Recipe #10: Udon

Hello my dears,

today I would like to share a new recipe with you: Udon!

What you need for the soup:
1 pckg Udon (fresh or dried)
Mirin
Soy sauce
Tsuyu
Dashi powder
Konbu
And for the topping:
1-2 leaves cabbage
wakame
sesame
some oyster mushrooms
some snow peas
1/2 carrot

Start with the soup base first. Mix together about 400ml water, 1 tbsp mirin, soy sauce and tsuyu. Add about 1 tsp dashi powder. Then add the konbu and let it cook for about 10min. In the meantime cut the cabbage in thin stripes. Do the same with the carrot. Heat up some water in a pot and blanch the vegetables one after another. This means put them into the pot and take it out after about 10-20 seconds.
The soup should be ready now and you can add the udon. If it's fresh udon wait for another 5 min. If it's dried udon add it and let it cook until done (might take up to 10min).
Now put the udon and the soup into a bowl. Add the toppings on it and it's done!
Fresh and healthy udon!
Of course you can add also other toppings, like aburaage, eggs or whatever else you like!

If you need it to be vegetarian try this:
Instead of tsuyu and dashi use soy sauce, konbu and shiitake mushrooms. Buy the dried ones and put them into the water you will later use as soup base. After about 1 hour take them out and rinse the water through a kitchen towel (so the sand and everythin else that was inside won't be in the soup afterwards!). Now heat up the water with mushroom flavor and add konbu, soy sauce and mirin. Then proceed like in the normal recipe.

I hope you like it!
Tell me about it if you tried!

Recipe #9: Matcha Cake

Hello everyone!

Today I'd like to show you a very easy and fast recipe for matcha cake.

This is what you need for it

1-2 eggs
flour
sugar
butter

baking powder
matcha powder

You start with the eggs. Put them into a bowl and weigh them. Add the same amount of flour (add 1-2 tsp of baking powder to it), sugar and butter.  Stir it well. Add the amount of matcha powder you like. Mix it again and put the dough into a baking mold.

After about 20-45min with 180°C the cake is ready to serve.
Baking time depends on how many eggs you use. If you take two of them it's about 30min. For three eggs it might be (!) up to 45min.

Recipe #8: Autumn Pumpkin Soup

Hello my dears!

Today I want to present you a new recipe I created. It might sound a bit strange at first but it's really good!

What you need for 1 Person:
1 kuri squash
300ml vegetable stock
2-3 tbsp. cream
curry powder
ginger bread spice
chili powder
cumin powder
salt
pepper
lemon juice
1 tangerine

Cut the squash (you don't need to peel it) and remove the seeds. Boil it for 10~15 minutes in about 300ml vegetable stock. When the squash is done pureé it and add the cream. Put in salt and pepper. Also add a bit of chili powder (if you like it hot add a bit more) and a little bit lemon juice. Then add a pinch of curry, ginger bread spice and cumin. Stir it well and you're done.
Serve it with a tangerine and some parsley if you like it.

When you try it out tell me how you like it!

Ageha ♥

Recipe #7: Fennel-Coco-Sesame-Sauce

I got some fennel in my vegetable box today. It's a box I get every Thursday and is filled with fruits and vegetables. Sadly I don't like fennel at all. But my mom loves it. So I thought about something I could cook for her and put it into the fridge until she comes to my home. I decided to make a sauce.
Since I had coconut milk left I wanted to use it for the sauce.

For two persons you need:

1 fennel

3-4 garlic cloves

1-2tbsp. sesame

250ml coconut milk

300ml fish bouillon [use vegetable bouillon if you're vegan/vegetarian]

sesame oil

pepper, salt

Cut the fennel in very thin stripes. Chop the garlic and fry it with the sesame (in sesame oil) in a cooking pot. Afer about 2 minutes add the fennel and fry it until it becomes transparent. Add the bouillon and the coconut milk. Stir it and add salt and pepper. Cook it until the fennel is soft and done. If the sauce is a bit too thin add some cold water you added flour to.

