Around The World On Your Plate

Udon Soup Ingredients: Soup Base: 2 cups vegetable stock 2 teaspoon miso paste 1 teaspoon red chilli paste (Korean) 1 teaspoon tahini paste Others: 1 Packet udon noodles (cooked per packet instructions) 1/2 cup onion sliced 1/2 cup mushroom sliced 1/2 cup cabbage shredded 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon minced ginger 2 teaspoon oil Scallions to garnish Sesame oil to taste Salt to taste Method: Saute all vegetables in oil on medium heat.  Add vegetable stock along with red chilli paste, tahini paste, and cooked udon noodles.  Simmer on low until everything is cooked.  Just before serving, add in the miso paste and turn off.  Garnish with scallions and serve hot.

Ingredients: 1 grated apple (optional) 1 onion finely chopped 1-2 teaspoon garlic minced 2 cups diced potatoes, bell pepper, sweet potato,  carrots etc Salt to taste Oil as needed Roux: 2 tablespoon vegan butter 2 tablespoon flour 1/4 cup water 1-2 teaspoon Japanese curry powder Red chilli powder and garam masala to taste Method: Heat a nonstick pan on low and melt butter, add flour and mix using a spatula or a whisk until well incorporated and cook until its light brown, next add water and mix well.  Add the curry powder and red chilli powder along with garam masala and mix well.  Keep stirring on low heat until aroma wafts from the pan.  Turn off, the roux is ready. In a separate pan, heat oil and saute onion and garlic until light golden in colour.  Next, add all the vegetables and saute.  Add the roux and desired amount of water and mix well.  If you find this spice blend to be spicy, a grated ap...

Ingredients Vegetables: 1 burdock root, prepared 1 carrot, thinly sliced 1 potato, thinly sliced Others: 1/4 cup prepared dashi 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon cooking sake 1 tablespoon mirin 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon sesame seeds 1-2 tablespoon of oil Instructions Cut vegetables into thin matchsticks. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat.  Cook the vegetables until slightly tender, add rest of the ingredients and mix and cook on low until all the liquid is gone. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve. Notes: Preparing burdock root for this recipe takes a bit of work. The best way to do it is by peeling off the burdock root with a knife and shredding it to thin matchsticks.

Ingredients: 3 cups of Dashi stock 2 tablespoon miso paste 1/2 cup chopped Spinach 1/4 cup cubed firm tofu Method: In a pot, simmer the stock along with spinach and tofu until just done.  Strain the miso using a mesh strainer into the soup and turn off the heat once you start to smell the rich flavour of the miso paste infused into the soup. Serve immediately. Note: Do not boil the soup after miso paste has been added. This soup can be made with a combination of veggies added to it, see below. Vegetable Combination: Spinach and tofu. Potato and onions. Mung beans. Cabbage and deep-fried tofu.

Vegan Dashi Ingredients: 3 cups water 1 small piece  of kombu seaweed Method: In a pot, put kombu and water and leave it for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, simmer on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil.  Turn off.  Remove kombu. The vegan Dashi stock is ready. Dashi with Bonito Flakes Ingredients: 3 cups water 1 small piece  of kombu seaweed 15 grams of dried bonito flakes Method: In a pot, put kombu and water and leave it for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, simmer on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil.  Turn off.  Remove kombu.  Add the bonito flakes to infuse the flavour only.  Do not turn on the heat. Strain using a fine mesh strainer and its ready. Note: Kombu is a type of edible kelp. If you prefer to make this without kombu, dashi stock powder is also available in supermarkets but it contains dried fish flakes and hence not vegan.