VEGAN BUNNY CHEF

You can make this easy version of the iconic Korean street food snack -   tteokbokki,  with simple pantry staple ingredients and for under 10 minutes! They're soft, chewy, bouncy, naturally gluten-free, and coated in a luscious sauce that's sweet, spicy, and sticky. Tteokbokki is my favorite Korean street food and it is nothing less than addicting. They're normally made with rice cakes, which are simmered in a red, vibrant, spicy, and sweet gochujang based broth. There are also fish cakes and hard-boiled eggs in a pot of tteokbokki sometimes.  For this easy vegan version, I used rice paper to recreate rice cakes because I can't always find fresh, good-quality rice cakes while rice paper is easily accessible from pretty much anywhere. You can roll up as many layers of rice paper as you want to create your preferred size of "rice cake" but I personally find that three layers make just the perfect "dupe" for traditional Korean rice cakes. The rice paper

This easy vegan Tom Yum soup is sweet, spicy, sour, super comforting and loaded with vegetables, crispy puffed tofu, and chewy vermicelli rice noodles. It is the easiest ever version especially when you don't have access to some of the fresh ingredients that are crucial in Thai cuisine. Tom Yum soup, as one of the most famous and iconic Thai dishes, probably needs little introduction. It's vibrant, hearty, comforting, packed full of flavors and nutrition. Did you know what Tom and Yum actually mean though? Tom, means to boil in Thai and Yum, means the process of mixing to achieve the flavor profile of sweet, sour, and spicy. The holy trinity in Tom Yum soup is lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and galangal, these three ingredients are absolutely crucial to an authentic and flavorful Tom Yum soup together with Thai chili pepper and lime juice. However, I live in the US and surprise surprise, I couldn't possibly find any of the three ingredients at my regular grocery store and

These napa cabbage rolls are almost like vegan dumplings but without having to make any dough. The stuffings are hearty, savory, and "meaty", wrapped in sweet and juicy napa cabbage leaves that are pan-seared to give them a little golden color and charred flavor, and finally dressed in a shiny, umami, garlicky sauce. Cabbage rolls are widely loved in many parts of the world - Central, Northern, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and much of Asia, as well as parts of North Africa. But of course, they're made differently from region to region. In China, in particular, cabbage rolls are usually made with napa cabbage, as opposed to cannonball cabbage, commonly known as green cabbage. They're then stuffed with minced pork and vegetables and finished by steaming or pan-fring. To make a vegan version, I used tofu, brown rice, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, and scallions but the combination is highly adaptable. This is a perfect chance to use up any scraps of veggies in your fri

Whether you're an eggplant lover or not, trust me this will become your new obsession! The eggplant is scored and roasted buttery tender, and infused with the umami, spicy, savory, and full-bodied flavor in the glaze. Take a big bite of the eggplant with some steamy, aromatic rice - it's comfort in a bowl. Few vegetables can be as perfect a blank canvas as eggplants, they have a subtle, non-threatening, and mild flavor, and at the same time a soft, tender texture that's literally like a sponge that can soak up any seasonings or sauces. Even if you've hated eggplant dishes in the past, I have turned around many eggplant haters with my miso-glazed eggplant and gochujang eggplant , and trust me this one will be no exception! About Doubanjiang, it is a Chinese fermented broad bean paste with hot chili peppers and other spices. Unlike gochujang or doenjang, which are both Korean and a very ground-up refined paste, Doubanjiang still has fermented whole beans and half beans i

This rice paper mochi is the easier version ever but just as pretty and delicious as a classic cream-filled mochi treat. You can make them in just five minutes and instantly satisfy your craving for something chewy, pillowy, melt-in-your-mouth, and not overly sweet without the fuss of making the dough. I LOVE mochi and have made them from scratch before, I made some bunny-shaped mochi mooncakes for the mid-autumn festival and they were so cute and yummy. However, that entire process was exhuasting. Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice flour, water, and sugar and making them from scratch is a very labor heavy toll. You have to constantly stir the glutinous rice mixture while heating nonstop, and then knead and fold repeatedly for a long time for that shiny, smooth dough. It is fun and rewarding to make them every once in a while but let's face it, I don't always have the time and energy for that while my craving for mochis is way more frequent. So I made up this

This Kyoto style soy milk ramen is as dreamy and comforting as they come! This broth is super creamy, silky, and packed with umami flavors. Slurp up some chewy ramen noodles, and bite into the tofu hard-boiled "egg" - you'll want to make a lot of noises while eating this bowl, and guess what, the more noises the merrier because it's considered a compliment to the chef in Japanese culture and in general eastern Asian culture! Soy milk is commonly used in Japan to flavor broths and soups and Soy Milk Ramen, or 豆乳ラーメン, is a classic dish especially in Kyoto. The soy milk adds depth, creaminess, and that cozy milky white color to the broth while miso and doubanjiang bring the robust and full-bodied flavor. I would not recommend skipping or substituting these two ingredients. What is Doubanjiang? Doubanjiang is a fermented bean paste made from broad beans, soy beans, chili peppers, salt, flour, and sometimes other spices. Interestingly, Doubanjiang originates from China, no