• notknapping on April 02, 2016

  Made the Farro Bowl (160) with what I had in the house, meaning barley instead of farro and no radishes. Quite good.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Simple miso ramen

  • mamacrumbcake on September 30, 2016

    Delicious comfort food! The miso ramen tasted very authentic and my husband and daughter loved it. I used the dashi recipe and the recipe for Rayu from the same cookbook. It takes a day to let the dashi steep so this dish requires a little advance planning. But if you have the dashi made, this will be a quick and easy recipe that could be on the table in 20 minutes. The dashi is super simple (4 dried shiitakes, 1.5 oz kombu, and 2 quarts of water--let them steep for several hours and your done) so don't be afraid to try it!

  • runoutofshelves on October 05, 2016

    I loved this too. I loved collecting all the ingredients, I loved the boiled egg sitting on top, I loved thinking about the purported health benefits of seaweed (kombu) and shiitake mushrooms and miso, I loved toasting the nori on a gas flame, I loved cooking it in my new baby donabe I got on eBay, I love soup for lunch. Mind you, I have been looking at other ramen recipes and I think I'm going to try the Tokyo Ramen with chicken and pork stock in Japanese soul food.

  • christineakiyoshi on May 10, 2021

    This came together quickly including making the dashi. Very tasty and will add this to the regular rotation.

• Ginger-miso ramen

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    I liked this. I couldn’t find proper ramen noodles, so bought another generic thin Asian wheat noodle. I also upped the nori and the squash. The broth was intriguing, with the blending of a whole spring onion into it - I liked it, although it was a bit too astringent and I would probably add more fat in the future. Overall, wouldn’t make exactly as written, but would use as a base for riffs.

• Vegetarian curry laksa

  • christineakiyoshi on August 11, 2020

    Delicious! We left the cloves out of the red curry sauce. We also used rice noodles. The cabbage could benefit from being microwaved to soften it a bit.

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    This was delicious, with a couple of tries and some tinkering. We had to make it gluten-free, and at first tried his suggested brown rice vermicelli, but didn’t like them. Boring old pho-style rice noodles were an improvement. It also needed more liquid, and a bit more substance - baked tofu worked great for us. The real key, here, though, is making sure everything is hot, otherwise the add-ins make the laksa room temperature and much less appealing.

• Red curry paste

  • christineakiyoshi on May 04, 2021

    We left the cloves out of this. Delicious!

• Cashew-scallion noodles

  • Skamper on July 09, 2025

    We both liked this. Made a haf batch, and had to add 4-5 tablespoons of water to the sauce. I think Julia Turshens cashew might dressing is better. Used soba noodles and I added baked tofu for protein. This would be customizable for it of different veggies.

• Black sesame noodle bowl

  • SugarFree_Vegan on July 19, 2016

    I adapted this recipe for a fasting day meal (400 cals) so I used spiralized courgette/zucchini in place of the soba noodles and used a lot less oil too. It really worked well, just don't soak the zoodles in the sauce for long or they'll go soft. Really delicious.

  • Frogcake on January 06, 2017

    My oldest son, who is a university student and capable cook, is totally hooked on this recipe -I coached him on how to make it and possible variations. As written it's really, really tasty. Second time, he was inspired and adapted it to use up left-overs -cooked basmati rice or quinoa in place of noodles, other greens such as spinach in place of watercress. You could also top with cubed tofu, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds. Also, good to double the sauce and have it ready for a quick bowl inspired moment. Anything goes here (he will probably throw in some peanut butter)- high probability of a healthy meal whatever combination you choose.

  • TrishaCP on February 08, 2017

    I loved Heidi Swanson's version of this, and I love this one too (don't worry-Heidi gets credit for inspiration). This was great as written, but the concept is so versatile-all of Frogcake's ideas sound good to me too.

  • Skamper on August 21, 2020

    A nice warm weather dish. Made a half batch, as described, with soba, except for the radishes, which we forgot to buy, and a combo of wasabi oil and 1/4 tsp wasabi paste in place of the powder. Used arugula as the green. We both liked. Oh, also could not find kecap manis so made diy version (soy sauce+brown sugar) from food52.

• Very simple pho

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    His is one of the best vegetarian pho broths out there, and this is a lovely (and as advertised, simple) pho based on it. We make as written, other than substituting deep-fried tofu puffs for the raw soft tofu. Very nice.

• Spring pho

  • christineakiyoshi on January 08, 2021

    Very tasty! The pho broth makes a smallish portion. Would add more water in the future.

• Fennel pho

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    We’ve made this several times now, as fennel is a family favorite, and it’s great. Fresh, light, and different (though not for the fennel hater!)

• Spring bibimbap

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    We added a fried egg on top. Very good, and uses a nice variety of the garden veggies in midsummer.

