Vegan emergency food in Yamada Denki

Last week, my PC didn’t work well, and I had difficulty entering characters. I wondered whether it was the PC or keyboard that had a trouble. I went to Yamada Denki, a chain of consumer electronics stores, where I bought the PC four years ago.

Like Bic Camera, another chain of consumer electronics stores, Yamada Denki sells some other things such as food, drink, and convenience goods, in addition to consumer electronics. On that day, they even had emergency food that were sold at a discount. I bought two items that seemed to be vegan. One of them is Gomoku Gohan that literally means rice with five ingredients.

Usually, such a rice dish contains chicken. But this one doesn’t contain any animal ingredients according to the description on the backside. The five ingredients added to the rice are dried carrot, deep-fried tofu, dried burdock, dried shiitake mushroom, and konjac. They are flavored with plant oil, soy sauce, and sugar. The package also has a table of 27 allergens specified in the Food Labeling Act in Japan.

*えび (shrimp), かに (crab), 小麦 (wheat), そば (buckwheat)
 卵 (egg), 乳成分 (milk), 落花生 (peanut), あわび (abalone)
いか (squid), いくら (salmon roe), オレンジ (orange), カシューナッツ (cashew nut)
キウイ (kiwifruit), 牛肉 (beef), くるみ (walnut), ごま (sesame)
さけ (salmon), さば (mackerel), 大豆 (soybean), 鶏肉 (chicken)
バナナ (banana), 豚肉 (pork), まつたけ (matsutake mushroom), もも (peach)
やまいも (yam), りんご (apple), ゼラチン (gelatin)

The words 小麦 (wheat) and 大豆 (soybean) are highlighted, which means that this product contains these ingredients.

It is very easy to prepare this Gomoku Gohan. First, I took the spoon and the oxygen absorber out of the package.

Then I poured 160 ml hot water into it, closed it, and waited for 15 minutes. As it is a kind of emergency food, you can eat it directly from the package. But I wanted to see how it look like on a dish.

It tasted light and seemed to be suitable for everyone expect those allergic to wheat and soybeans. I think I’ll buy some more while they are sold at a discount.
The other vegan item from Yamada Denki is Rice Cookies. They are made from rice powder, rice oil, sugar, sweetened coconut puree, almond flour, fermented seasoning (rice, salt), shredded coconut. Any of the 27 allergens isn’t contained in them.

The rice powder is from Niigata Prefecture that is famous as a major cultivation area of rice.

The cookies looked delicious.

One of them was broken. They seemed to be fragile but were crispy and tasty. I thought the texture was very much like that of langue de chat, French thin cookies.

Both Gomoku Gohan and Rice Cookies are the products of Onisi (尾西). I heard this company’s name for the first time, but I appreciate their efforts to provide such food. Though it is not clearly described that they are vegan, they are vegan-friendly products. In addition, both of them bear the Halal mark.

As I wrote before, it has been very difficult to find vegan food in Japan. But it seems that more and more companies have come to release vegan-friendly products recently. I think I’ll stop writing this blog now. Thank you for reading.

My blog is mainly intended for visitors or inhabitants from abroad, but in fact I myself like traveling and wish to visit some countries after corona. So, I intend to study hard in my free time to improve my language skills from now on. I wish you’ll enjoy your stay in Japan. Thank you again!

Chilled Chinese noodles with vegan toppings

Ramen is a popular dish in Japan all year round. In summer, we have seasonal ramen “Hiyashi Chuka (冷やし中華)” that literally means “chilled Chinese”. It is a cold dish made with ramen noodles and various toppings. I had thought for a long time that it had come from China, but actually it was invented in Japan.

You can eat Hiyashi Chuka in ramen shops at this time of year, but instant products are also available in supermarkets. Like other ramen products, they usually have soup made from dried bonito broth in the package, so I had never bought one until recently. But Last Sunday, when I was in Mori-machi with my mother, I happened to find a product that seemed to be vegan.

The picture on the packages shows popular toppings for Hiyashi Chuka such as cucumber, tomato, ham, omelet cut into strips, prawns, and okra. The first four toppings are very common both in restaurants and at home. The package contained noodles and soup for two portions. The soup was made from brewed vinegar, salt, plant oil, soy sauce, seasonings (amino acid, etc.), acidifier, and caramel coloring.

