Almost Instant

As far as I know, Japanese ramen always contains some kind of meat. My vegan version of ramen is made of whole wheat noodles, tofu and vegetables. This time I used carrot, bamboo shoots and red cabbage, which dyes everything pink, but you can use any vegetables you have.

Tofuhead’s Ramen

8,5 dl water
1 vegetable bouillon cube (preferably MSG free)
2 tsp miso powder
7,5 dl vegetables, cut into strips (cabbage, carrot, onion, green beans, bamboo shoots etc.)
350g tofu
100g whole wheat noodles
soy sauce for serving (optional)

Bring the water to boil and dissolve the bouillon cube and miso powder in it. Add the vegetables and tofu and simmer 2-3 minutes. Add noodles and simmer 3 more minutes.

Kappa Maki And Other Sushi

Today I made my first sushi. I had eaten sushi once in my omnivorous times, and it had fish in it. Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner’s Contemporary and Traditional Japanese Cooking: Simple, Delicious and Vegan had good sushi rice instructions, which I used. The book said it the amount of rice serves 6-12 people, and I thought half of it would be a dinner for two + some leftovers for lunch next day. I was wrong, we had so much sushi that it looked like we were having a Japan themed party. I guess we’re eating sushi the rest of the week.

Making the sushi was easier than I thought and it was fun. I made kappa maki (cucumber maki) and other maki rolls. I don’t know if the other rolls have Japanese names or do they eat that kind of combinations in Japan, but they were good. I served them with wasabi and Kikkoman shoyu.Leftt: avocado and toasted sesame seed maki. Middle: wasabi, toasted sesame seed and bell pepper maki. Right: avocado, cucumber and toasted sesame seed maki.

Left: wasabi, cucumber and bell pepper maki. Right: carrot (cooked with little bit of water, soy sauce and mirin) and toasted sesame seed maki.

Left: avocado, cucumber and bell pepper maki. Right: kappa maki.

Sushi Rice

1l rice
1l water
1 dl sugar
2 dl sushi vinegar
1 tbsp mirin
1,5 tbsp sea salt

10 nori sheets

Put the rice to a large pot. Fill the pot with cold water, stir with your hands and pour off the water. Repeat until the water is fairly clear. Pour 1l water to the pot and soak the rice at least 30 minutes. Put the lid on (don’t remove it while cooking) and turn the heat to high. When water starts to boil, turn the heat to medium and cook 5 minutes. Turn the heat low and cook 5-10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the rice sit 5-10 minutes.

Combine sugar, vinegar, mirin and salt in a pot, bring to boil and let cool. Stir the rice with a big spoon or spatula and add some vinegar at the same time. If the rice stops absorbing the liquid, don’t add more. Choose the fillings you want to use and prepare them: cut all the vegetables to thin sticks, deseed the cucumber, toast the sesame seeds etc.

Finally, make the maki rolls. I followed Isa and Terry’s instructions.