Inari Sushi.

Inari Sushi (fried tofu bags filled with sushi rice) and a salad made from lamb's lettuce, beet root, arugula and avocado. Loganberry sauce on top of the salad, dressing was made of shiro miso, water and other things which I forgot. It was pretty good.

Oyster mushrooms in anise sauce.

200g oyster mushrooms

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

some leaves radicchio

rice

soy sauce

anise seed

salt

pepper

corn starch

veggie broth

olive oil

fresh mint

Cook the rice in salted water. Fry oyster mushrooms with one finely cut onion and smashed garlic in 1 tsp olive oil. Cut radicchio in thin stripes and add at the end when the mushrooms start to get darker golden brown.

Bring 200ml water to the boil, add some veggie broth, soy sauce and 1 tsp anise seed.

Mix 2 tsp corn starch with some cold water and stir in the cooking water. Lower the heat and keep stirring until the sauce starts to thicken a bit. Turn off the heat.

Mix cooked rice with the second finely cut onion and some soy sauce.

Serve mushrooms with the sauce and rice and sprinkle with some fresh mint.

Great flavours from hearty (mushrooms) to bitter (radicchio) and this anise thing which fits pretty well. If you're afraid of the anise try a just a few seeds first and not a whole teaspoon. But it's really worth a try!

Creamy coconut carrot rice with fried tofu.

- rice

- one carrot

- savage

- 200g tofu

- 2 tsp shiro miso

- 1/2 small can coconut cream

- curry powder

- garlic leaves

Cook rice with a decent dash of sea salt, some savage leaves and the finely diced carrot. When it's almost done cut tofu into small dices and fry in a little oil til golden brown, lower the heat. Add the coconut cream and a little curry powder to the rice, let cook for another 2 minutes, stir frequently. In the meanwhile mix miso with about 1 or 2 table spoons hot water and pour over tofu and toss well. It will squirt a bit, but only for a moment. Serve rice with tofu and garnish with garlic leaves. 


p.s. Garlic leaves are great! Just put one or two cloves of garlic into some potting soil and let sprout. Way better than chive, trust me. 












.

Mock Duck with gingery curry and basmati rice.

Fried mock duck from Vantastic Foods with a very gingery curry and basmati rice alongside.

Curry:

- garlic

- ginger

- onions

- coconut milk

- yellow curry paste

- 2 carrots

- bamboo sprouts

- 2 leaves sayoy cabbage (or other cabbage)

- broccoli

- light soy sauce

Fry finely chopped garlic, ginger and onions until lucious and tender. Add curry paste, diced carrots and coconutmilk. Cook for 10 minutes, then add finely chopped savoy cabbage and broccoli, cook for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with light soy sauce and add bamboo sprouts in the end.

In the meanwhile fry mock duck in margarine for about 5 minutes each side, cook basmati rice. The mock duck was one of the best I've had so far and the gingery curry was a dream.

Onigiri.

Onigiri (japanese rice ball) with sesame, a snack I made recently. Cute food!

Kawaii stuff and first bento box.

Today I got some kawaii stuff which Flo brought me from Japan (together with  some records, aaaah...): cute sauce bottles, cutters, skewers, patterns and a bento box, meow! So I just made my first real bento for tomorrow with soy-sauce-glazed carrots with sesame, grean beans and rice. The bear faces are made of wood garlic, as I didn't have any nori at home.

Miso-Lime Rice with Tofu and Chickpeas

Looks bland, tastes great.

- 1 cup rice

- 2 cups water

- 1 tablespoon miso

- 1 lime

- 1 small onion

- 1 small can chickpeas

- 180g smoked tofu

- small piece ginger

Cook rice in water with finely chopped onion, season with salt or light soy sauce, a little vegetable broth, pepper.

Cut tofu into stripes or cubes and fry with the peeled piece of ginger in 1 teaspoon oil. Add chickpeas and fry for another 5 minutes. If the rice is done add the miso (don't cook the miso) and juice of half a lime.

Serve rice with the tofu and chickpeas and drizzle a little bit of lime juice over it.

Coriander would fit perfectly and made it look better...