Assorted Vegetable Tempura

I've made tempura before, many times - but the one and only time it has featured on my blog was in my first proper year of blogging 2009.  I like to try recipes from cookbooks on my shelf, but there are some books I return to more than others.  

I had originally planned to make peixinhos da horta which I saw Sarah Beattie tweet and found in her cookbook Meat Free Any Day , but after eating out at a vegan Japanese restaurant in Shrewsbury recently, D made me change my mind as he wanted us to make the most of the vegetables we had in the house, as well as those coming from the garden and suggested tempura instead,  so I plucked for her tempura recipe instead.  Sarah's tempura is made with asparagus, mine are made with  Assorted vegetables.

From the garden we have: green beans and courgettes, the yellow and green variety; and from the vegetable basket: cauliflower, red onion and some mild green chilies known as Padron.  

Delicious.

Since I was gifted Meat Free Any Day it is one of my most thumbed and well used cookbooks as it features food that you really want to eat and can easily make at home.  

I wrote about Sarah Beattie and her cookbooks before, so if you are interested please see here, as well as some of the recipes I made from the cookbook including:
Leek and Brie Rostiflette
Parsnip Tamarind Curry
Tandoori Butterflied Aubergine
Winter Vegetable Tagine   

And now I have Tempura to share. Please do check out Sarah Beatties Facebook Page too.

I am sharing this Beth's Weekend Cooking.  Gosh its been a while since I joined in.  This week it is being hosted by Deb who blogs over at Kahakai Kitchen.

Shrewsbury and Itadaki Zen Japanese Vegan Restaurant

After visiting the cathedral city of Herefordshire last month, we drove on to Shrewsbury where we had planned an overnight stay so that we could go to the Shrewsbury flea market the following morning that hosted between 100 - 150 traders selling, a mixture of antiques, collectables, vintage, architectural salvage, reclamation and quirky things. 

Unfortunately when we got into Shrewsbury it was raining heavy with rain and a number of places were closing or already closed.  We wandered in and out of those places, that were still open and of course wandered the streets looking for somewhere to eat that evening, as well as playing tourist in the little time we had. 

A statue of Charles Darwin, Shrewsbury most famous son born in 1809. This statue is situated outside of the library. 

Shropshire writer Mary Webb.

On the banks of the river Severn you will find the Quantum Leap.  An abstract sculpture known by locals as 'The Skinky'.  It celebrates the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin. The slinky measure 40 foot high and 57 feet long. 

We eventually found a place to eat.   Itadaki Zen Japanese Vegan Restaurant, but it was not open until 6pm.  We waited around until it was open, we were fortunate to get a seat without having booked a table. 

Miso Cherry Tomato and Shichimi Tograshi Orzo

This Miso Tomato with Roasted Garlic and Shichimi Tograshi is inspired by a Miso Tomato Soup  recipe I saw a couple of years ago.

I still intend to make the Miso Tomato Soup with homegrown tomatoes, or even tinned cherry tomatoes, but at the weekend I was inspired to mess with it a little and make a thick sauce for pasta salad.  

I still have a jar of brown rice miso in my fridge, as for the ShichimiTograshi - well I picked that up last year when we went to Glastonbury. 

Shichimi Tograshi is a Japanese condiment made up of red chili peppers and other spices like black and white sesame seeds, tangerine peel and nori flakes.  I want to do more with the Shichimi Tograshi, so if any of you have any suggestions they will be most welcome.

I am sharing the Miso Cherry Tomato and Schichimi Tograshi Orzo Pasta Salad with Soups, Salads and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.  

Fishless Fish Free Japanese Sea Vegetable and Nori Cakes

These Fishless Japanese Sea Vegetable and Nori Cakes would make a fantastic light starter 

I think these Fishless Sea Vegetable Cakes look marvellous without the panko coating that its a shame it has to be cover the colourful seaweed shades of greens.   This is my submission to #EatYourGreens food challenge.  Please do join in with you Green Vegan Mofo blog post, the rules are here.

Before I give you the recipe, I want a little bit of a rant.  Yesterday was not the day we had planned.  All our good plans went pear shaped.  We were on our way to Bristol to celebrate and have a little fun with my nephews, but the icy weather played havoc with our car that we had to turn back home and go to the garage.  It cost us £300.00.  Happy Birthday. There was no point in grumbling but I was very mift and wished we had never left the house in the first place.  All the signs with the weather were warning us to stay indoors.  When we got back home we just tried to make the best of what was left of the day at home and outside it poured ice buckets. 

Anyway, I digress.  I had so much fun getting back into Food 'N' Flix, so I am joining again.  The movie chosen this month is Burnt.  As a foodies, I have to admit I had not seen it or heard of it and to be honest, I am not a fan of either Bradley Cooper or Sienna Miller, but I wanted to play along with Food N Flix,  so I purchased the film.  I watched it one weekend.  

Although there are loads of food references, it did not terribly inspire me - perhaps because I am a Vegetarian and many of the food references were to meat and seafood, but whilst I was racking my head for ideas the scene when the two lead characters are in Billinsgate Markets,  London's most famous fish market inspired me to make some 'Fish' Cakes.

Of course I was not going to make anything with fish or seafood, but I did have sea vegetables and these Fishless Fishfree Sea Vegetable Cakes were created . 

