Avocado Goodness

Since going 99% vegetarian last June, my vegetarian cooking repertoire has expanded quite a bit! I tend to cook with very Japanese ingredients, thanks in part to having two JP grocery stores within 5 min of my work place, but there are a few dishes that require nothing particularly difficult to obtain that I think is worth sharing here.

One came from my exploration of the avocado. When I started training harder for the upcoming marathon, I noticed a distinct absence of stamina from time to time. It wasn't that I was under-trained or tired, because my muscles were completely fine and my heart rate was totally stable. I attributed it to the lack of freely available energy - "the bonk" was happening sooner than I expected on some runs!

I realized that perhaps my diet had become too Buddhist Monk-ish, and since I was trying to run 20+ mi instead of meditating all day long, I just didn't have enough energy in my system. I turned to the avocado for a quick solution, and voila! It totally had a positive effect on my training regime! Now, I have three avocado menus that I have made multiple occasions to add an energy boost.

Avocado Goodness #1: Oven-baked Avocado "Katsu"


Katsu is a Japanified version of Cutlet. It's usually made with pork or chicken, but I made this with avocado and I didn't deep fry it like it's typically done. This is so simple, it doesn't even require a recipe, but here it is anyway:

1. Slice avocado to bite size pieces.
2. Soak/dip avocado in beaten eggs.
3. Coat egg-covered avocado in Japanese bread crumbs (panko).
4. Bake in a 450F preheated oven until golden. Turn if necessary.

I use a convection toaster oven and it takes about 20 min.

Avocado Goodness #2: Wakame-seaweed Salad with Avocado Dressing


Photo courtesy of my cooking buddy, Mrs. Chef.

This is another one I have made with many slight modifications. I basically mash avocados up with a bunch of different vegetables and season the whole thing with ponzu. And that's really it! I always add wakame seaweed and chopped cucumbers, but the other ingredients have varied quite a bit. The "microgreens" from Trader Joe's (which is basically a mix of various sprouts) was very good, as well as canned corn and anything else with a crunch.

Avocado Goodness #3: Avocado Miso Sauce


This is another one so simple, it requires no formal recipe...


All I do is mix avocados and miso at a ratio of 1 avocado to 1 tbs miso with a dash of milk and yuzu juice in the food processor. Literally. That's it. This sauce is great on most white foods that have body or density - boiled daikon radishes, potatoes, chicken, pork, etc. The smoothness of the creamy avocado is best showcased against the backdrop of some texture but in the absence of any competing personalities.

Drop me a note if you try any of these and let me know how it went!

Sugar Beat Sweet And Me!

Although I had made up my mind about writing here more often, I am slacking. Well, not slacking, really - just over-committed to too many other projects! I am now the 4th-ranked Judo Blogger in the Japanese Judo blog circuit, which is a terrifying fact in itself, if not for the fact that it seems to be a rather small and uncompetitive field of blogging with less than 20 registered blogs on two of the most popular Japanese Blog Billboard Charts.

I am staying up later than I would like to by writing my second blog post (the first being the JP Judo Post), because I absolutely cannot stay quiet about my amazing run-in with the world's most delicious vegan cupcakes at the World Vegetarian Festival in San Francisco this past weekend.

As I mentioned before, I am now a semi-vegetarian, and I am always looking for new culinary inspiration as I explore this new dietary life-style - and a Vegetarian/Vegan Trade Show just seemed like a great way to get a lot of exposure in one shot.

Since my vegetarianism is strictly based on my inability to process whatever chemical moiety that resides within animal meat, I am not against dairy or eggs at all. In fact, I tend to think veganism is a bit of an extreme for me and it doesn't particularly hold any philosophical draw. But as a culinary tradition, veganism is fascinating. From the Japanese Vegan Tradition of Sho-jin Ryouri to the delicate dishes at my new favorite restaurant (post coming soon), what does impress me about veganism is the absolute creativity and detailed thought required because of the restrictions placed upon its ingredients.

