Napa Cabbage Casserole topped with vegan cheese 白菜キャセロールビーガンチーズのせ

 

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。

Frost on my vegetable patch

 

It has been extremely cold in the morning.

 

I described it “freezing cold”, then my friend living in Canada said, “You do not believe “freezing” until Ottawa.”

May be it’s true. 
It is only －6℃ here, and －26℃ in Ottawa.

But that is the outside temperature.

The temperature inside the house is kept warm in Canada.  

In Japan, we usually do not have central heating, and use either stove or air-conditioner in the room .
If I want to keep the entire house warm, the bill for the utilities would be skyrocketing high for me.

I also would feel guilty for using so much fossil fuel.

 
Quite a few of my young friends in this area are switching to the firewood stove collecting woods from the mountains because they do not want to rely on fossil fuel and save the utility bill.

 

The heat from the firewood cannot compare with the one from the electricity, kerosene and gas.

 

I feel sooo good whenever I visit those friends home. 

The air is mild and tender, and the flames of the fire makes my mind and sole peaceful.  

 

It has been my dream to have a wood burning stove, but I have never materialized it because my small old house is not designed to install it. 

There are still a few pleasures in freezing cold everyday life.

One of them is piping hot and hearty pot dishes. 

I am sharing a recipe of one of them today. 

That is “Napa cabbage casserole topped with vegan mochi cheese”.

Napa cabbage during this season is so tender and sweet especially when it is simmered.

 

 

I wondered why it is so and asked my farmer friend.

Napa cabbage increase their sweetness when they feel too cold being covered with the frost.  Actually, they enjoy the mild coldness but hate the frost, so make their effort as much as they can to overcome the coldness and survive.  Their effort transform their starch to sugar.  

Hmmm~, that is why….

The napa caggages are often tied with a string to protect them from getting frozen.

So we absolutely have to cook and eat with great gratitude to them and should not waste even a single layer of their leaves. 

 

Mochi, glutinous rice cake gives the effect of melty cheese, and it also fills your tummy and keep your body warm.

You must try it if you are in a freezing cold environment! 

 

 

 

 

Napa Cabbage Casserole Topped with Vegan Mochi Cheese 

 

Ingredients (for 2~4 servings)

1/2~1 napa cabbage

1/2~1 onion

1/2~1 garlic

200g~400g mushroom of your choice (abalone mushroom and enoki mushroom are used in this post.)

1~2 mochi / glutinous rice cake

50ml~100ml water

50ml~100ml tomato paste

1~2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder

1/2tsp ~ 1tsp salt

Scant pepper

 

For vegan cheese for topping 

1/2~1 mochi / glutinous rice cake

100ml~200ml vegan mayonnaise

50ml ~ 100ml soy milk

 

Procedure

1. Cut napa cabbage to large pieces, onion to thin pieces, garlic to small pieces.

2.   Tear mushroom with your fingers or cut with a knife. 

3.  Cut mochi, glutinous rice cake for casserole into thin slices.

You can slice with a knife, but mochi is quite hard to cut.

 

I found an extremely convenient  instrument to slice mochi,(though it is made from plastic.)

Slicing mochi is efforless.  

it is named ”Mochisura” 
 

4.      Cut mochi, glutinous rice cake for topping into thin slices and then cut into thin sticks.

5. Dilute pumpkin mayonnaise with soy milk, and then add the mochi sticks of “4”.  

 

6.   In the casserole pot or the heavy bottom pot, layer the onion, garlic, half portion of napa cabbage, half portion of mushroom in this order.

7. Repeat napa cabbage and mushroom for additional layers.

 ＊Now the pot should be completely full.

8.  Add 50ml~100ml water and salt, cover the lid and simmer for 20 minutes until the vegetables get soft. 

＊ After simmering the volume should be less than half as the vegetables shrink. 

9. Add tomato paste, vegetable bouillon, sliced mochi/glutinous rice cake and salt and pepper.  Cover with the lid and cook another 10 minutes.  

＊You may need to add some water at this stage if napa cabbage is not juicy enough.

 

 

10.  Open the lid and layer the mixture of mochi sticks and mayonnaise on top, and cook another 5 minutes.

 

11.  Bring the pot to the table and serve while it is still hot. 

＊　Mochi will lose stickiness and cheesy texture when the temperature goes down. 

Happy cooking!

 

タグ：土鍋 mochi キャセロール macrobiotics ルクルーゼ winter 白菜 caserolle Vegan cheese Japanese vegan napa cabbage wood stove 餅 豆腐マヨネーズ ビーガンチーズ ビーガン マクロビオティック 冬料理 トマトピューレ