Japanese Food

[ladyfaile]

mmmmmmm mochi

yep i'm sure there are some trendy vegan shops especially in the big cities. i'll just research it before i go. it's another reason i want to learn the language before i go, so i can read ingredients on packaged foods and be able to specify my restrictions at restaurants etc. being vegan and having a language barrier makes it much more difficult. it's why i've never eaten in chinatown in Toronto, there's even a small shop that sells steamed buns but so many people there don't speak much english. i'm afraid to attempt anything. (also they're super polite esp. with tourists and just agree to anything you say even if they don't understand so if i ask if something's vegan they might say yes without knowing what i'm asking lol)

[kimchininja]

Onigiri is tasty. ^.^ My attempts failed but when I made it with my Japanese club at school, it was heaven! I just can't get the rice right =_=. How do you make that oh-so-tasty Japanese rice? The rice my family eats at home is bland and falls apart (you can't eat it with chopsticks), so that's useless. And every time I buy sushi rice, it never comes out the way they do in Japanese/Chinese restaurants!

I don't think melon bread is vegan, but you can most definitely Google it! I'm sure someone has made a vegan recipe for melon pan.

It's hard for me to eat ramen since they often make the broth out of pork bones, and I can't eat pork. The only ramen I've had that I could eat was made of a soy sauce base broth >__<

[Kawaikochan]

I followed this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/user/runnyrun.../0/qcVKUWD6PJE
He has a couple different rice tutorials that are easy to follow. He even has one that tells you how to make rice without a rice cooker. I have heard that rice here never tastes as good as it does in Japan, partially because of the water, kinda like how new yorkers say their pizza dough is different because of their water. idk how true it is though, hehehe.

[ladyfaile]

that tutorial is great. the agedama looks so good i could just eat a bowl of that alone :P *loves deep fried anything*
his recipe seems mostly vegan except i'm not sure what goes into mentsuyu. looked it up on wiki and the only thing in it that is iffy is "dashi" which sometimes has fish. but i think you could just use brewed soy sauce instead of the mentsuyu, or i could make it from scratch if i can find mirin. might be expensive but there is one store downtown that might have it actually, i'll have to check it out sometime.
how cool would it be to make some stuff like this for when my brother in law and his girlfriend are here next time. (you'd think he'd be all over the western food when he visits but he actually goes out for sushi when he's here, he loves japanese food)

[ladyfaile]

bahahaha *is now runnyrunny fan* this guy is funny. his vids are very entertaining, thanks for posting that link Kawaiko.

[Kawaikochan]

So glad you enjoyed it, hehe I love how the videos are set up and you can "order" something. Maybe you could try ordering something vegan. As for the dashi thing, I just soaked a bunch of different seaweeds in water for a couple hours to give it that marine flavor.

[ladyfaile]

that might work. not sure what is available here besides nori i'll have to look around

[Skye-N-Rain]

Does anyone know of any baked Japanese foods?

[Yuri-chan]

Oh my gahd...Japanese food fooooooddd!!! My favorites are sushi, sashimi, udon, tonkatsu, daifuku, mochi, ramen, somen noodles, takoyaki, onigiri, manjyu, anpan...and the list goes on forever!

And Skye N Rain...manjyu isn't really baked but its steamed...and anpan is like a bread with anko. Both of these can be found in Asian markets...usually in the bakery session.
Anpan = http://0.tqn.com/d/japanesefood/1/0/Q/1/anpan.jpg
Manjyu = http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7_c21lvVMo...se-manjyu1.jpg

[ladyfaile]

i have such an urge to make some sushi.
thinking about how to replicate my favourite rolls that i order at the restaurant lol.