Vegan Takoyaki

Previously, I have made Tofu Takoyaki. Very delicious, but not authentic. Well that's going to change! If you want to get super technical, this is called "Konnyakuyaki".
This is a very specific recipe, needing out-of-the-ordinary equipment and ingredients. I have tried to offer replacements where possible.

Hardware:
Takoyaki pan
toothpick or skewer
canola oil for greasing

Batter:
2 C Vegan takoyaki powder mix
OR
2 Cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 C cold dashi stock (water soaked with konbu OR mixed with instant konbu granules)
2 Tbsp oil
extra cold water (if needed)

Filling:
Konnyaku* block (not noodles), cut into squares (or mushrooms halves)
Red pickled ginger, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Tempura bits (tenkasu), optional

Toppings:
Takoyaki/okonomiyaki/tonkatsu sauce (whichever you can find vegan will do)
Vegan mayo
Nori powder (fine cut seaweed)


Preheat the takoyaki pan. Traditionally, over the stove, or turn on the electric type.



1. Stir all the batter ingredients together. It should be a runny medium batter, if not, add the cold water little by little.



2. Grease the takoyaki pan with a paper towel dipped in oil.

3. Spoon in the batter to overfill the cups.

4. Place a square of konnyaku in the center of each cup.

5. As is starts to cook, sprinkle the ginger and onions and tempura bits on top.



6. Now comes the tricky part. Turning. After a minute, using your skewer/toothpick, you grab the edge of the takoyaki ball and flip it over half way so the other side can start to cook. Pick up the spilled over filling and shove it in there too. Keep continuously rotating them until they are completely round and golden brown.



Here is a video, it shows all of these cooking steps.





7. Once they are golden and firm, place them on your plate. Drizzle your sauce and mayo on top, with a sprinkling of nori flakes. You are ready to eat!



*My host family told my konnyaku is a "sea potato". This..... is not true. Even though it is often called a "yam", it isn't that either! This "potato" is made into flour and has hijiki added to it for the color. It has a jiggly texture a lot of people don't like at first, and the taste can be too "fishy" sometimes. But it is a perfect replacement for octopus legs in this recipe!

Bibimbap

My first real taste of Korean food, from a Korean restaurant.
I had Bibimbap, minus egg and meat.
It comes out super hot, and you have to stir all the stuff around in the bowl before the rice sticks to the sides. So the rice gets kinda crunchy and good with all this other stuff mixed in. Good, but not amazing.

Kim-chi still may be one of the most disgusting things on earth.

Vegan Japan

I'll (try to) spare the talk and get on with the pretty pictures!


Mr. Young Men
Kyoto (Teramachi & Shijo)
Okonomiyaki


Tofu Okonomiyaki
(shown with miso soup with fried tofu)

Osaka is the famous place to get this cuisine, but Mr Young Men is accomidating and has a ton of options. Just ask for no eggs, mayo, or katsuo-bushi (fish flakes).


Cafe Peace
Kyoto (Demachiyanagi)
International vegan


Brown rice, tvp chikn in a tomato sauce, fries, potato salad, hijiki salad, cabbage and veggie salad, pear jelly dessert.



Kareage- fried chikn in a crispy potato basket with tortilla chips and sweet tomato sauce.

Not pictured: Soy Mince & Chive Chijimi (korean 'pancake') and almond and chocolate poundcake for dessert. The almond poundcake was one of the best things I've eaten in a long time.


Nara National Museum cafe
Nara
Chinese style cafe



Chewy sweet and sour tvp on a bed of greens and chinese buns to pick it all up with!

Maman Terrace
Osaka (Shinsaibashi)
Macrobiotic

Way over priced. I got a nice plate of food and my mom got almost nothing for the same price. Good, but not recommended.



Breaded chickpea drum sticks with bamboo. Also a side of aglio e olio.




Pumpkin cake with an orange glaze with crunchy pumpkin pellets and puffed rice to the side. Also a soy cappucchino.

