EcoLux☆Lifestyle: Chef and Inspiration: Juno Kim x Suntory Haku Vodka

EcoLux☆Lifestyle: Chef and Inspiration: Juno Kim x Suntory Haku Vodka

The House of Suntory and chef, caterer, and food stylist Juno Kim teamed up to create a vegan recipe using their newly released Japanese Craft Vodka, Haku.

Kim added his personal touch to the vodka pasta sauce to give it East Asian flavours with tons of umami and flavour coming from the miso, tamari, gochujang, and nutritional yeast.

Suntory is a Japanese craft vodka, from the founding House of Suntory Whisky created with 100% Japanese white rice and bamboo charcoal filtered.

Haku Vodka Umami Noodles

• Kosher salt
• 2 large shallots, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 4.5 oz. tomato paste
• 3 tbsp of miso
• 1 tbsp of tamari (soy sauce or liquid aminos work, as well)
• 2 tbsp of gochujang (or any other spicy condiment to taste)
• 2 oz Suntory Haku vodka
• 1/2 cup oat milk (almond or soy milk also work)
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 4 oz. nutritional yeast
• 2.5 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 lb. ramen noodles (sub in kelp noodles for gluten-free)
• 3 scallions, sliced diagonally
• Kelp, rehydrated to garnish
• Furikake to garnish
• Greens to garnish — we used seared snow pea tips/watercress, spinach, kale, or even mixed greens would work great
• Baby king oyster mushrooms, halved and seared
• salt to taste

1. Fill a large pot 3/4 full with water and heat over high heat. Add enough salt so it tastes like the ocean.
2. First, make the vegan cream. Blend 1/2 cup of oat milk on low speed and slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. If you have a wide blender, you might have to increase the volumes here; keep the ratio the same. Reserve your vegan cream.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add your minced shallots, cook until translucent, then add the minced garlic and stir until fragrant.
4. Add your tomato paste, miso, gochujang, and cook until you start seeing a bit of browning in the paste, about 5-6 minutes, careful not to burn the sauce.
5. Add the vodka and tamari at this point, and scrape the bottom of the pot.
6. Stir in your nutritional yeast and sesame oil.
7. Add 1/4 cup of your boiling water to your vegan cream to help temper the cream. Then slowly add this mixture into the pot while whisking.
8. Have your plates ready, then cook your noodles to al dente. Transfer the noodles to the sauce and coat it. Add the pasta water as needed to get the sauce glossy. Work quickly to avoid the noodles getting soggy.
9. Divide your saucy noodles to plates and garnish with scallions, rehydrated kelp, seared mushrooms, greens, furikake, and/or whatever your heart desires.

Enjoy. It is your noodle bowl, not mine.

Author Profile

Helen Siwak - EcoFriendly Lifestyle Consultant
Helen Siwak - EcoFriendly Lifestyle Consultant
Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Marketing & Communications Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine and digital women's lifestyle magazine EcoLuxLifestyle.co. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury lifestyle niche. Post-pandemic, she has worked with many small to mid-sized plant-based/vegan brands to build their digital foundations and strategize content creation and business development. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read industry magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and consults with many of the world’s luxury heritage brands. Always seeking new opportunities and challenges, you can email her at helen@ecoluxluv.com.
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