Monday, September 27, 2010

Ratatouille - Part 2

Hello,
Ratatouille again.

When I make ratatouille, I always make curry using from the same big pot.

I just add some sweet curry powder (I got this from Penzeys Spices store), and if I feel like more it more meat, vegetables, or beans, I saute it all and mix together.

This time I added boiled lentil to increase the volume.
This ratatouille and beans curry appeared in my lunch at work many times this summer.
The only thing that I need to be careful not to do and that is not to eat too much rice.
I've always eaten too much rice with curry, but rice rules!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Ratatouille

Hello,
All summer long, (well, I didn't feel like we had a real summer this year though...) I bought Japanese eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes..., at the farmers market and I've been making pot-full of ratatouille almost every week.


In my version, I use KONBU (Kelp) under beneath of those vegetables. I think it doesn't bother vegetable's flavor, and UMAMI flavor is soaked up into the vegetables.
The next day, I toss with spaghetti and it makes a quick lunch.

Dinner for my husband, I mix with turkey meat sauce and volumed up.


This gets along with anything; rice, bread, pasta, etc. I love to make ratatouille, because I can make a lot at one time in a big pot, I can use any vegetables and cleanse fridge, it's so versatile, and I can make a few different dishes from it. (This helps a lot to make sure my husband gets his right amount of veggies!)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Vegetable Sushi w/ Kohlrabi and Zucchini

Hello,

Last month, my co-worker gave me a couple of kohlrabi. I have never used that vegetable before, but the texture was so familiar. I first made some pickles, sliced thin with a peeler and marinaded in rice vinegar based marinade.

That taste and texture remind me of a Japanese turnip and daikon radish, and I really liked it. It is such a fun thing to try a new food, both cooking and tasting it.

Next thing I did was...


I added a thinly sliced zucchini too, and made two types of vegetable sushi with those pickled vegetables.
A refreshing taste; both kohlrabi and zucchini sushi have nice crunchy texture, and this is also a great vegetarian dish.
My husband said the zucchini sushi looks like a caterpillar. What do you think about that!?

Monday, September 6, 2010

Kanten Jelly #5

Hello,

When I was working for re-sizing this picture with my lap-top, my husband was sitting right next to me and said,

"Wow! Is that TUNA? That's nice, babes!"
"No, No-!"

"That's strawberry kanten jelly cut in cubes!"

I used fresh strawberry puree 1/2 cup and water 1/2 cup (1:1), and 1 package kanten powder
(2 grams), that's it. It only took 30-40 min. to mold.

There were a lots of strawberry seeds you can taste and that's very comfortable crunch!