For topping, I used another instant food “Seaweed & Konjac Salad” instead of omelet and ham.

To make this salad, you only need to soak seaweed in water for ten minutes and drain, rinse konjaku, and sprinkle your favorite dressing on them. I used half of them for the toppings of Hiyashi Chuka.

The noodles were also easy to prepare. It took only five minutes to boil them. After that I cooled the noodles with running water. In addition to the soup, seaweed, konjac, I also added sliced tomato and cucumber strips.

Konjac is jelly made from konjac yam roots. To my mind, it is almost tasteless, but it is said to be good for diet as it is rich in dietary fiber.

The combination of cold noodles and soup containing vinegar was very good. It was refreshing and stimulated my appetite. I also added some sesame oil, which made the noodles more delicious.

Spicy vegan Thai curry

Like Chinese dishes, curry is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. There are a variety of retort pouch curry available in supermarkets. In larger supermarkets and import food stores, you can even find some Indian and Thai curry in addition to Japanese-style curry. Though I have introduced Indian curry such as Chana Masala in this blog, I had never eaten Thai curry until recently. I once thought that Thai green curry was a kind of vegetarian curry. So, I was very disappointed to find “chicken” among its ingredients. There are some Thai restaurants in Hamamatsu, but I have never visited them because it seems to difficult to find substantial vegetarian/vegan dishes.

The day before yesterday, I wrote about the vegan retort sauce of Mapo Doufu released by KaRuNa in April. At the same time, they also released “Vege Spicy Thai Curry.” Luckily, I found it in the same store BIO Atsumi and could finally taste Thai curry. The package resembled that of the Mapo sauce.

It was easier to prepare than Mapo Doufu as you only need to warm up the pouch in boiling water for 5 minutes and pour into a dish. At first, I was a little disappointed as I could see only a chunk of soy protein.

But it also contained some big pieces of bamboo shoot.

This was my first time in my life to eat Thai curry, and I thought it was very interesting that curry could contain bamboo shoot. I had never eaten such curry before. In addition to bamboo shoot, it contained soy protein chunks, mushroom, celery and was flavored with coconut milk, canola oil, soy sauce, spices, salt, curry powder, etc. Even though it contained coconut milk that might have added a mild flavor, the curry was quite spicy, but not as spicy as Mapo Doufu I ate previously. While eating, I somehow remembered curry soup with cabbage served in elementary school lunch. Though I liked the school lunch, this Thai curry was much tastier with coconut milk, bamboo shoot, and soy protein chunks. Celery was also good to have in soup.

KaRuNa’s “Instant Vegan” series have just two products “Vege Mapo Sauce” and “Vege Spicy Thai Curry”. I hope they will expand the lineup so that we can increasingly enjoy vegan versions of popular Asian dishes at home.

Mapo Doufu with vegan sauce

As in other countries, Chinese cuisine is very popular in Japan. According to a popularity vote, the most popular Chinese dish in Japan is Mapo Doufu (麻婆豆腐) originated from Sichuan province. It consists of tofu and minced meat cooked with spicy sauce. In supermarkets, you can see some retort sauce for Mapo Doufu and other Chinese dishes, but basically, they are not for vegetarians/vegans.

The other day, I went to BIO Atsumi to see if there were any new products of vegan curry. BIO Atsumi is a supermarket chain in eastern Aichi Prefecture (with one store in Hamamatsu) and has many rare and interesting foods from both Japan and abroad. There I found “Vege Mapo Sauce”, which was a pleasant surprise.

Though Mapo Doufu is a popular dish, I had hardly had a chance to eat it before because of the ingredients. Instead of minced meat, this product uses granular soy protein. The sauce is flavored with sesame oil, grated ginger, douchi or fermented black beans, doubanjiang or broad bean chili paste, soy sauce, chili oil, sugar, kelp powder, spice, etc.

Mapo Doufu is very easy to prepare with this retort sauce. You only have to pour and warm up the sauce in a pan, mix tofu cut into cubes, and cook together for a few minutes by stirring sometimes. One retort pouch is intended to be used for 300 g of tofu. As this pack of tofu was 400 g, I used one half or 200g of it.

