vegetarian

Japanese Vegetarian Ramen

| nicoleskitchendiary

I’ve long been a fan of Japanese ramen. It’s like a warm embrace in a steaming bowl of deliciousness and yesterday’s wet weather lent itself nicely to having a bowl for supper. The air has felt very autumnal over the past few days, which makes me incredibly happy. Cosy clothes, crisp mornings and bright blue skies, crimson leaves and steaming hot ramen recipes. What’s not to love? It is undoubtedly my favourite time of the year, for so many reasons, but mostly for the warming hearty food.

68729247_10162059490260557_7897040433102979072_n (1)There are many variations of Japanese ramen, using a different base for your broth, they pretty much all start out with a stock of some kind, usually pork. I used a mushroom stock for mine as I wanted a vegetarian version. I made a mushroom stock using dried mushrooms soaked in boiling water and opted for a Shoyu or ‘Soy Sauce’ flavoured ramen. The depth of flavour from the mushrooms is incredible.

You really can throw this together in just 15 minutes, and it’s so versatile, you can swap out your base broth and toppings depending on what you have in. You can use miso instead of soy, or teriyaki if you have it. In terms of toppings, pak choi, spring onion, bean sprouts and water chestnuts are all great. The best part for me is the boiled egg, when it soaks in the salty broth it’s just delicious.

Ingredients

  • 50g Shiitake mushrooms
  • 50g Exotic mushroons
  • 40g dried mushrooms, such as porcini
  • 100ml light soy sauce
  • 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  • 1 small piece of ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 medium egg
  • 1 stalk of pak choi
  • 2 spring onions, finely sliced
  • 1 red chilli, finely sliced
  • Small bunch coriander, finely chopped
  • 1 nest of wholewheat egg noodles
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Method

  1. Soak the dried mushrooms in 500ml of boiling water for 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, boil one medium egg. Six minutes is perfect for that still slightly gooey yolk. When your egg has only 2 minutes left, set a steamer on top of the saucepan and pop in your pak choi.
  3. Add the soaked mushrooms in their stock to a pan, add the fresh mushrooms, the soy, rice wine vinegar and the noodles.
  4. Add the garlic and ginger and a twist or two of freshly cracked black pepper.
  5. Leave the broth to simmer on a very low heat until the noodles are just cooked.
  6. Meanwhile peal the egg, cut in half and place in a deep serving bowl with the pak choi.
  7. Remove the noodles from the broth and place in the bowl, pour the hot broth and mushrooms into the bowl.
  8. Garnish with spring onion, chilli, coriander and sesame seeds.

No bake cashew and coconut energy balls

| nicoleskitchendiary

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I’m always on the look out for healthy snacks that taste great, who isn’t? I remember when someone first recommended Nakd bars to me, I thought they looked unappetizing and like they would taste bland. To my surprise I actually liked them, the Cashew Cookie one being my favorite. Here’s my own version, but it’s seemingly trendy to make them into balls instead of bars, so that’s what I went with.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler, chuck everything into a food processor and whizz it up until you have thick sticky large crumbs. Roll them into balls using slightly damp hands and you’re done. Much more satisfying than buying them. I’m going to have a play around with flavour combinations because the possibilities are endless.

I made these using mostly ingredients I already had and only had to buy the dates, so they were super cheap. I love the combination of sticky sweetness from the dates and the crunch from the cashews, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. They make the perfect afternoon sweet treat, let’s face it, who doesn’t get a hankering for something sweet at around 3pm.

Ingredients

  • 250g soft pitted dates
  • 50g desiccated coconut
  • 50g unsalted cashew nuts
  • 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
  • 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds (white or black)

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until the mixture resembles big stick crumbs
  2. Scoop out the mixture onto a clean worksurface and using damp palms, roll the mixture into even balls
  3. Store in an airtight container. They will last longer in the fridge