It might take (depending on how thick you cut the fennel) 10~15minutes until everything is done.

If you like to, also add a bit of the herbs from the fennel.

As I said I don't like fennel but this tastes so good! I want to eat it myself!

I hope you like it as well

Ageha ♥

Recipe #6: Baked Eggplant

After reading an recipe about eggplants I though "What could I do?"
I love dishes baked with cheese and this was really good!

What you need per person:
1 eggplant
70g minced meat
1/4 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
50g couscous
1 can chopped tomatoes
cheese
herbs/spice

Start with the couscous. You'll need ~100ml boiling water. Pour it over the couscous, add salt, stir it and leave it like this for about 10 minutes. While waiting prepare the other things. Cut the eggplant in half and scratch out inside of it until about 1cm is left. Chop the onion and the garlic and put it into a fry pan, fry it for about 1~2 minutes. Add the meat. Fry it until there's no raw meat left.
Put half of the tomato can in one bow, the other half in another. Add the meat to one bowl and mix it with the tomatoes. Add herbs, salt, pepper, spice and whatever else. Do the same with the couscous. Put it into the other bowl and also mix it with the tomatoes.
Now fill the eggplants. One should be filled with the meat-tomato mix. The other one should be filled with the couscous mix.
Before baking it in the oven add the cheese and now leave it in the fan oven for ~20min with 180°C.

I hope you like the recipe. It's nothing special but so delicious!

Ageha ♥

Recipe #5: Japanese Styled Pumpkin

This recipe is something I learned in Japan. You can use pumpkin, winter squash or like I did: kuri squash. We cooked it quite often there since we had a lot of pumpkin.

What you need for 2-3 persons:
1 kuri squash
2 carrots
~300ml water
2 tsp. Dashi powder
3 tbsp. Mirin
5 tbsp. Soy sauce

Cut the kuri squash and the carrots. Put them in a cooking pot and add water. I'm not sure about the right mix. You should taste the soup after adding dashi and the other stuff. It should be spicy and a bit salty. Now cook everything together for ~15minutes. Use a tooth pick to try if it's done. It should be soft and the tooth pick should go right through it.

Ready to serve!

I ate it with kumato tomatoes, rice and soy steak with tonkatsu sauce.
When I made it I cooked it a bit longer. So I could even eat the soup as pumpkin soup afterwards. It was really good!

 Since it's a perfect dish for fall please try it out!

Ageha ♥

Recipe #4: Vegan Gyro

Finally there comes a new recipe: Vegan Gyro. I tried it out for the first time and it was so good!

I made it with some special "vegan meat". I got it here. But it's German only.

This is what I used

What you need for 2 persons:

100g vegan meat

1 red pepper

1/2- 1 onion

garlic

herbs/spice

chili oil

If you want to need real meat it's also no problem. But you have to choose the amount of meat yourself.

Put the vegan meat into boiling water for about ten minutes. Use a big bowl since it becomes twice the size it was before. Squeeze the water out afterwards as good as possible. Put it into a big bowl.

Cut the onion, red pepper and garlic and add it to the meat. Add some oil (2-3tbsp.) to the mix and also the spice. I used a special gyro mix my mum made for me so I can't exactly say whats inside. Next to it I used some chili, more garlic, pepper and salt of course.

Stir it well and wait for 1-2 hours. Stir every 30 minutes.

It should look like this. If it's done put it in a big fry pan or cooking pot and fry it until everything is slightly brown. I also added a bit tomato paste for the color.

After ~10-15 minutes it was ready to eat.

Ready to serve!

I ate it with rice which was quite good together. But some yogurt would also be perfect. Or maybe both?

Try it the way you like. Tell me about it when you did.

Ageha ♥

Starbucks & Recipe #3

Since I read about it on my dashboard I went to Starbucks and tried out the new Matcha Frappuccino and Matcha Latte. Also I tried Starbuck's Cinnamon Roll.