Ten minutes later, Mapo Doufu was ready.

I think this was my second or third time to eat Mapo Doufu in my life. As soon as I started eating it, I noticed that it was more spicy than other spicy foods I had eaten before, such as Indian chickpea curry Chana Masala and Korean Shin Ramen. I suddenly remembered cold water kimchi in the refrigerator and took it out. It is seasonal animal-free kimchi sold in Seijo Ishii, which I wrote about in this blog last year. It consists of ten ingredients and is delicious and refreshing. As I expected, it mitigated the spiciness of Mapo Doufu.

One of the major reasons why Mapo Doufu is loved in Japan is that it goes well with rice and stimulate the appetite. I found it true as I could eat two bowls of rice with it. Though the sauce was unexpectedly spicy, the granular soy protein was well-made and didn’t have a distinctive flavor of soybeans at all. It may be easy to eat even for non-vegetarians.

The manufacture of this sauce is a Nagoya-based vegetarian food company KaRuNa. It has two shops (Nagoya and Komatsu in Ishikawa Prefecture), but I think it is mostly known for its online shop that provides a wide variety of vegetarian/vegan food (unfortunately the website is available only in Japanese). The name KaRuNa comes from an old Indian word that means compassion.

“Vege Mapo Sauce” is one of their “Instant Vegan” products released in April 2020. I think I’ll introduce the other one next time.

Gluten-free rice flour bread

In Japan, it is still difficult to find gluten-free bread. You can find rice flour bread in most supermarkets and some bakeries, but they usually contain some wheat flour. It may be confusing and disappointing for people with allergy who must have wheat-free or gluten-free foods.

The other day, I found real gluten-free rice flour bread in Seijo Ishii (成城石井) in the station building. It had a long name, “Yaiteoishii Okomepan (焼いておいしいおこめパン)”, which means “rice bread that tastes delicious when toasted.” Beneath the name, it was clearly written that the bread is intended to be toasted. According to the package, it is gluten free and does not contain 28 allergen ingredients including wheat, milk, and egg. It is made by a company TAINAI in Niigata Prefecture, and they use rice powder made from rice of Niigata Prefecture. As Niigata is a major rice production area, I got interested in this bread.

As this was my first time to eat genuine rice bread, I didn’t know how it was different from other kinds of bread such as baguette and rye bread. I also wondered why it should be toasted. When I sliced the bread, I was surprised to find how smoothly and easily it could be cut with an ordinary knife. It was different from wheat bread.

This time, I toasted slices with olive oil plus some other things. This one has salt, garlic, and dried parsley sprinkled on it,

and this one has salt, garlic, and black pepper.

These two slices of bread were not bad. But I still thought this combination of flavors might go better with baguette. The texture of the rice bread was also different from that of wheat bread. It was drier and felt a little strange as I wasn’t used to eating it.

But the third slice tasted much better than the first two. After toasting the bread with olive oil and salt, I put dried seaweed from South Korea.

This product is my favorite seaweed flavored with corn oil, olive oil, which is different from Japanese flavored seaweed. Like Japanese one, it can be eaten with rice and rice cakes as well.

Later, I toasted one more slice to see how it tastes without olive oil or any other flavors.

The toast somehow reminded me of a rice cracker while I was eating it. It was just like a thick and spongy rice cracker. Next time, I have to make some kind of paste with soy sauce or miso to spread on it.

My favorite muesli

The annual rainy season continues in Japan. It is humid and gloomy. Since I felt like eating something light and cold, I had muesli for dinner today, though it may be supposed to eat for breakfast. My favorite muesli is Elthank Japon’s “Premium Bio Muesli” found in many supermarkets. Though it is more expensive than other kinds of muesli, all the ingredients are organic, and fruits and seeds compose 52% of the contents.

The ingredients are organic raisins, organic oat flakes, organic sunflower seeds, organic barley flakes, organic corn flakes, organic spelt flakes, organic pumpkin seeds, organic apricots, organic kamut puff, and organic apples. The muesli is produced in France and packaged in Japan.

The package bears the organic JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standard) mark.

According to the recommendation on the package, you can have it with milk, soymilk or yogurt, use it as topping for ice cream, or mix it into the dough of bread or cakes. I usually eat it with soymilk.

