep a half of the sauce(a) until dishing it up.

This is my Japanese grinding bowl.

It is easy to crush the sesame and you can make the dressing in it.

Just put all the ingredients of the dressing in it after crushing the sesames.

Then, put the root in it and just mix. How smart!

(Don't forget to keep out the half of sauce.)

Of course, you can choose a food cutter, or just use your finger.

2 : Pare and grate 1 kohlrabi

These are Japanese graters.

The square one is good for daikon and onion etc.

Today, I use this one for kohlrabi.

It makes the pieces smooth and fluffy.

The round ceramic grater is good for ginger.

I often use it to grate frozen ginger.

The grater has its own container. Isn't it convenient?

dressing for grated kohlrabi : mix every thing well = (b)

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of ponzu
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Put the grated kohlrabi and the dressing(b) in a bowl

and mix well. = (B)

3 : 1 kohlrabi pared and cut into julinnes

first of all slice the kohlrabi

layer the sliced pieces and cut them like matchsticks. = (C)

4 : Put the Boston lettuce, the radish, the fennel and (C) in a big bawl. Add 1 tablespoon of Ponzu, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and mix well. Dish it on a plate. Drop some (B) with a spoon someplace on it and put (A) on the top. Put some fried yuba or some cornflakes on the top. Sprinkle half of the sauce(a) (which kept from 1) around the salad. Gorgeous and Yummy!!

There are some extras.

Boiled parsley root is even good just dressed with the sauce(a).

It is also very good to serve just cut kohlrabi

with grated kohlrabi dressed(b).

This has a little bit of Japanese spice called "7tastes*" on the top.

*http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-143-sb-seven-flavor-chili-pepper-053oz.aspx

Parsley Root and Carrot Potage

I found the root of parsley in the market. I had never seen it before. It resembled burdock, my favorite Japanese vegetable.
And the fragrance was wonderful. Of course, I got some. Parsley root is sweet!

So, today, I cooked it in a soup with carrot for Mr. and Mrs. P.
When I delivered their bento, the potage had already gotten cold. I asked Mrs. P. to warm it up but she didn't. Because the weather was warm then. And they might have been hungry.

comment from Mrs. P.
The soup was cold but we ate it anyway and it was very good! - delicate like vichyssoise soup.

ingredients
serves 2
2 parsley roots sliced
2 medium carrots sliced
1/2 medium onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon of rice flour or 1 teaspoon of rice
1 teaspoon of kombu tea powder* or 1 teaspoon of kombu-dashi powder*
1.5 cup water
2 cups of soy milk
a bit of minced parsley
extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, white pepper

* kombu -teahttp://www.marukaiestore.com/p-492-gyokuroen-konbu-cha-19oz.aspx

* kombu-dashi powderhttp://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/riken-dashi-kombu-1-4-oz

directions
Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a sauce pan and heat it up on medium heat. Add the parsley roots, the carrots and the onion and stir for 1-2 min. Add the water, the kombu powder, the rice or rice flour and simmer until everything becomes soft. ( 15-20 min .)
Puree the soup in a blender. Put the puree and the soy milk in a pan and simmer for a while and add 1 table spoon of the olive oil.

Salt and pepper to taste.
Just before serving, drizzle a bit of the olive oil and put the parsley on the top.

Pasta : Simple tomato and basil

I had the tomato pasta today. I often cook the tomato pasta for my lunch.

I never lose interest in it even if I eat everyday. It is savory, healthy and easy!

Choose rich and sweet grape tomatoes.

ingredients

serves 1

10 - 13 grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 clove garlic, smashed and sliced

2 -3 fresh basil leaves

handful of pasta ( angel hair or spaghettini : 100-120g )

a pinch of dried red pepper

extra virgin olive oil and salt

directions

Put 1.5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the garlic and the pepper in the frying pan. Saute over low heat until the garlic becomes golden. Add the tomatoes, basil and bring the heat to middle high. Smash the tomatoes and stir until the sauce becomes thick. Keep warm on low heat.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Put the salt in the boiling water ( 1 1/3tablespoons for 1/2gal : 1% ). You might feel it is a little bit too salty if you sample the water, but it is exactly right. Put the pasta in the water and return to boiling. Stir just once as soon as you put it in. If you stir many times the pasta will lose its rough surfaces and can't catch the sauce. Make sure the pasta is Al dente!

