Homemade Age Dashi Tofu

One of my favorite cuisine is Japanese. Everything is so delicate, light, flavorful… I could go on forever. Anyway even Japanese fried food seems light! Age Dashi Tofu is a traditional dish where tofu is lightly coated in a starch mixture and then fried. But tofu does not absorb oil so its seems like its quite healthier than other fried foods. This is the first, and probably last, really fried food you will see in this blog [ though I did discover that our Greek donut holes are vegan and I am tempted to make them just to show it to you guys, but we will see about that]

Anyway, back to the dish. The fried tofu is then place in a delicate flavored broth and sprinkled with nori shreds. Its quite easy to make, though it seems complicated for some that are not familiar with Japanese cooking ingredients.

Here is what you need :

-1 package firm silken tofu

-1 package tempura batter mix or 1cup corn or potato starch, some garlic powder and salt mixed together

-Oil for frying [ I use pure sunflower oil]

Broth :

-1 kombu stick [dried seaweed for dashi]

-2 1/2cup water

-5tbsp mirin [sweet cooking sake]

-4tbsp Shoyu

-10 whole dried shitake mushrooms

-1/2 tsp grated ginger

First soak the kombu stick and mushrooms in the water for 30 minutes and set aside. Drain tofu from the package liquid and cut in cubes. Now dip each cube and toss lightly in the starch mixture. Once you toss all the cubes, take a small wok and pour oil [not too much, its should be around 3 fingers deep. Heat the oil on medium heat taking care not to burn it [if you see smoke, throw it away-for the people new to frying, burning your oil makes it really really bad for you] and start frying the cubes 3-4 at a time. Once they turn golden remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen towels.

Heat in a sauce pan the water with the mushrooms and kombu [same water] and bring to boil. Once its boiling remove the kombu and mushrooms [you can use them in other recipes, so don't throw them away] Lower the heat and add in shoyu and mirin. Stir and set aside. Throw in the broth 1/2 tsp grated ginger.

Miso Maki Sushi Roll (and other vegan sushi)

Today me and my boyfriend made vegan sushi!! While in Egypt, we went to a sushi restaurant, and all they had on their menu was like 3 kind of fishes or caviar in a roll so we decided to design our own sushiand ask them to make it. They didnt really have any cool Japanese vegetables like kampyo so I had this very cool idea!! A maki roll inspired by the miso soup!! It was a roll with tofu, miso paste, green onions and sesame! When we tried it it was actually really good so today we made it, along with other sushi fillings. The pictures you see also include cucumber and japanese pickle roll and one with shitake mushrooms and white asparagus!

For the rice:

-1 cup sushi rice ( makes 30-40 small sushi pieces), rice vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp stevia (or 2 tsp sugar)

For the miso roll Ya need:

-1/4 pack mori-nu firm sushi

-1tbsp miso paste

-1tbsp sesame seeds

-some fresh green onion (or dry if you dont have fresh)

(miso maki roll, my inspired creation ha-ha…)

First you have to prepare the rice. Place it in a bowl and add water. Stir. The water will become foggy. Take out the water and add new water and stir. Repeat until water is transparent. Soak rice for 20 minutes ( it will become whiter) now bring 1 cup and 3tbpsof water to boil and add the rice, cover and reduce to the lowest heat. Dont open the lid!! After 20 minutes remove from heat and let sit while you prepare the seasoning. Put in a small sauce pan 2 tbsp +1 tsp rice vinegar, 1tsp salt and 1 teaspoon stevia on low heat and stri until the salt and sweetener dissolves. Now pour the mixture over the rice and with a wooden spoon mix and toss lightly without squishing the rice. Now your rice is ready. Leave it to cool down while you chop the fillings.

Now I am not gonna try to explain how you roll sushi… Because I am a bit bored and its a proccess you have to learn by seeing, so the best way is see a video on youtube( make sure its a japenese chef doing it, so you see the proper way! But here are some pictures during the sushi rolling!
Serve with sauce sauce and wasabi for dipping!

miso maki filling

cucumber&japanese pickle filling

shiitake mushroom&white asparagus

cucumber&japanese pickle roll

SuperFast LowCal Meal

Hello everyone! I just got back from Egypt so thats why I havent been posting any recipes lately. I am very tired and I wanted to make something really quick but healthy and light to eat, without planning on posting it. But it came out very tasty, so here it is! This is very low in calories and fat free. Enjoy!

You need :

-2 carrots

-1pck shirataki noodles ( yam noodles )

-1 tbsp soysauce

-1 miso stock cube (or veggie if you dont have)

-1/4 cup water

-sesame seeds or cashews for sprinkling

Chop up carrots, and add them with water and soy sauce in a pan. Cook on high temp for 10 minutes or until soft. Drain shirataki noodles and wash under hot water. Add them in the pan with stock cube and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve in the broth, sprinkle with sesame seeds ( or cashew pieces).

Wakame Yam Noodle Salad

I really love Japanese food, especially seaweed!Almost every kind…So since my new discovery ( the Japanese food store downtown in Athens ) I have been eating a lot of seaweed! Today my mum was asking to try seaweed so I made a salad with what I had left from my last visit to the Japanese food store. I had only dried wakame seaweed, but I also had a weird japanese noodle-like vegetable thing call yam. So those two were my basic ingredients. Note that this recipe is very low in calories ( though very nutritious) so try it when you have sushi as a starter or you will still be hungry after you eat that!.( Im planning on posting vegan sushi recipes soon)

You need :

1 pack of yam noodles ( shirataki )

1 tbs of dried wakame seaweed

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp mirin

1 tsp rice vinegar

zest of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp sesame seeds

First place yam noodle and dried wakame in two separate bowls. Boil 3 cups water and pour it over yam and wakame. Cover each bowl with a plate and let the yam stand for tree minutes and wakame for about 5 (until the wakame expand completely). Dry wakame looks like dried green tea leaves, but the become very big when you soak them in the boiled water.This is how the wakame will look when its ready:

While you are waiting combine soy sauce with garlic powder and mirin ,rice vinegar and lemon. Drain wakame and yam very well. Pour soy sauce mixture on wakame and mirin mixture on yam. Stir well, let stand for 15 minutes and them cobine everything together to serve. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. (Makes 2 servings as a starter or one as a main low-cal dish)