This is Tara's Frappuccino. I took it with low-fat milk and without cream since it's too sweet for me. Still it's very sweet but I like it. I'll try it again without any sugar or whatever they put in there. I guess I don't like too sweet Matcha. Anyway it was really good. Also the hot Matcha Latte tasted great! For the smallest size (tall) you have to pay 4,10€ here. Without cream it usually was 3,50€ but I also paid 4,10€ for the same at another store. Mohaghi had to pay 3,70€ for the same stuff. So I don't really get how they make those prices. Anyway... It tastes so good.
The Cinnamon Roll also was quite fine but a bit dry. I like the ones from Tully's Coffee Shop more.


This time I'll add another Recipe. It's for a Coconut-Parfait. It's also possible for vegetarians and vegans. So I guess many of you will enjoy it during summer!

For 3~4 servings you need:
1/2 can coconut milk
1 pineapple
some cookies
1 cup cream (for vegetarians/vegans: use soy cream)
1 can Nata de Coco (you usually get it in Asian food stores)
Agar Agar

Make the agar agar as described on the package. Add the coconut milk to it and let it cool down a bit. Crumble the cookies and put it into the bowls. Now put the coconut milk on it and let it cool down so it becomes firm. Pour the water of the nata de coco out of the can and let it drip. Cut the pineapple into small pieces. Whip the cream. Add the pineapple and a bit nata de coco on top of the firm coconut milk. Now put the cream over it and add some more nata de coco. Cool it down in the refridgerator for some hours. Enjoy you meal!

I hope you like the parfait. Please tell me about it or post a photo of yours for me!
Of course you can also add some ice cream or sponge cake or whatever else you like.

Recipe #2 - Fried Noodles & Vegetables

This time it's an quite easy meal but it's very light and healthy.

For 2~3 servings you need:

200g Mie-Noodles (vegan: please take a look at the ingredients. some contain eggs!)
1 Broccoli
350g Mushrooms
2 Carrots
300g Okra
Mentsuyu (vegetarian/vegan: there are some based on fish and some based on konbu)
Soy Sauce

Wash and chop all the vegetables. Cook the noodles ~5 minutes with 800ml water and 200ml mentsuyu. Fry the mushrooms until they become smaller. Now add the carrots and fry about 5 minutes. Add the okra and broccoli.
Take one tbsp. of mentsuyu and two tbsp. of soy sauce. Add it to the vegetables. Fry while stirring for another 5 minutes. Now add the noodles. Mix and fry it for 1~2 minutes and you're finished.
The vegetables should still be firm/crisp. Don't cook it for too long.
Of course you can add some garlic or pepper if you want to.


If you tried it out please let me know whether you liked it!

Recipe #1 - Chili con Carne/Tofu

Today I would like to share one of my favorite dishes: Chili con Carne.

I love hot and spicy food that's why I like Chili so much I guess. If you don't like it too hot don't worry. You can also make it a bit less spicy.

What you need for 2~3 servings:
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
2 small chili peppers
1 carrot
1 red pepper
1 package minced meat (400-500g) (vegetarians/vegans: take the same amount of tofu)
2 cans of minced tomatoes (~800g)
1 can of kidney beans (400g)
(optional: 1-2 potatoes)
oil (preferably chili oil)
pepper, salt
tabasco (or any other hot sauce. I use something called "Ghost Pepper")

 

So you start with the onion, the garlic and the chili peppers. If you don't like it too hot just remove the chili peppers. Chop everything very small and put them in a bowl together. Add the (chili) oil (one tbsp) and mix it well. Then wait for maybe 1-2 hours while stiring it every 30 minutes.

If you don't have enough time skip this part and just put the onion, garlic and the chili peppers into a pot and fry it until transparent. Now chop the carrots and red pepper and add them to the onion-mix, stir it well and go on frying it (2 minutes). Finally you add the minced meat (or tofu. Chop it before). You now fry everything together until the meat is done (may take ~5 minutes).
If the meat is ready you add the tomatoes and the beans and cook it all together (also add the potatoes if you want to). Add salt, pepper and tabasco. Cook it until it's not too liquid (with potatoes ~20min). And you're done.

You can serve it with rice, bread or toast.
Enjoy your meal!