Put a tablespoon of the boiling water in the sauce and shake the pan until it becomes milky.

Drain the water off the pasta and put it into the pan and stir well. Dish it up and drizzle a bit of the olive oil.

Adjust the time for finishing of the sauce and pasta. If this is difficult, make the sauce first and turn off the fire until the pasta finishes cooking.

The amount of salt put into the water is very important. It determines the taste.

Green Curry : sweet potato and eggplant

I cooked the curry with my homemade Green curry paste. Of course, you can cook it with bottled prepared paste. It would be good enough.

I'm sorry, you can not see the sweet potato and the eggplant in this picture. It doesn't mean it dissolved. I greedily served too much sauce in a deep bowl and every thing sank to the bottom. And the color looks white but it was a beautiful light green. So, the red pepper sets off the curry remarkably. Imagine, please.

comment from Mrs. P.

We love the curry! The fragrance of the curry was wonderful and the heat was perfect - not too hot. And the color of the rice was beautiful!

ingredients

(serves 2)

2 cups of cubed eggplant

1 cup of diced sweet potato

2 tablespoons of green curry paste*

1 caned coconut cream

1/2 cup of sliced red bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon of kombu tea or kombu dashi powder

1 teaspoon of Garlic soy sauce(http://vegangifts.blogspot.com/2009/10/garlic-soy-sauce.html) or soy sauce

1 cup of Jasmine rice

1 teaspoon of curry powder

extra virgin olive oil, sea salt

directions

First of all, let's cook the rice. Measure 2 cups of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup of the rice, a pinch of salt, the curry powder and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Cover the saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Lower the heat and simmer 15-20 min or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to sit, covered, for 5 min. Fluff with a fork.

Put the sweet potato, the kombu tea or the dashi powder and 1 cup of water in your pan. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is tender. Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on a frying pan and bring it to medium heat. Put the curry paste and stir until the aroma comes out. Add the eggplant and fry lightly. Add the potato with the water and the coconut cream. Bring it to a boil and simmer 3-5 min. Add the red pepper, the soy sauce and salt to taste. Dish up with the rice.

*Green curry paste

1 bunch of fresh coriander

1 tablespoon of minced fresh lemon grass

10-15 jalapeno peppers

1 cup of fresh basil

1/2 medium onion chopped

5 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander seed

Put the all of ingredients in to your food processor and mix well. That's all!!

Keep it in your freezer.

Baked stuffed pepper

I like to cook the entire vegetable in order to use all its nutrients. Anyway, it is easy.

comment from Mrs. P.
The stuffed pepper is perfect for fall - colorful and tasty.

ingredients (serves 2)

2 bell peppers ( red, orange or yellow) Cut 1/4 off the top, remove the seeds. Keep the bottoms as cups and dice the tops.

1 cup of diced baguette
2 tablespoons of minced onion
1.5 cups soy milk
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon white miso
(1/4 teaspoon kombu tea powder or kombu dashi powder: if you have it.)
extra virgin olive oil, salt and white pepper

directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees ( 180c )
Put the diced pepper and the baguette to the pepper cups.
Put a tablespoon of olive oil in your pan and bring it to low heat, add the onion and fry until the onion becomes translucent. Add the flour and stir well, add the miso and 1/2 cup soy milk stir well until it becomes smooth. Put the remaining soy milk to the pan and simmer while stirring until thickened. Salt and pepper to taste.
Fill the pepper cups with sauce, stopping about 1/2 inch from the tops.
Put them to the oven, and bake 30-45 min.

Fennel, Orange and Barley Salad

I like fennel very much. It is a popular vegetable in Italy. Today, I cooked it with oranges. They make a good combination. And I also like barley's texture. This salad definitely refreshes you.

comment from Mrs.P.

The fennel was delicious. I had never had it before because I thought it would taste like licorice ( not my favorite ). It's wonderfully fresh tasting with the orange and the crispy/chewy texture are great with the barley!

ingredients

1 fennel bulb sliced ( keep a few leaves for topping )

2 oranges cubed (cut off the both ends and pare the skin). Keep their juice ( squeeze the juice of the flesh left with the skin ).

1/2 cup of barley

1/3 cup of minced parsley

extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, black pepper

directions

Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt on the fennel, mix it lightly, and keep it in your fridge for a while.

Boil the barley until soft and drain. Put 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper on the barley and cool it.

Put the diced orange, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper on your bowl and mix.

