How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!
Today I introduce you to Homemade Vegetarian Spring Rolls. The ingredients are tofu, carrot, mushroom and some seasoning.
Sometimes we feel frying is too much work but these spring rolls are out of this world! It is worth the little bit of extra effort. The spring rolls have a nice crunchy wrap and smooth and flavorful filling. They are irresistible! Plus, I use a plastic bag to mix the filling so that makes cleanup easier.
On the PDF recipe, I explain how to wrap the filling step by step. It is not difficult. You should already be used to it when you roll a second spring roll. If you have children, it may be fun to roll the spring rolls up with them. I used to do that when I was little.
Process drained tofu in a food processor. Put all ingredients in a plastic zipper bag and mix well. On a wrapper, squeeze the filling out directly from the plastic bag and roll up. (To store, before frying put them in a plastic zipper bag carefully and keep in the freezer.) Fry until it is nice golden brown.
Ingredients (20 spring rolls) *Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*
Today I will teach you “How to make Authentic Homemade Miso Soup” with recipe video and detailed PDF direction. It is very easy to cook and has great flavor and wonderful taste, but I am sure you have never tasted authentic miso soup at most of restaurants in the US.
One of tips for cooking miso soup is to use great Dashi stock. I use different Dashi stocks depending on ingredients in my miso soup. I like to use bonito Dashi stock for vegetable miso soup. I tend to use kelp or anchovy Dashi stock for seaweed and seafood miso soup. Sometimes I use blended Dashi stocks which is very flavorful! If you follow a vegan diet, you can use kelp Dashi stock. I have some homemade Dashi stock recipes in my blog.
Here is “Kelp Dashi Stock” recipe post: Homemade Kelp Dashi stock / Salted Kelp (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)
Here is “Anchovy Dashi Stock” recipe post: Homemade Anchovy Dashi Stock (Gluten-Free)
But you can also use instant Dashi stock powder to save time. There are a lot of great ones in many Asian markets and also on Amazon.
I want to tell you one more tip to cook delicious miso soup. Basically I use 2 Tbsp. of miso paste for 2 cups of Dashi stock. But you can use less or more miso paste. I tend to use a little bit more miso paste than 2 Tbsp. for vegetable miso soup. I use less than 2 Tbsp. of miso paste for seafood miso soup because I can enjoy the seafood flavor!
Miso soup is an important dish in the Japanese diet. Miso (Soybean paste) is a traditional fermented food product. It is a very nutritious food, and Japanese say it may help keep the doctor away. In fact, there have been many studies of the beneficial effects of Miso on human health. I like to eat miso soup for breakfast more than anything else because I feel energy, my stomach feels comfortable and my head becomes clear. I think my body gets ready for school or work when I have miso soup in the morning.
In this recipe I use tofu. I like tofu miso soup because it is the quickest and easiest miso soup recipe! You can use any vegetables such as onion, potato, spinach, Daikon radish, mushrooms, carrot, bean sprouts, and so on. You can also use any seafood and seaweed for miso soup such as Wakame seaweed, clam, freshwater clam, oyster, lobster, and so on.
The recipe is very easy.
Boil Dashi stock and cut tofu. Dissolve miso paste.
Ingredients (servings 2) *Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*
“Sesame Tofu” is not a traditional Japanese dish. I have never had “Sesame Tofu” in Japan. When I had “Sesame Tofu” at a Chinese restaurant in the U.S., I was amazed at how delicious it was! So I tried to cook it myself.
This sesame tofu recipe is perfect! It is not too sweet and not too greasy, so it is in keeping with my dishes. It is a gluten-free and vegan dish! Delicious!! In addition, tofu has a lot of nutrition. As you know, tofu is high in great protein so it is often used as a meat substitute for vegans and vegetarians. Also tofu itself is low calorie (33 kcal / 2 oz.) so it is good food for people who care about their diet.
In this recipe 7 ounces (1/2 pack) of tofu can serve 2 people. You may think it is too small an amount compared to many Chinese restaurants in the U.S. In Japan, people traditionally eat many dishes containing soy beans. For a balanced-diet, which I highly recommend on the post You can Eat Anything You Want! But…, I suggest eating 1/4 pack of tofu every day depending on your other protein sources. If you make this recipe as a main dish, you might want to add some small side dishes to your meal.
The recipe is easy. We can cook with one pan.
Dry tofu and dredge in corn starch.
Cook and season.
Ingredients (servings 2) *Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*
Today I introduce you to “Delicious Vegetarian Pan Fried Nuggets” made from soybean powder. In Japan, we call the soybean powder “Dried Okara” and use it for many recipes as a meat substitution, to make the dish extremely healthy and to increase the amount of food in the dish. For example, We add Okara or we substitute it for the meat when we mix meat balls, hamburger steak,…etc. Of course we use Okara by itself in some recipes too.
