Recipe Inspiration

Kake Udon (or Soba), a classic Japanese noodle dish, offers a comforting and delicious experience with its simple yet flavourful components. This traditional recipe features Udon (or Soba) noodles immersed in a delicate, savoury broth. Garnished with sliced spring onions and a sprinkle of Shichimi Togarashi, Kake Udon is both easy to prepare and deeply satisfying. Perfect for a quick lunch or a soothing dinner, this dish embodies the essence of Japanese home cooking with its balance of taste and texture.

This recipe is inspired by tantanmen ramen – a Japanese take on Sichuan dan dan noodles, with a broth made from soya milk and sesame – but it is by no means authentic. Typically this would have a proper stock as the base and be topped with minced (ground) pork, but I got attached to the idea of a ramen that could be knocked up quickly and that remained vegetarian/vegan. I also wanted to use udon noodles (again, untraditional), because I love their texture: big, fat, slippery, chewy – is there anything more satisfying?

Tofu can be enjoyed as a side dish or as a centre piece in your meals. This is a crowd-pleaser with an umami rich sauce, which compliments the simple flavour of the tofu and vegetables. The asparagus can be swapped with other vegetables as it's seasonal.

Kanten is a Japanese gelatine free jelly using sea vegetable agar flakes. Here we used Amazake as the main liquid and added strawberries for the colour and its sweet flavour. Make it fancy by cutting into a flower shape or let it set in a fancy glass to serve.

Maki roll Sushi, a favourite in our family. Using colourful vegetables to create an eye catching sushi for your friends and family. You can use white or brown sushi rice, filled with colourful vegetables to make your very own sushi.

Sushi can be enjoyed in many shape and form by using vinegared rice. From simple nigiri (hand formed rice with topping), maki roll, gunkan maki (boat-shaped with filling on top), temaki (hand roll) to uramaki (inside out roll). Here we made our take on Dragon Roll Uramaki using Follow Your Heart Organic Vegenaise.

This is one of my favourite salad dishes with soba noodles. The earthy soba noodles are served with “yakumi” condiments to add fragrance and flavours to the dish. It contains 5 different aromatic vegetables and herbs such as ginger, spring onions, and mint. You may also add chilly, or the zest of citrus fruits to taste. The creamy peanut sauce will give a rich texture to this salad.

Seaweed and Spring Onion Pancake with chilli oil dipping sauce. This recipe is inspired by the Chinese street food Cōng yóubǐng (葱油饼), it is simple yet addictive! I have added my own twist to it by adding aonori and seaweed for extra flavour.

This is one of the most traditional tofu recipes in Japan. The classic recipe is slightly sweeter than my version. I also used soft instead of firm tofu for a silkier texture. To avoid achieving a watery flavour you will need to remove any excess water from the tofu before using it.

The sea spaghetti adds a great seafood flavour to this pad Thai giving it the flavours that traditionally come from the fish sauce and shrimp. Using rice noodles and tamari also makes this recipe gluten-free.

With everyone working from home - this is a great way to make a quick and colourful lunch. We've come up with our version of the TikTok tortilla trend and made a sushi version where you use the sushi nori as the wrap.

This creamy chickpea mock tuna salad is ideal for sandwiches, salads, or a baked potato filling. We used our rye crispbread to display an open sandwich.

These retro style savoury jellies topped with mayonnaise, make a fun, but different light appetiser.

A bright and colourful salad with wakame, tofu, fruit, and a zingy ginger dressing. Perfect for appetiser. Adapt with different stone or other soft fruit or add avocado to make it more substantial.

Simple flatbreads flavoured with sea salad, serve with a dip as an appetiser, or serve with a main.

Fresh potato gnocchi are easy and satisfying to make, and once made is very quick to cook. These contain sea spaghetti in the gnocchi. Once cooked its nice to quickly fry in garlic with olive oil and squeeze some fresh lemon juice.

Japanese Sashimi style dish using our Silken Tofu and cucumber. Perfect as a side dish to go with some noodles, rice or even curry when you want a refreshing salad. In Japan it is very common to eat soft tofu straight out of the pack, here we make an Asian style dressing mixing with Italian extra virgin olive oil.

Isobeyaki are mochi dipped in soy sauce and wrapped in sheets of nori.They are incredibly easy to make, and tastes delicious.

Onigirazu is a Japanese sushi sandwich, おにぎらず. It is much easier to make than making sushi as there is no rolling involved. Onigirazu is a perfect picnic dish or to take with you for a packed lunch. You can make it for your kid's school lunches, to have at work or on the go lunches.
You can change the filling to suit you, it doesn't have to be what's in this recipe.

I love this hot, soothing miso soup as a pick-me up at any time of the day. Simply pop the ingredients in a tea cup, top up with hot water, done! Or, bring them to work portioned up and ready to go – perfect for meal prep. You can vary this recipe indefinitely, just include something a little spicy or acidic to lift the salty miso. I like a few spoons of oats in mine to make it a little more substantial, almost like rice!

This delicious Japanese seaweed salad makes a nice change to the usual lettuce salad and the dressing is something special!

This Japanese salad is delicious and tangy from the Umeboshi Puree, contrasted with the deep savoury flavour of the sea vegetable Dulse.

Dark green leaves of the sea are loaded with such a broad spectrum of nutrients that are not readily available from land vegetables.

Deliciously simple, and simply delicious, this healthy dessert is also packed with natural fibre found in agar flakes.