Squeeze the fennel and put it into the bowl. Add the orange, the barley, the parsley, 2 pinches of salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1-2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, the orange juice, a pinch of pepper and mix well. Dish it up, put the fennel leaves on the top.

Miso soup and Mushroom pilaf

I often cook Miso soup, especially potato and onion. My husband loves it.It is a very usual dish in Japan.
As you know, Miso-paste is made from soy beans. Normally we cook Miso soup with kombu( dried-kelp) and dried-fish stock. In the old days, Japanese people ate only rice, vegetables and a little bit of fish. So Miso soup was very important for providing protein. Kombu, dried-fish, miso - each of them has a lot of amino acids. We have a term in Japan for protein, UMAMI, which is one of the five generally recognized basic tastes. Of course, I couldn't use fish for vegan so I cooked it with kombu and dried-shitake mushroom. Dried-shitake also has a good amino acid. you can make good soup by mixing different kinds of amino acids.
Fall is the season of Mushrooms in Japan. People often eat Mushroom rice in this season. The changing of seasons is quite noticeable in Japan. We love to transport the sense of the seasons to the table. So I also cooked Mushroom Pilaf today.

comment from Mrs. P.

I never had miso soup with potatoes - what a wonderful surprise!
The Mushroom rice is rich tasting and fragrant!

Miso Soup - potato, onion and carrot
ingredients
2 medium size white potatoes, chopped
1/3 cup of carrots, sliced
1/4 medium size onion, sliced
1 piece of green onion, minced
4in. of kombu wiped with a moist paper towel very gently (you can choose 1 teaspoon of kombu-tea powder 0r 1 teaspoon of kombu-dashi powder )*
4.5 cups of water ( If you choose the powder you need 4 cups of water)

2 pieces of dried shitake mushroom soaked in 1 cup of water (2 - 8 hours) - use 2/3 cup of stock for Miso soup and keep 1/3 cup of stock and the shitake mushroom for pilaf
2 - 4 table spoons of white miso*

*kombu-tea powder : http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-492-gyokuroen-konbu-cha-19oz.aspx
*kombu-dashi powder : http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/riken-dashi-kombu-1-4-oz
*about miso : http://vegangifts.blogspot.com/2009/09/tomato-wakame-miso-bread.html

directions
Put the kombu and the water in your pan and leave for 1 -3 hours. Bring the pan on middle heat and warm it up slowly. Take off the kombu just before it starts boiling. Now you get kombu stock ( Kombu-Dashi ). The method is not easy even for Japanese. You have to chose good kombu, have to wipe it VERY gently, have to control the temperature, etc., but don't worry.....you have the POWDER!! Put the powder and the water in your pan! That's all. You get kombu stock.
Any way... put the potato, carrot, onion and 2/3 cup of shitake stock into the kombu stock. If you don't cook mushroom pilaf, add the soaked shitake mushroom, sliced. Bring the pan on high heat to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the potato becomes soft. Skim off the scum and turn off.
Put 2 tablespoons of miso in your small bowl, bring a bit of ladle soup from the pan, put it into the bawl and dissolve the miso well. Put it into the pan, stir and sample it. If you need more miso, add more miso in the same way to taste.
Just before serving, heat on low, turn off just before it starts to boil and put in the green onion. (Never boil miso! It makes it lose its flavor.)


Mushroom pilaf - soy sauce flavor
ingredients
1.5 cups of Japanese rice
2 - 3 cups of various fresh mushroom sliced ( I cooked clam shell mushroom, white mushroom and brown mushroom)
1/4 cup of chopped carrot
1 clove of garlic sliced
3 teaspoons of minced parsley
1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of white wine
1 table spoon of soy sauce
1/2 tea spoon of kombu- tea powder or kombu-dashi powder
a pinch of sea salt
1.5 cups of water
2 soaked shitake mushrooms, sliced and 1/3 cup of shitake mushroom stock ( These were kept from the "Miso soup" recipe )

directions
Put the garlic and the olive oil in your heavy, lidded pan. Bring it to low heat and fry the garlic very slowly until golden. Put the mushrooms in the pan, up the heat to medium high, and fry lightly. Add the rice and fry until rice becomes translucent. Add the white wine and stir it lightly. Add the water, the shitake stock, the shitake mushroom, the carrot, the soy sauce, the kombu-tea powder (or kombu-dashi powder ) and the salt. Put the lid on the pan, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 12min. Take the pan off the fire and let it steam for 10 min. Put the parsley in the pan and mix well gently.