Brown Rice Cafe & Deli
Tokyo (OmoteSando/Aoyama)
Macrobiotic

I've never been in the actual cafe, I love the deli too much. It's my favorite place!
I got my usual veggie burger and a brown rice ratatoulle pocket (past post). And for dessert?



Chocolate Tofu Torte. MMMMMMM It was like mousse!


Der Akkord
Tokyo (Omotesando/Aoyama)
German, Vegan, Macrobiotic bakery

Right down the road from Brown Rice, this bakery gives out samples and has a great array of baked goods for us vegans!



I had an apple jam pie, coconut banana cake, and curry bread (curried veggies and rice baked inside pastry).


Pure Cafe
Tokyo (Aoyama/Omotesando)
Vegan Cafe

Pure Cafe, better known for its (now defunct store front) sister store Cafe Eight, is located in an Aveda. Sadly its website is lacking photos of this wonderfully place and its food. They have a small ever changing menu, as well as breakfast!



Vegetable Torte. Sauteed veggies on a lovely crust covered in a nutrtional yeast and tofu cheez sauce. MM!



Tiramisu. The end.

Japanese Tofu Burgers

(Recipe coming soon)

This is a Japanese tofu burger (ganmodoki) which is vegan, and it is moist as well! It has tofu, oil, carrots, potatoes, burdock (a root), and Jews ear are the basic things in it. It was made for Buddhist vegan cuisine, although recipes I have seen online all contain egg =/

Ps-Jews ear is apparently an ear-shaped fungus. I had never heard of this and you can imagine my surprise when that came up on my electronic dictionary. I also thought burdock was a type of fish (I have no idea why), phew!

I love 'em! I hope I can find them back in the States (note: you can in some Asian grocery stores). My new thing is cutting them in half and having them as open face sandwiches.

Here it is displayed with sautéed onions and mushrooms, BBQ sauce and lettuce on lightly toasted bread. wow seriously.

MizuYokan

These are sweets from Japan called mizu-yokan. They are made from sweet beans, but agar agar is used to give it a slightly jiggly gelatin texture. Most are just reddish, these a fancy pants ones!
The one on the left is coffee flavored, and the other one just tasted like sweet beans. I only bought it because it was cute.

Brown Rice Cafe in Tokyo

While I didn't go to the cafe (because the wait was too long and I was starving), I went to their deli right beside it.
It was amazing. It's macrobiotic, although most of it is vegan. They know all their farmers and get food fresh.
I will be coming back here every time I'm in Tokyo.

Veggie burger.
The miso sauce really made this the best damn veggie burger I've ever had. Fo' real.



A sloppy-joe type rice mixture in a fried tofu skin pouch with grilled veggies.
Good, but I would have chosen the Mexican style one they had over this.




Mini fruit and walnut tortes and mini tofu (cheesecake) torte.
Cheesecake still tasted a bit beany with lemon. Not complaining though. The fruit and walnut glazed torte had a brown rice crust and was AMAZING.




Brown Rice Cafe, A++++++ Will do business with again!!!!!!1

Map.
Take the Tokyo Metro (subway) to station Omotesando (by Harajuku). Go to exit A1. Hitch a left at the intersection in front of you. It's on your right after about a 30 second walk.

Lunch break v.2

I am going to visit the motherland for a week, so I will leave you with this!

I got a new lunch box and containers only because I could not resist the cute.



Inside is a PBJ, carrots and pretzels and 2 lil carmalized biscuits.


PS- Guac and pretzels are the wave of the future!

Japanese Enkai food

I did not make any of this but wanted to share the food that I had at my work party (called an enkai).


The layouts


Carrot, bamboo, fried tofu, green things. And I think the pink thing is made out of fish, I don't know why it was there. I didn't eat it.


Green konyakku, dandelion, shredded daikon, sticky potato strips, shiso leaf, spicy purple sprouts and wasabi.


Spring rolls with sweet chili sauce and pink seaweed.


Veggie Tempura


Fried tofu and eggplant


Cold green (tea?) soba with nori.

For dessert we had rice and pickled veggies with miso soup and fresh fruit.