Okara is made while making tofu so it is high in protein, fiber, vitamins and Calcium. In Japan there is fresh Okara but it lasts only a few days so recently we have tended to use Dried Okara. When you use Okara for cooking, mix it with water. It is going to have a hard mashed potato texture, and it has no smell and no taste. That is why using Okara doesn’t change the taste of dishes and why we use it a lot.
In this recipe, I use only 3 main ingredients, Okara, Tofu and grated cheese. If you like to add meat, you can just add it to this recipe or you can use your favorite ground meat instead of tofu. If you don’t like tofu aroma very much, you can add some lemon juice. This makes the dish have less of a tofu aroma.
The recipe is very easy.
Soak Okara into water.
Mix every ingredient.
Make into a nugget shape and cook in a pan.
{Ingredients (15 pieces)} *Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*
Mapo-Tofu is a popular Chinese dish. This recipe is totally my mother’s creation based on Mapo-Tofu. My mother came up with this recipe because the original dish is so spicy and I couldn’t handle it. This dish is very healthy because it has great protein, which comes from a combination of meat and tofu, so we always had this Non-Spicy Mapo-Tofu in our house.
The recipe is so easy to cook. It basically involves cooking ground chicken and tofu in chicken broth and then seasoning it in the same pan.
You can also use any kind of ground meat and any kind of broth in this recipe.
I recommend you enjoy tasting everything on the plate, the meat, the tofu, and the soup flavor! Because of the finished presentation you may think of it is a soup dish, but we eat it as a main dish with steamed rice.
This is the quickest, easiest, healthiest summer time side dish. It’s just cold Tofu with green onion and ginger.
This is a dish you might have when you want to add one more nutritious dish to your meal; when you don’t have any time to cook in the morning; when you don’t have a big appetite; or when you want to eat late at night…
Tofu has a lot of nutrition. As you know, tofu is high in great protein so it is often used as a meat substitute for vegetarians. Also tofu is low calorie (33 kcal / 2 oz.) so it is good food for people who care about their’ diet.
Ginger is used as a medicine (we call it Kampo) in Eastern Medicine. It may improve our immune system and also has antibacterial and antioxidant properties.
Green onion is high in vitamins and carotene. It also has antibacterial properties. So These two vegetables are great to make you more energetic and healthy.
Sesame is high in arginine, oleic acid, linoleum acid, sesamin, and it has great quality protein, iron, niacin and vitamin B. Sesame has high antioxidant properties due to vitamin E and linoleum acid. This means sesame may improve our immune system. Another important ingredient in sesame is Lignan. Lignan helps liver function and cholesterol depletion. I highly recommend to have 1 Tbsp. of sesame per a day. Of course, having it in this salad dressing is a delicious way to eat sesame.
In this recipe I will also introduce you to Tofu Salad, which goes great with sesame dressing. It is quick, delicious and very nutritious! When you want to add more protein, vitamins and minerals to your meal, please try this easy quick delicious salad!!
{Ingredients (servings 2)}
*Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*
In Japan, we sometimes cook hamburger steak with Tofu because we can make it healthier—lower in calories and fat. Tofu hamburger steak is mainly made from ground meat, tofu and vegetables.
Today I introduce you to a simple delicious tofu hamburger steak recipe. The ingredients are chicken, tofu and green onion. It is healthy, delicious and also the texture is amazingly soft because of the tofu’s texture. Tofu is high in quality protein so this steak has great nutrition!
Agedashi-Tofu, which is a typical Japanese homemade dish, is fried tofu with Dashi sauce.
Tofu is an important ingredient in Buddhist cuisine. Japanese think this is a macribian food because tofu is high in great-quality-protein. Tofu is made from only soybean. The soybean is called “Meat of a field” because it is rich in nutrients, which are linoleum acid, lecithin, isoflavone, saonin, trypsin inhibitor and so on. And also tofu is low calorie and high in water so it is good as a diet food.
Let’s try to eat 1/4 pack of tofu every day!
{Ingredients (servings 2)}
1 pack (14 oz.) Firm Tofu
1 ½ cups Kelp Dashi Stock
(Recommended Dried Kelp for Dashi stock) Dashi Dried Kelp
Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish popular with foreigners. There is a famous song that can be heard all over the world named “SUKIYAKI,” which is a cover of a Japanese song (actually, the song name is different in Japan). The ingredients for Sukiyaki are beef, tofu, Napa cabbage, green onion and so on. The soup is salty-sweet. It is definitely delicious.
When beef prices were high after WW Ⅱ in Japan, Sukiyaki was also treated as a high-grade dish. Nowadays that is how Sushi is viewed. Usually we use thinly sliced beef which can be chuck, rib, rump or round roast. If you can’t find thinly sliced beef in a grocery store, please buy a tender cut and slice by yourself because you can get great beef flavor and texture with Sukiyaki soup.
In Japan, traditionally Sukiyaki is served with raw egg. The egg makes the Sukiyaki taste mild and adds a great texture. This, however, is up to each person’s taste. I like eating Sukiyaki itself without the egg, but my husband enjoys it with the egg.