Fried Tofu Sticks - curry flavor

I cooked Fried Tofu Sticks for their Bento. This time, I made it as curry flavor.
It is suitable for bento because it has no liquid and still good after it gets cold.

comment from Mrs. P.
My husband loves these Tofu Sticks! He likes to dip them in Garlic-Soy Sauce.

ingredients
1 pack firm tofu (12 - 14oz)
1 tablespoon of curry powder
2 tablespoons of purpose flour
1 tablespoon of corn starch or rice flour
sea salt, vegetable oil for frying

directions
First of all, you need to press the tofu to drain its moisture. Usually, I use same-sized square baking dishes ( they work well to press because they have flat bottoms ). Wrap the tofu in your paper towel and place on the dish. Put another dish on it and put something heavy as weight ( 1 gal water bottle, a kettle of water or something else) on the dish and leave it 1 - 3 hours until the tofu loses 1/3 - 1/2 its original thickness.
Cut the tofu into 10 - 12 sticks. Sprinkle the curry powder all over them. Mix the two kinds of flour well and sprinkle it all over the tofu.
Put the oil depth of 1/4 - 1/2 in. in your large frying pan and bring it medium-high heat. Put the tofu gently into the pan after the oil becomes hot and fry each on both sides until crisp. You can get a nice crisp if you raise the heat to high for a moment just before you bring up the tofu from the pan - a low temperature just makes them oily.
Place the tofu on your paper towel to drain some oil. Sprinkle the salt on all over the sticks to taste.
These are good for dipping in ginger-soy sauce, if you are not satisfied with salt alone. Put a teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger into 3 tablespoon of soy sauce ( or Garlic-soy sauce : see previous post ). It is easy and yummy!!
You can keep fresh ginger in your freezer. It is easy to grate with your plane grater (grater/zester). I always have some in my freezer.

Guacamole with lentils : Vegan's Steak Tartar

It was a surprise to me. Because I intended to have made a steak tartar for vegan, I hadn't thought that this dish was a guacamole until Mrs. P. called it "guacamole". How stupid of me! I got the idea for this dish from the recipe of a Japanese chef. The chef also called her dish "Steak Tartar for Vegetarian". So I had forgotten existence of "guacamole".
Yes, It is a variation on guacamole, of course. It has avocado and onion but it doesn't have any tomatoes, chili and lime juice. In compensation, it has a lot of lentils and mustard.
I dished up it as heart-shaped. Isn't it cute? When I cooked it for Mr. & Mrs. P. as Bento, I put it in the box as heart-shaped, also. When they opened the box it had already lost its shape. So we have been calling the dish "Broken Heart". It doesn't sound very happy.

I think it needs "a new name". Do you mind if I call it "Vegan's Steak Tartar."?

comment from Mrs. P.

This is intriguing! I close my eyes with every bite to savour it.

Ingredients

1 large size avocado sliced

1/4 medium size onion minced

1 cup of boiled lentils

3 - 5 tablespoons of prepared coarse ground mustard (my recommendation is a country Dijon.)

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

3 tea spoons of white wine vinegar

salt and black pepper

some sprigs of fresh Thyme (if you need for decoration and flavor.)

some slices of your favorite bread toasted

directions

First of all, let's make a dressing. Put 2 pinches of salt and a bit of black pepper into your big bowl and add the olive oil, the mustard and mix well. Add the vinegar and blend well and leave it.

Put the avocado, the onion and the lentils on your chopping board, chop them well and mix until the avocado becomes smooth.

Put it into the bowl which has the dressing and mix.

Dish up in your style with the toast.

Squash became a pasta!?

It looks like a Tagliatelle but it has only vegetables. Both the look and texture are delightful.

You can add some boiled Tagliatelle, of course. It would be fun to have both the twisted pasta and the pasta-like squash.

comment from Mrs. P.

I love pasta and this is as satisfying as the 'real thing'!!

ingredients
1 yellow summer squash
1 green zucchini ( you can choose 2 yellow summer squashes or 2 green zucchinis)
10 cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 clove of garlic
a pinch of crushed red pepper
extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper

directions
Wash the squashes well and pat dry. Remove both ends. Using a peeler, make 1/2 inch-wide strips the length of the zucchini. Stop when you begin to reach the seeds.
Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic in your frying pan. Bring the pan to low heat and fry the garlic very slowly. After the oil boils, add the red pepper and fry until the garlic becomes golden.

