Thai Style Tofu Salad

With left over Summer vegetables

Some Summers, we don’t get good crops from our garden for various reasons and this past Summer fell into that ‘some’ year category. We are bit bummed about that. The only half-way decent yield we got was tomatoes. My favorite cherry tomato variety ‘Sweet 100’ was not bad yet in my opinion it got up to only 85…oh come on!  

A vegan meal night over the blue moon, the petite tomatoes support this Thai salad’s weight well. We may be carnivores but today, we enjoyed a bowl full of greens. The small changes were made on the recipe from a book Vibrant Food by Kimberley Hasselbrink.You will fall in love with her photographs.

Ingredients and Instruction for 4 servings (Print Recipe Here)

• 1 (16-ounce) package extra-firm tofu, drained

For marinade

• 1/4 cup low sodium tamari soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons roasted red chili paste ( I used Tobanjan soy paste)
• 2 teaspoons sugar

For the dressing

• 2 limes
• 4 Tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil or sesame oil
• 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

For the greens – practically anything but here are some suggestions. It does not have to be exact measurements.

• Cherry tomatoes, halved 1-2 cups
• Okura, thinly sliced about 1/2 cup
• Sugar snap peas, sliced 1 cup – I cooked in salted  boiling water for 1 minute, drained then plunged in ice cold water. It can be raw if you prefer.
  
• Cucumber, cubed 1 cup
• Fresh mint  leaves, roughly chopped 1/4 cup
• Fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped 1/4 cup
• Butter lettuce, torn 3-4 cups
• Cilantro leaves and blossoms for garnish Option: white radish sprouts is great too.
• 1 small Thai red chili, seeded and thinly sliced for garnish

1. Place the tofu on a cutting board and weight it with another cutting board (or heavy plate) on top to extract water from tofu for 30 minutes.
2. While the tofu is pressing, make marinade sauce – In a medium bowl, whisk together the tamari, rice vinegar, olive oil, red chili paste and sugar until the sugar is dissolved and smooth. Note: I put everything in a zip lock bag, closed tight then massaged the bag.
3. Dry the pressed tofu with paper towel and cut into 1-inch cubes. Put into the bowl or zip-lock bag of marinade. Toss gently to coat. Cover with plastic sheet (if using the bowl). Lay flat (if using bag). Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Turn over once in a while to evenly marinated.
   
4. Meanwhile make dressing – Zest 1 lime, put in the small bowl. Cut the lime you just zested and another lime in half and squeeze the juice out and add to the bowl. Add rest of dressing ingredients to the bowl and whisk until the brown sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
5. Combine the greens except cilantro and Thai red chili. Toss with about 2/3 of dressing. Serve the remaining dressing on the side. Chill in the refrigerator until needed.
   
6. Set oven for broi.l Arrange the tofu in a single layer on a lightly oiled small baking sheet discarding marinade sauce. Broil for 15- 18 minutes. turning every 3 minutes until deeply browned.
7. Place greens on plate, top with tofu and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and Thai red chili.

Vestiges of the past Summer….  late comer fig…what took you so long?Black Plum tomatoes has good flavor and gorgeous color though I feel like I have to spit it out its thick skin…good news is that because of tough skin, it withstands bugs, mold and other diseases.The seedless watermelon stayed small. What the heck! It was not seedless?Second year thornless, bushy ‘Raspberry short cake’ variety tasted better than previous year.The roses…released pleasant scents all Summer long…really sweet..

The weekend blessing…My husband’s take on Saldkay Bulochaka by Cooking Melangery…everything on her blog is like wow!

He tweaked her recipe a little bit so it looks different…still nice. I often hand him the wish list…printed recipes from other food bloggers…A man in training I guess…try not to surpass the master…k?

So Thai

Chicken Satay/สะเต๊ะไก่

I have such admiration for my uncle who retired from Honda Motors a while back. He was assigned to a job in Thailand for a few years. He sent me some pictures but they were lost in my fine filing system somewhere…too shay.
Basically Thailand has three seasons- cool, hot and rainy. Their cool season and hot season temperature difference is mere a few degrees…sounds like Hawaii ya? But with much humidness. A long rainy season –July to October – brings heavy rains of course though, typically afternoon flash down pour and sunshine the rest. He thrived there in such a paradisiac, tropical land.

In this recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine, the use of nam chim sate /peanut sauce instead of turmeric so it won’t stain my hands.
By the time my husband was ready to grill the chicken, it had started drizzling outside. Plan B? No, he braved the rain and grilled them to perfection.

