Ochazuke (Chazuke) Topped with Crispy Genmaicha
27 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Food, Recipes Tags: bubu arare, chazuke, food, furikake, genmaicha, ingredients, ochazuke, rice, tea
I don’t know about you, but Genmaicha (roasted rice Japanese tea) is a lot of fun to drink (easy drinking!) and a lot of fun to just nibble on, too, straight out of the bag (those crispy little rice bits are awesome). So while making ochazuke, I decided to try using the genmaicha in its crispy form as a topping, sort of like a caffeinated substitute for bubu arare (little rice crackers).
Okay.
Wow!
Good stuff!
So now my favourite version of Ochazuke is this (these ingredients just happened to be in my fridge this morning…they’re not authentically Japanese or anything like that…but it looks like people on the interwebs make Chazuke with pretty much any kind of topping – the common thing being that it’s tea poured over rice):
Steamed rice (can be leftover)
Brewed green tea (or oolong)
Diced cucumber
Bocconcini
Furikake
Genmaicha (dry)
Salt
1.) Steep tea.
2.) Heat up a bowl of leftover rice in microwave (and if you’re using cheese, add it to the rice so it gets all melty)
3.) Dice cucumber
4.) Add salt and cucmber to rice in bowl
5.) Pour tea over the rice
6.) Top the island of rice with furikake and genmaicha
7.) EAT!
If you manage to get the furikake and genmaicha to sit on top of the island of rice in the middle, they’ll stay nice and crispy until you decide to eat it. That genmaicha is really a nice addition! It’s got such a wonderful toasted rice flavour, and the tea leaves are crispy as well, so it makes a really nice topping.
This is actually so much better and cleaner tasting than the little packets of ochazuke topping that you just add to rice and pour boiling water over – those leave me all weird and MSG’d out.
No pictures with this post – you’ve got to make it yourself to try it out!
Vegan Coconut Tempeh Tomato Apple Pasta
02 Oct 2011 3 Comments
in Food, Recipes Tags: apple, cooking, pasta, recipe, tempeh, vegan, vegetarian
Okay. Hear me out. It sounds like a weird mix, but it’s actually really delicious! I love it when there are just tiny hints of sweetness to offset savoury flavours. My husband would beg to differ – he really doesn’t like apples and so pretty much refused to eat the dish. However, my tastebuds were pleasantly tickled!
Ingredients:
pasta (I used rigatoni)
sesame oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package of Green Cuisine Tempeh Burgers, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/2 apple, diced (I used a Honeycrisp)
cumin powder
coriander powder
salt
sriracha hot sauce
1/2 can of coconut cream (or coconut milk)
Directions:
- Boil pasta
- Sauté onion and garlic in sesame oil
- Continue sauteing and at your leisure, add tempeh, tomato, apple, cumin, coriander, salt, sriracha (I quickly squirt one circle of the pan – not too spicy). I added one ingredient at a time, while chopping the next ingredient.
- Saute some more
- Add 1/2 can of coconut cream/milk (stir up the can first so the liquid mixes with the cream on top)
- Saute some more at slightly higher than medium heat until coconut milk reduces and you’re left with a sauce-like texture
- serve over pasta!
How much of things like coriander and cumin, you ask? Well, with the powdered stuff, it’s not very strong (it’s been sitting in my pantry for a couple of years) so like maybe a teaspoon of both (or more?)? I honestly just shake it out of the bag until it seems like enough. It’s hard to go overboard – the flavour ends up pretty mellow when it mixes in with the coconut milk.
Vegan Tuna Salad – Easy Chickpeasy and Actually Decent
21 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Health and Healthy Living, Recipes Tags: 2011, cooking, mock, recipe, salad, textured vegetable protein, tuna, tvp, vegan, veganaise, vegetarian
So there’s a promising recipe on http://www.exploreveg.org/resources/recipes/meals/mock-tuna-salad for Vegan Tuna Salad.
Inspiring! But of course, me being me, I bought the veganaise and forgot about the celery etc. and i have kelp at home but no kelp powder
So my mock tuna salad on corn tortillas tonight is:
- 1 can chickpeas – drain and mash (I used a potato masher)
- Veganaise – find in the refrigerated aisle by the tofu and soy cheese and vegetarian stuff
- capers
- pinch of nutritional yeast – find in the bulk section
- freshly ground pepper
- corn tortillas
Vegan Dinner: Tempeh Burger Stir Fry, Quinoa, and BEETS!!!
19 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Food, Health and Healthy Living, Recipes Tags: beets, food, health, quinoa, recipe, tempeh, vegan, vegetarian
How have I managed to go 25 years without eating a boiled beet? Please, someone explain to me why I tried plain beets in all their glory for the first time a few days ago?
They’re STUNNING! Sweet like a sweet potato. Soft yet not a mushy texture.
For dinner tonight, we had tempeh burger stir fry, with boiled beets and Quinoa.
Boiled Beets:
Boil for 30-45 mins. Drain. Scrub off skins with a paper towel (they come off pretty easily).
Quinoa:
Put quinoa with water in rice cooker. Crumble up an organic veggie buillion cube into water. Stir. Press “Cook”.
Stir Fry:
Dice onions and garlic. Sautee in pan with olive oil.
Dice tempeh burgers, zucchini and cut cauliflower into florets. Add to sautee pan.
Add ground cumin and coriander
Add chili powder
Add soy sauce
Excuse me while I OMNOMNOMNOMNOM
Best Vegan Pasta Dish, Ever! Recipe:
12 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: best vegan pasta, dinner, entree, pasta, recipe, tempeh, vegan, vegetarian
So delicious and savoury, even the meat and cheese eaters will barely notice – and I really like cheese. Don’t need cheese to make this dish awesome! No pictures, but the cucumber and fresh tomatoes give it really nice colour, and the savoury taste of the tempeh burgers, sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, and generous amounts of olive oil (but not too much!!!) make it satisfying.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 package rigatoni
5 (or more) sundried tomatoes
1/2 an onion
3+ cloves garlic
1 pack (2 patties) Green Cuisine brand tempeh burgers
20 or so grape tomatoes
1/2 long english cucumber
salt
pepper
olive oil
DIRECTIONS:
- boil pasta according to package directions
- soak sundried tomatoes in hot water. When soft, cut into thin strips.
- cut tempeh burgers into 1/4s and pan fry both sides until golden. Dice.
- dice onion and mince garlic.
- sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. Add sundried tomatoes. Add tempeh.
- Quarter the grape tomatoes and dice the cucumber. Sprinkle salt on tomatoes and let sit for a couple minutes.
- Add a bunch more olive oil to the pan. Toss pasta into mixture. Turn off heat.
- Toss fresh tomatoes, cucumber, salt and pepper with pasta mixture.
- Serve.
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