I like this muesli because of its high content of fruits and seeds. Though no salt or sugar is added, you can be satisfied with the sweetness of the dried fruits. I once gave it to my mother who should refrain from eating sweets, and she liked it. Premium Bio Muesli can be eaten not only for meals but also as a healthy snack. In addition to this “Premium Bio Muesli 52% Fruit & Seeds”, there are two similar products “Premium Bio Muesli 52% Fruit & Nuts” and “PREMIUM HIGH FIBER 52% FRUIT・NUTS & SEEDS.” I like the first one the best of all.

*Next day, I blended a banana and soymilk with a blender and ate it with muesli. I also sprinkled cinnamon. That made the muesli even better though it is delicious just with soymilk.

Vegetable soyburg of San-iku Foods

Recently, I have introduced some vegan instant foods. It’s wonderful that more and more companies have got interested in new business concerning vegan foods and have been trying to make delicious and convenient products. Such trend is relatively new in Japan, however, as for vegetarian instant foods, there is a company San-iku Foods (三育フーズ) with long years of experience. The other day, I happened to find their product sold at a discount price at BIO Atsumi. It is a retort pouch of “VEGETABLE-SOYBURG Teri Yaki Sauce Taste.”

On the top of the pouch, you can see the mark of the company that represents a church beyond green fields. San-iku Foods is an affiliated company of Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Christian denomination that promotes a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

The ingredients are onion, soy protein, cabbage, bread crumbs, plant oil, plant-based powdered bouillon, starch (corn), egg white powder, sweetened sake, soy sauce, spice, cocoa, sauce (onion, soy sauce, sugar, wheat flour, plant oil, plant protein enzyme decomposer, spice, cacao coloring). The soyburg looked delicious after boiled for three minutes and put on a dish. Additionally, I stir-fried onion and green pepper.

The inside looked like this.

It looked meaty. As I ate it, I found the texture was meaty indeed and dense. I didn’t notice the flavor of soybeans at all. Though it was a teriyaki soyburg, the sauce was mild without a strong flavor of soy sauce. I thought it is suitable for many people and felt something in common with vegetarian dishes served in Buddhist temples here.

Though I’m not very interested in religions and don’t know much about Seventh-day Adventist Church, I think San-iku Foods has greatly contributed to make vegetarian foods more accessible. They provide a variety of products such as soyburg, soyball, vegetable meat sauce, canned gluten meat, granola, peanut butter, etc. They are easily found in natural food stores but not in ordinary supermarkets, I guess. On Amazon Japan, you can find some of their products by searching with “Saniku vegetarian.”

Retort pouch vegan curry made by Kagome

When I bought Samurai Ramen through Amazon Japan the other day, they offered free shipping on orders of 2,000 yen and over. So, I ordered a box of retort pouch curry in addition to the ramen. It contained five pouches and was intended for wholesale. Maybe it isn’t available in ordinary supermarkets as I have never seen it before. It was manufactured by Kagome, a major Japanese food company known for its ketchup, sauce, juice, etc., with history of over 120 years. One pouch was smaller than I thought and looked like this.  

At the upper left corner, there is a vegan mark. This is certified by VegeProject Japan. In fact, I had never heard of it before until I saw this mark this time (it’s embarrassing!). According to their website (http://www.vegeproject.org/), they are an NPO working to increase vegan/vegetarian options. They provide some useful information also in English.

The name of curry is “Mix Beans Vegetable Curry.” The ingredients are onion, red kidney beans, white kidney beans, chickpeas, carrot puree, onion saute, soybean oil, tomtate paste, soymilk fermented food, fried onion, apple puree, Wooster sauce, mixed vegetable saute, white kidney bean puree, garlic puree, spice, granulated sugar, salt, starch, and vegetable broth.

This curry is supposed to be medium-spicy. But when I started eating, I thought it was rather mild. Maybe I have been too accustomed to spicy foods such as Samurai Ramen and couldn’t appreciate its spiciness or taste. The curry was well-made and was not bad at all, but I still felt something was lacking. I longed for Chana Masala and Dal Curry made at Indian restaurants. Maybe it is a matter of personal preference.

