Japanese Soybean Salad

I seem to be on a bit of a legume kick lately! First, I made lentil curry, which was soon followed by hummus, vegan chickpea “tuna” salad, and then chana masala. Today, though, it’s all about soybeans.

In traditional Japanese cuisine, beans are used very differently from in the west. In Canada and America we probably find them most often in things like chili, burritos or canned baked beans. But in Japan, beans are commonly used in sweets or in savory side dishes meant to accompany a bowl of rice, while soybeans in particular are used for making tofu, miso paste and natto.

Beans are also much pricier in Japan and are thought of as something of a delicacy to be enjoyed in small quantities, in contrast to the cheap image of beans that we have in North America. But on the other hand, the quality of the beans produced domestically in Japan is incredible. Each bean is often large, perfectly plump and bursting with flavor. I understand why they don’t choose to cover up the taste with garlic, spices and other heavily flavored ingredients!

In Japan, it is also not at all uncommon to buy precooked pouches of beans instead of the typical canned beans that I’m used to back home. I was recently gifted two such packs of soybeans so I decided to try my hand at making a Japanese-style side salad.

On the package, it says “Naturally rich in calcium. Good for your bones. Non-GMO. Grown in Japan.”

For this dish, I mixed together the following ingredients and let sit for a little bit before enjoying over a bowl of fresh rice.

• one pouch of cooked soybeans (50 grams)
• shredded kombu
• thinly sliced carrot
• finely diced sweet Mayan onion
• soy sauce
• thinly sliced homemade pickled napa cabbage (optional, but adds a great crunch)
• shichimi togarashi (a lightly aromatic Japanese mixture of spices, seeds and orange peel)

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Aloo Ghobi Wraps with Four-bean Salad

I just cooked up a batch of aloo ghobi  (potato and cauliflower Indian curry) and made them into an awesome pita wrap for dinner.  I also added in chopped cilantro, homemade salsa, and a few jalapenos. For my veggies, I mixed in some four-bean salad with pickled slices of daikon (white radish) and carrot that I made the night before. This dish was definitely a crazy fusion of different food cultures, but somehow it all worked!

Fenugreek Sprout Salad

Over the last year or two I’ve frequently been sprouting mung beans to use for cooking and various salads, but I recently tried sprouting fenugreek seeds for the first time. The sprouts come out a little smaller but have a distinct and very pleasant flavour. For dinner, I mixed them into my salad, together with local orange tomatoes, cucumbers, tofu, celery, broccoli, peas, corn, sesame seeds, and apples from the garden, plus a simple dressing of mustard and soy sauce.

Rosemary Croutons

I bought some Romaine lettuce the other day wanting to make a Caesar salad (with homemade vegan dressing), but opted out of buying a bag of croutons after glancing at all the crazy chemical ingredients. Instead, I picked up some whole grain bread and tried making my own homemade croutons for the very first time!

I just sliced the bread into little cubes and toasted them in the contact grill. After they were completely crispy on all sides, I tossed them in a bag together with some scoops of dried rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and nutritional yeast. A lot of crouton recipes call for oil or butter, but I found that as long as I mixed everything together while the bread was still hot, the flavors stick to the croutons just fine. So simple, and really fun!

Salads that Fill You Up (…and taste amazing!)

This is just a random song of praise for my favorite kind of salad =)

While I do love leafy green salads with kale, baby spinach, or Romaine lettuce, the type that really wins me over are the really solid salads with big pieces of chopped up cucumber, tomato, carrot, celery, beets, etc., with a generous handful of olives. Typically, I also love to bulk them up by mixing in a bit of pasta, rice, potatoes, extra firm tofu, or cashews. For a little extra flavour, I just mix up some random dressing usually containing some combination of whipped mustard, lemon juice, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, tahini, or freshly ground sesame seeds, plus a sprinkling of fresh garden herbs (usually lemon thyme, basil, or garlic chives).

…Different each time, and always super satisfying and filling!

Fern and Cashew Quinoa Salad

I made a post earlier about the warabi ferns that my friend picked in the local mountains, and since then I have tried them in a few other recipes. They made for a really unique and delicious quinoa salad!

As usual, I cooked the sprouted quinoa and sprouted lentils in the rice cooker. Then, I mixed in the ferns, sunflower seeds, cashews, celry, baby carrots, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, and kombu. I served this with yellow lentil daal curry.

Tofu Feta and Beet Salad

To go with my dinner, I often make Greek salads with baby cucumbers, grape tomatoes, black olives, and vegan feta cheese. There are some great recipes out there on how to make feta out of extra firm tofu marinated in brine with lemon juice and herbs, but sometimes I simply soak the tofu in olive juice. I find that this gives it that same feta-like flavour and saves a bit of time, too.

I happened to have some beets lying around, so I tried adding them into my salad this time. I also mixed the tofu feta in with a bit of beet juice, and it came out with this beautiful pink colour 🙂

Potatoes and Baked Squash for dinner

Carrying on with the whole squash thing I’ve been doing for autumn, my dinner this weekend was baked butternut squash, potatoes, long grain rice, and my favorite cauliflower salad!

Breakfast Time! ~ and Chia Salad Dressing

For today’s breakfast, I had a vegan burger patty, fruit, and a salad with my newest creation – chia salad dressing! Honest…it’s really, really good!

Just pre-soak chia seeds in water, then mix it in with the following:

• Herbes de Provence
• Dijon mustard
• Mrs. Dash
• black pepper
• pine nuts

 

Homemade Tofu Jerky & Walnut Salad for Dinner

I made some strips of tofu jerky last night by simmering extra firm tofu with soy sauce and a mix of ginger and agave until they dried out. I pre-froze the tofu, which helped give it an extra chewy texture!

I enjoyed it with a bowl of brown GABA rice and some walnut salad with sesame dressing, sprinkled with black pepper.