日本語のレシピは　ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の　Hachidory から　ご覧下さい。

Songs by cicadas have gone,

but the orchestra by the insects is calming our soles at night.

The autumn breeze that I can feel on my cheeks are pleasant.

The moons and the stars are adding the nostalgia to my heart.

 

Mid-autumn festival is coming soon.

It is the day that we spend the quiet and peaceful time watching the moon at night.  It is said that the moon looks most beautiful on this date, which is 15 of August in lunar calendar. 

We can locate the moon at the best angle to look up as the position of the moon is not too high nor too low from where we are.

 

 

The mid-autumn festival is called “Chushu no Meigetus/中秋の名月” or “Otsukimi/お月見” in Japanese.

I decorate the counters in my living room with rice dumplings, wall hanging of the full moon, Susuki/silver grass, rice plant, moon shaped or moon painted candles during this season.

 

 

On the actual day of “Chushunomeigetsu/中秋の名月/お月見“, we are supposed to offer the rice dumplings, Susuki and the harvests of early autumn such as taros, chestnuts, grapes and pears to the moon.

 

When I was small, it was celebrated in this way and I used to love this event.  But nowadays most of the Japanese people do not do anything special on this day, may be except some young people who love to eat special burgers called “Otsukimi Burger” that McDonald’s promotes during this season.

 

It is sad that people’s minds do not go to autumn festival when October comes but go to Halloween which does not have any roots in Japanese culture.   Halloween was widely spread all over Japan in a short period and is now celebrated by children and young people, but this beautiful traditional Japanese event is not, and just fading away…

 

I am introducing “Otsukimi jiruko/Moon dumpling in sweet red bean soup” in Kids Family online class in October, wanting people be aware that this festival is coming soon and to know that it is such a lovely event. 

(Visit my cooking class website and click “Latest/最新情報” if you are interested in the class, http://kurinascooking.la.coocan.jp/)

The recipe of this month is nothing to do with this festival.

It is “ Vegan Torisoboro/ Japanese Flavored Vegan Minced Chicken”.

This is to synchronize with “Hachidory”, Japanese vegan information site which has been promoting the vegan dishes to replace the chicken.

 

Most of the chickens in the chicken farms are living in the horrible conditions, and more chickens are succumbed to death during hot seasons as they are kept in the envionement with poor air ventilation.  Chickens cannot control their body temperatures by releasing the heat from their skins like we do.     

 

Please be compassionate to those chickens and reduce the consumption of meat and eggs.

 

 

My “Torisoboro” looks real minced chicken.

It is not only its appearance that looks real, but its taste too.

So do try cooking and see what I am saying is true or not!

Vegan Torisoboro 

Japanese flavored vegan Minced Chicken.

 

Ingredients

l  1/2 firm tofu block or 150g after removing excess water.

l  1 Tbsp Sake/Japanese rice wine or other types of wine

l  1 Tbsp Mirin/Japanese sweet wine or 1Tsp wine and 1tsp sugar

l  1 Tbsp Shoyu/soy sauce

 

Procedure

1.      Crumble firm tofu with your fingers and throw into the pot.

 

2.      Cook over low heat breaking tofu with a spatula constantly in order to make the crumbles to further smaller ones.

 

3.      Add all the seasonings when tofu became small crumbles. 

4.      Simmer till the liquid evaporates.

 

Notes

l  You can make “Torisoboro don” with this vegan minced chicken.

 

 

Other toppings are

 

Oil Free Scrambled Egg

Okra – blanch and cut into thin rounds. (you can replace with any other green color vegetables.)  

Carrots – slice thin julienne and marinate in shiokoji for a few days.

Fresh ginger – marinate in plum vinegar for a few days. 

 

Happy cooking!