Buckwheat Soba Noodles Drowning in Miso and Greens

This is just a variation of my popular Miso Bowl with Green Vegetables.  

I decided to make more of a meal of it, simply by stirring in some buckwheat noodles.  

It reminds me a little of of Bibimbap, a bowl that you mess up. This one though, I will let you slurp.

Miso Bowl with Sea Vegetables, Asparagus, Edamame and Soya Beans

I put my hands up and confess this is just Miso soup dressed up with lots of stunning greens.

The first time I ever had miso soup was at the same place I had veggie sushi in Glasgow on Byres Road.  It was Glasgow's first authentic Japanese Sushi restaurant, sadly it only lasted a year.  When it first opened D and me would go there for a treat or take friends there when they came up to visit either of us. There were not many places we ate out at and at the time there were not that many vegetarian and vegan places to eat out in the evening either.  The beauty of this Sushi place whose name escapes me, it was the mid 1990s then of course, it offered up vegetarian options that accidentally happened to be vegan too, not that I am vegan.

We would always begin with a very light Miso soup.  It always had soft tofu, wakame and spring onions in it.

Well I have had a few of those miso sachets here you just add water and drink but fancied making some at home from scratch with my jar of miso paste, then I got carried away and started throwing in greens from the fridge and freezer as I realised we had more of an appetite.

I've been wanting to use this bowl with a fish head on the inside and tail on the outside for a long time.  Its quite deep and I had not reason to use it before,  I was even contemplating just filling it up with some pot pourri just to make the most of it.  But making this big bowl of miso with greens gave me the opportunity to bring it out of the cupboards.  Then when I went to wash it, I knocked a bit of the tail, how blinking typical.  D glued it back for me, but I am disappointed in myself as I am not the one with the butter fingers in our home.  

vegan Summer Vegetable Sushi Rolls

Since going to the Cheltenham VegFest and Bristol Vegfest where D had the vegan Sushi Roll options both times, he has been hinting to me big time to make some veggie sushi at home. The last time I made sushi was when we lived in Scotland and way before I started this blog in 2009. I had got the knack of perfectly hand rolling sushi too and was making them almost on a monthly basis then. Anyway, he had planted the idea in my head that I also ended up wanting some sushi too.  

Finally, I managed to find all the the essential ingredients in the Welsh valleys:  Sushi Nori  - Seaweed paper, Sushi Rice, Rice Wine vinegar, Wasabi paste and pickled ginger and was ready to get my fingers sticky and get rolling.  This weekend whilst most of my neighbours were having sizzling BBQ's, we had light veggie Summer vegetable sushi rolls served elegantly on my special deep blue sushi plate.  

I learned how to make veggie sushi with my American best friend Leah (an exchange student) when we were both at the University of Glasgow in the mid 1990s.  Years later, she sent me this book on making Sushi, although it was not a vegetarian cookbook, it introduced me to other sushi rolling techniques like Inside Out sushi and other variations, this is when I became aware - sushi did not always have to be made with just fish or seafood either and vegetable variations were just as delicious.  

Well I have to admit, I am a little out of practise as the first couple I rolled out were not packed generously enough; and trust D to take a picture of the one that was not the prettiest or plumpest either. These sharp sweet vinegared dressed sushi rice rolls filled with bright summer coloured raw vegetables tasted wonderful though and it brought back flashes of good memories of giggling with Leah in our student accommodation. 

I love serving my vegan sushi rolls  with pink ginger, tamari or soy sauce and wasabi.  I also served it alongside some soft slithers of avocado, though if you wish, you could also incorporate this into the sushi itself.  

Miso Minestrone

I made this dish last month, before we went away on our holidays to Cornwall.  

D had a little taste and thought the miso was gravy like, not an odd thing to think - especially as Miso gravy  is quite popular at the moment, but what was a bizarre suggestion was to serve this with some mash.

What mash potatoes, really?!
Yes,
Okay,
Surprisingly, it worked.

I tentatively call this a Oriental inspired Minestrone because of the addition of miso paste.  There are many variations of miso.   I used one called Genmai Miso also known simply as Brown Rice Miso. 

Rainbow Bell Pepper Spaghetti

This Rainbow Pepper Spaghetti dish is one of the simplest evening meals I have ever made.  Its only quick if you have the ingredients prepped.  Its really a vegetable stir fry, just made with bell peppers. 

Vegan Japanese Katsu Curry Sauce

Cup of Tea anybody?!

Fusion food never fails to surprise me.  When I lived in Glasgow I was charmed by the Scots, in particular the Glaswegian Scots love for 'Irn Bru, Curry Sauce and Chips', but at the same time I was baffled at their liking for 'Cheese on Chips' almost a Scottish take on the Canadian-French melty cheesy gravy Poutine.  

Well here is another fusion dish from around the world - Japanese Curry known as Katsu. 

According to the Japan Centre, Katsu curry sauce was introduced to Japan by the British over 100 years ago.  Katsu is a  a thick curry sauce served with crispy panko crumbed chicken or pork cutlets known as Tonkatsu.   Katsu is the traditional Japanese breaded cutlet - whereas my version is more of a Japanese curry sauce.  Its very much like an Indian curry, but thickened towards the end with a roux, similar to the way I do Paprika Mushroom sauce for my pies.  I noted many of the Japanese recipes used blocks or cubes of curry sauce roux.