Turn up the heat to medium-high, add the tomatoes and fry, crushing them to get their juice. After the tomatoes become soft, add the squash and fry until the zucchini becomes soft.
Season with the salt and the black pepper.

Garlic - Soy sauce

This is a very useful seasoning. It has a rich flavor.

It is good for dressing, fried rice, curry and so on. I often use for "Fake Chicken" (the previous post). Easy and savory!!

ingredients
7 - 12 cloves of garlic
1 cup of soy sauce

directions

Put the garlic into a clean bottle and add the soy sauce.
That is all!! You can use after one week and can keep up to 1 year in your fridge.

Fried Tofu named "Fake Chicken"

This is the dish we call Fake Chicken. It looks just like a Japanese fried chicken and is, of course, yummy!!
The idea is from "ooLife organic recipe" : http://oola.cocolog-nifty.com/. Ms. ooLa is a famous cook and blogger in Japan. She has a great talent and beauty!! Thank you so much, Ms. ooLa!!

comment from Mrs. P.
"M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m!"

That's the sound my husband makes when he sees Fake Chicken in our bento! He loves tofu and this is his favorite!

ingredients
1 pack of tofu, frozen in its package in your freezer. (Buy a plastic-tubed, refrigerated tofu, not the paper-boxed kind found on the regular grocery shelf.)
4 tablespoons of rice flour
4 tablespoons of coconut milk
1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon of cumin powder
a clove of garlic minced

vegetable oil - for frying

*dressing
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of white sesame seed crushed by your finger
1/4 teaspoon of kombu-tea or kombu-dashi powder

1 tablespoon of water

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

directions
Let the tofu defrost (under the running water, in hot water or leave it in your fridge 1day etc., - you can chose your way).

Put the garlic into the soy sauce.
Cut the tofu in 9 -12 pieces. Grasp each piece and press tightly to completely drain off the water.

Put the tofu in the mixture of the coconut milk, the cumin powder and the garlic/soy sauce. Mix them gently and leave it for 5min.

Sprinkle the rice flour all over the tofu and deep fry the pieces in 360-degree oil until the surfaces become crisp.

Put them on your favorite salad. ( pictured is a baby spinach and shredded carrot salad.)
Mix the dressing ingredients and sprinkle it over the dish.

Fake Chicken is also good for dipping with your favorite sauce. Ms. ooLa 's recommendation is a sweet chili sauce. Mine is a Ponzu sauce : mix all of the ingredients of *dressing except the sesame oil.

Stuffed Tomatoes

This is the "too tall Stuffed Tomato"
that I cooked for Mr. and Mrs. P., If you don't understand, please read the previous post

"Bento Box! It's so smart!".

comment from Mrs. P.

This is the perfect summer treat - Light, tasty and satisfying! Thank you!

ingredients

4 medium fresh tomatoes
(scoop out the insides and keep the tomato cups in your fridge)

1 clove of garlic sliced

1/4 medium onion minced

a pinch of dried crushed red pepper

1 cup of rice (Italian or your favorite)

3 tablespoons of pine nuts
1/2 kombu-tea powder or kombu-dashi powder*

1 cup of water

some fresh basil (for topping and for the rice)

Extra Virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, black pepper

*Kombu-tea (konbu-cha) :
http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-492-gyokuroen-konbu-cha-19oz.aspx

Kombu-dashi powder :
http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/product/riken-dashi-kombu-1-4-oz

direction
Put 1 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic in your heavy, lidded pan. Bring the pan to low heat and fry the garlic very slowly until golden. Add the onion, turn up the heat to medium and stir the onion until soft but not brown. Put in the rice, red pepper and stir until the rice becomes translucent. Add the tomato pulp which you scooped, the water, kombu tea or kombu-dashi powder and a pinch of salt. Put the lid on, turn up the heat to high, bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 min. take the pan off the fire and let it steam for 10 min.
Bring a frying pan to medium heat. Cook the pine nuts with 1 tablespoon olive oil until golden and salt. Put the pine nuts with the oil, some torn basil on the rice and mix gently.
Sprinkle salt and black pepper on the tomato cups. Stuff the rice into the tomatoes with your spoon. Put it on your plate. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar around the tomatoes. Put the basil leaves on the tops.