At the beginning of this year, Kagome released this “Mix Beans Vegetable Curry” and “Soy Meat Keema Curry.” In addition, they produce three kinds of vegan pasta sauce that were released earlier. I appreciate their efforts very much. When you search with words “Kagome Vegan” on Amazon Japan (the language can be switched to English or Simplified Chinese), you can see these two kinds of vegan curry and Mushroom Soy Milk Cream (pasta sauce) on sale. If you live in Japan and have difficulty finding vegan instant foods at local supermarkets, Amazon Japan may be convenient and helpful.

Samurai Ramen UMAMI without garlic and onion

Last Sunday, I ate spicy Samurai Ramen UMAMI. It was so good that I bought another type of this vegan ramen on Amazon Japan. On its red pack, you can see big letters “NO GARLIC, NO ONION”, and Chinese characters “全素不含五辛“ under the word “Vegan.” It is intended for vegans who don’t eat five spicy foods.

Like spicy Samurai Ramen UMAMI, this is suitable for Muslim as well, and the ingredients are written also in English on the backside of the pack. The main ingredients of the soup are almost the same as those of spicy ramen soup. The difference is that it contains shiitake mushroom extract powder instead of chopped garlic. The ingredients of the noodles are wheat flour (domestically manufactured) and salt, which are the same as those of the spicy ramen.

The contents looked the same as those of spicy Samurai Ramen UMAMI.

This time I added mulukhiya leaves, Japanese ginger (myoga), and wakame seaweed. Though mulukhiya was originated from Egypt, it has become a popular summer vegetable in Japan because it is said to prevent exhaustion from the heat. Japanese ginger is also popular in summer with its refreshing flavor and crispy texture.

The ramen was ready in five minutes.

I expected it would taste much milder than the spicy version of Samurai Ramen. So, I was slightly surprised to find that it was still a bit spicy. It may be because it contained chili oil. When I finished eating, I was sweating. But the ramen was tasty and other ingredients added together were also good. The taste of the soup may vary depending on the additional ingredients, so it will be interesting to have other combination of vegetables as well. I think I’ll add some corn next time to make it a little sweeter.

Samurai Ramen UMAMI popular among visitors from abroad

It has been quite hot recently (27 degrees now). I feel like eating delicious curry with newly baked fresh naan bread at an Indian restaurant, but I still don’t dare to eat among people in a restaurant.
During this corona period, I have become more interested in vegan foods available in supermarkets than before.

Yesterday, I found a vegan instant ramen called Samurai Ramen UMAMI at BIO Atsumi. As you may know, Samurai is a warrior that can be seen in Japanese historical dramas. Personally, I can hardly identify with samurai because I’m a descendant of farmers as most ordinary Japanese people, and I don’t like that the image of samurai is often emphasized when talking about present Japanese people. But I still got interested in the ramen itself, which was in a pack like this.

It bears a mark of samurai,

 the Indian green vegetarian mark, and a “Vegan” mark.

On the backside, you can see how to prepare it and ingredients written in English. It contains no alcohol and is also suitable for Muslim. According to their website, this ramen has been popular among people who visit Japan from abroad. But I saw it for the first time yesterday. Maybe it is still unknown in most provincial towns.

This pack contained ramen and soup for two servings.

It took about five minutes to get it ready. This time I added sprouts of celery and soymilk skin.

I found the soup very spicy. It may be less spicy than the cup noodle Shin (辛) Ramen I introduced before, but I was a bit surprised. The soup contained ingredients such as ginger paste, chili oil, and chopped garlic. The soup was also tasty with the flavors of miso, soy sauce, sesame paste, ground sesame, etc. I liked it very much. The sprouts of celery added a flavor, and I think ordinary celery may also go well with the soup.

In addition to this spicy vegan version, there is another vegan Samurai Ramen UMAMI that does not contain five spicy foods (全素不含五辛). It is in a red pack and is available through Amazon Japan. Hopefully, it will be sold in ordinary supermarkets because it may become popular among a wider range of people, including those who can’t eat spicy foods and small children.

*On June 13, I went to BIO Atsumi again and found that Samurai Ramen UMAMI in a red pack is also sold there. Hopefully, both types of Samurai Ramen will be available permanently.