Ingredients and instruction for 8 to 10 skewered chicken (Print Recipe Here)

Necessary equipment: bamboo skewers, oven or grill

• 1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed if available)
• Zest of 1 orange (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (no sugar added)
• 2 Tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used gluten free type) 
• 2 teaspoons peeled grated fresh ginger
• 4 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1-1/2 pounds boneless,skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch wide strips
• Oil for grill grate
• Skewers –have plenty just in case 12-16
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped roasted salted peanuts

1. Make marinade sauce - In a large bowl, whisk together the orange juice, orange zest, peanuts butter, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes until smooth. Reserve 1/3 cup of the mixture in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Put the marinade in a resealable gallon plastic bag. Add chicken and seal tight. Put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
3. Soak bamboo skewers in water for 20 minutes.
4. Heat grill to medium heat (350 F), and rub the grate with paper towel dipped in oil.
5. Thread 1-2 chicken strips on each skewer. Grill the chicken until thoroughly cooked, 2-3 minutes per side and until they have a nice charred mark.
6. Sprinkle with cilantro leaves and peanuts. Serve with reserved peanut sauce as dipping sauce.

 

An un-invited guest was already there at the grill. Yeeek!

Life after retirement…not only nice and generous, musically gifted, my uncle taught himself to play piano and guitar, made an amateur band with friends with his family’s blessing. As the vocalist/lead guitar, he and his buddies do some occasional gigs at local establishments. I sincerely hope to have the opportunity someday to watch him play.

 

My husband’s pet project…Kefir kimuchi is about ready for consumption.

Here is something you don’t see everyday…I drove by…What the heck!
A turkey in the middle of the road. Temperature in low 70’s. It already smelled foul. I pinched my nose and took this photo.

I hope you have a not stinky but pleasant week!

Succulent

Cold Thai Style Watermelon Soup

What…ever! My reaction after reading the newspaper article that the city of Portland didn’t make the top 10 snobby cities in US. We’re just outside of it, in the 11th spot as measured by Travel and Leisure. So lame. Where did we go wrong? We worked hard for this..sob. Darn you San Francisco! That kidding aside, not-snobbish-enough Portland will keep the prize of being weird for now.

The price of watermelon in Japan is anywhere from $20 –$30 each. Toward the end of Summer prices come down quite a bit to like $10 or less and that’s a bargain. Amazon Japan also sells watermelon on line, how about that ?Kumamoto is the number one watermelon producing prefecture and their watermelon is cultivated in green houses. Sapporo's Densuke watermelon is famous for tense sweetness. In 2007 someone bid and bought 1 Densuke watermelon for nearly $7,000 at auction. Whoever it was must be a snob and not from Portland! 

The coconut cream changes the red soup into pumpkin color. It’s a bit defeating but coconut cream make the flavor – wholesome and a tad sweet. Perfect for a hot Summer day.   

Thai Style Cold Watermelon soup – yields about 4 cups

• 5 cups seedless watermelon. Remove rind, cut in chunks
• 1 stalk of fresh lemongrass. Peel the outer layer of stalk and trim the bottom end then mince about 5 inches of lower part
• 1 good size shallot  finely minced (roughly 4 Tablespoons)
• Young fresh ginger roots finely minced (about 2 Tablespoons)
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 small hot Thai chili – seeds removed and chopped small
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons peanuts oil
• 1 cup coconut cream (not coconut milk)
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Heat oil in large sauce pan and sauté lemongrass, shallot, ginger, garlic and Thai chili until garlic develops a pale brown color at low heat.
2. Add watermelon and simmer at medium heat until watermelon has mostly broken down - 20 to 30 minutes.
   
3. Remove from heat then puree the watermelon mixture with a hand held blender.
   
4. Add coconut cream, lime juice and combine well. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Strain the soup through sieve, press to extract all the flavors. Chill in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. Add more lime juice, salt or pepper if necessary.
   

Variation – Put 1/2 cup of crab in a bowl. Mix with 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or lime juice and add some lemon or lime rind. Combine well. Top the soup with the crab. Garnish with cilantro leaves or basil leaves for color.We had the soup with homemade rosemary focaccia bread.

My husband made panna cotta from the left over coconut cream. Good move!

 

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day. We enjoyed neighborhood fireworks at night. And on television.

Precious purple flowers blooming in neighbor’s garden. My husband went over and took photos. What it’s name? I dunno…George?

Lovely garden reception and a picture perfect couple! We have known the bride since she was a baby. I was impressed by the stylish decorations throughout the property. This wooden frame was hung from a tree like a window. I wish I brought the camera…Honey, give me your iPhone…tell me again, is this the button to take photo?