It is truly an achievement of a highly skilled chef to be able to produce spectacular creations when so many stand-by ingridients are crossed off the list. In particular, baking without butter, eggs, and cream seems like a daunting task to say the least, and boy, were my socks knocked off this weekend by Sugar Beat Sweet and their vegan cupcakes!

The bakery I used to work at during graduate school offered vegan treats - and although I absolutely love Kim and her creations - I have to say, Sugar Beat Sweet was in a different league. Honestly, I could not tell that these were vegan treats. If it weren't for the enthusiastic fellow customer/fan/friend of the owner, I would not have known that they were vegan. Moist and soft as the most delicate clouds, each bite melted right into my mouth, mingling with all of the taste buds, teasing me with the "can this really be vegan?" question. There was no trace of anything strange or out of place - it was as good a cupcake as I had ever tasted. If anything, it was more airy, more delightful, and more adorable in taste than many "normal" cupcakes that rely on its substance to satisfy. This was a cupcake that was created with every care for even the most minute detail to ensure that it was the first in class, particularly because of the awareness that there was a technical challenge that had to be overcome.

The four of us devoured our cupcakes. I sampled both the PB&J and the Snickerdoodle. If anything, the cream on top was a touch too sweet for me, but then again, I am mostly an anti-sugar person. It's only recently that I have started to explore my sweeter nature, and boy, would I love to continue my exploration if it involved more treats like this one!

Root Vegetable Hamburg

In Japanese, patties used in burgers are called HAMBURG, vs the hamburgER which has the patty in between the bun. I am specifically calling this recipe the Root Vegetable Hamburg because I got the idea for it while flipping through a Japanese Macrobiotic cookbook from Rice Terrace Cafe, a Macrobiotic restaurant outside of Tokyo on its own farm.

The original recipe was for a Lotus Root Hamburg, and it only used lotus roots with various other odds-and-ends dry goods that we didn't have at home. Being new to this Macrobiotic thing, I am still in the process of updating my pantry with more Macrobiotic friendly staples. That didn't stop me from getting the idea to go ahead and make something similar, because the picture in the cookbook looked too good to not try.

I had read that root vegetables are favored in Macrobiotic cooking, so instead of limiting the main ingredient to lotus roots, I added Japanese taro (Sato-imo) and some carrots, which made the dish into a Root Vegetable Hamburg. Because both lotus root and Japanese taro are sticky, I didn't need to add any eggs or other binders, which gave me extra Macrobiotic points. (I have nothing against eggs, especially since they are one of the few animal products my body still accepts, but Macrobiotically, they are frequently kept off the list of ingredients whenever possible.)

I lose the same amount of points won by not using eggs because I continue to use fish-based broth (dashi) in my cooking, though. Again, because I am not allergic to broth of any kind, I still use bonito broth to cook almost everything, including pre-boiling the vegetables that will go into my "Macrobiotic" hmaburg. :P

I briefly considered experimenting by adding the oatmeal or the pressed barley that I got yesterday, during my Macrobioti-fication of my pantry, but since I was bringing these to a dinner party, I played it safe and used regular panko bread crumbs instead to give the patties a little bit more firmness. Next time, though, I will be more adventurous!

So here it goes:

1. Boil 1 bag (454g) of frozen lotus roots and sato-imo in dashi, seasoned with soy sauce and a touch of mirin.
2. When soft, puree, leaving some chunks.
3. Microwave and puree 6 oz carrots (optional; we made some with and some without)
4. Add a handful of panko bread crumbs to pureed root vegetables.
5. Finely chop shiso leaves (or basil) and add to the patty mixture.
6. Form patties.
7. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan.
8. Cook both sides until brown.
9. Serve with 1:1 mixture of tomato sauce and Japanese Worstershire sauce.

Seriously, these were super easy and super tasty. It can be made 100% vegetarian if the vegetables are boiled in vegetable or konbu broth.