• Roasted vegetable bibimbap

  • westminstr on November 07, 2016

    I changed the recipe around quite a bit but really liked the combo of squash, mushroom & broccoli rabe and loved the marinade for roasting the veg. I wouldn't say this was too popular with my family but had I made plain rice instead of mixed grains and included some of the other elements they would have liked it better.

  • Tealismyname on June 12, 2022

    I really liked this -- used regular broccoli.

• Winter bibimbap

  • lizbot2000 on January 23, 2018

    I cook this at least once a week. It's easy to make on a weeknight and extremely tasty. The caramelized gochujang sweet potatoes go super well with the sour kale.

• Kimchi fried rice bowl

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    This was tasty, but to be honest I prefer boring old kimchi fried rice to this dolled-up version.

• Sushi bowl

  • lizbot2000 on July 18, 2018

    This was great! It needed a bit more of the vinegar/sugar/salt for the amount of rice I made, but otherwise we loved it. For the leftovers, I made some tamagoyaki to go along with it and up the protein a bit. I bet little cubes of cream cheese would also be awesome with this!

• Ginger-scallion rice bowl

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    The sauce is quite pungent, but overall this is enjoyable. It’s fairly labor-intensive to prepare, though, and I’m not sure I’ll repeat.

  • Skamper on August 24, 2020

    This didn't have much flavor, except for bits that were covered in the sauce. The tofu stuck to the grill and the bits with grill marks stayed behind. Used a combo of brown rice and quinoa. Won't try again.

• Breakfast rice bowl

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    Did indeed make a delicious brunch. Particularly the maple-roasted sweet potatoes added delight.

• Savory oatmeal bowl

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    I liked this okay, but it was very rich, which isn’t to my taste. I’d either cook the oats in water instead of soy milk or add significant acid.

• Toasted bulgur bowl

  • westminstr on August 17, 2016

    I made this bowl with quinoa, tomatoes, cucumbers, edamame, parsley, quick-pickled scallions and the lemon-tahini dressing. I served it deconstructed so everyone could make their own bowl to their taste. Very successful, everyone liked it. Healthy and vegetarian (actually, vegan in this instance). Leftovers held up well. Looking forward to exploring more bowls from this book.

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    No, this just didn’t work. I found it bland and uninspired (and unattractive on the plate), which is strange given my adoration for this flavor profile.

• Mujadara bowl

  • Nancith on April 15, 2021

    I like the idea of this bowl, but it didn't quite deliver flavor-wise. Besides salt & pepper, there was a bit of garlic, mint & a squirt of lemon. Perhaps more of those items or some cinnamon or cumin seed or even a dribble of harissa would take it up a notch. It was certainly filling. My version was the quinoa & sliced almonds, although I'm thinking toasted walnuts might have been the better choice.

• Farro bowl

  • westminstr on September 22, 2016

    Made this farro bowl with what was available - roasted eggplant, steamed green beans, raw tomato & cucumber, and olives. The pesto-ricotta was very good and made the dish! In general though I found the bulgur bowl more successful. Though it's hardly fair since I didn't exactly follow the recipe in either case.

• Edamame dumplings

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    These were light and nice. The mint was a bit overpowering, so I would cut that back.

• Spicy carrot dumplings

  • jenburkholder on August 20, 2020

    I liked these a lot. Flavorful and interesting, and not too difficult with a food processor. Would make again.

• Kimchi dumplings (Mandu)

  • jenburkholder on January 24, 2021

    Made mostly as written, only added a drizzle of sesame oil. Very tasty and satisfying filling, and the dumplings go well with the suggested sauce. The leftover insides made a great addition to fried rice.

• Green salad with honey-soy vinaigrette

  • mamacrumbcake on September 05, 2016

    Nice! The honey soy vinaigrette is super simple and made with pantry ingredients. Perfect for any kind of salad with an Asian-style meal.

• Vegetarian pho broth

  • christineakiyoshi on January 08, 2021

    Very good broth. Cooks down so be sure to add extra water.

• Mixed grains

  • westminstr on November 07, 2016

    I rather liked these mixed grains but my family did not. They definitely needed butter and salt.

• Rayu

  • mamacrumbcake on September 28, 2016

    This is so good! I didn't know what to expect so I was surprised and delighted to discover it was crunchy, salty, bits of garlic and shallot in a hot chile oil. I made it to go with the Simple Miso Ramen, also from this book. It added a great depth of flavor. I can see myself using this as a condiment for so many things--rice, noodles, eggs... I made the Rayu exactly as the recipe was written. In the future, I might skip the coriander just because my kids didn't care for the texture of the whole seeds.

• Gochujang sauce

  • westminstr on November 07, 2016

    Delicious sauce. Loved!

• Epicurious

  Whatever its magic, some of the best foods in the world come in bowls. In this cookbook, Lukas Volger explores vegetarian versions of the best bowl foods from around the globe.

  Full review