Spicy Tofu Hot Pot

Super Easy Tofu Soup

Do you know October 2nd is a Tofu Day in Japan?  10 in Chinese Character ‘十’ (looks like cross or plus sign doesn’t it?) has two pronunciations – Jyu and To (pronounce tow). 2’s Chinese character is very simple, just draw two lines, one on top of the other, make the top line slightly shorter.  ‘二’ also has two pronunciations two…I mean too. Nee and Fu. See where I’m going with this? 

Inexpensive, available in supermarkets everywhere, versatile tofu is a Japanese kitchen staple. This tofu dish is incredibly easy and quick, the spicy tobanjyan sooth your melancholic soul.

The recipe is just guideline, adjust to your own taste.

Ingredients and Instruction for two servings (Print Recipe Here)

Nice to have equipment – small stone pot with lid

• 150 cc water
• 2 teaspoons instant dashi powder Note; I used no-MSG granule type.
• 4 Tablespoons soy sauce or tamari sauce
• 1 to 2 teaspoons tobanjyan (豆板醤/spicy miso paste) available in tube or jar.
• 1 package Japanese style soft tofu, drained and cut in 4ths
• 2-3 stalks of green onion or 1 long green onion, cut the white part -diagonally
• 1/3 cup tempura batter crumbs (agedama/揚げ玉 or tenkasu/天かす) they comes in a bag, find in refrigerated section of a Japanese market. Note: Homemade tempura batter crumbs – Fish out with a slotted spoon the crumbs naturally occur when you frying tempura.

1. Pour water in stone pot or bottom heavy small pan and boil.
2. Add dashi powder and stir to dissolve
3. Add soy sauce.
4. Add tobanjyan and mix well. cook until liquids come to a full boil.
5. Lower the heat and place tofu in the pot. Put lid on and cook for about 5 -7 minutes. Turn tofu once mid way.
6. Add green onion and cook for additional 2 minutes.
7. Sprinkle tempura crumbs on top, cook for 30 second to soften the crumbs or serve immediately if you prefer crunchy texture.

Variation#1 – Instead of Tofu, add rinsed frozen udon noodle
Variation #2 – Add kimchi and it’s own juice to make knock-off kimchi jjiage

From instagram posts of Today’s TAPAS (#todaystapas) and Today’s Sweets(#todayssweets) -

I love Tamago yaki (卵焼き/Japanese style omelet). The amazing quilt underneath is a gift from a friend…she is so talented and very kind.

Pickled Grapes (the recipe in bon apetit magazine) is delightful! Ready in 30 minutes,  great in salad or for snack.

Well received, lovely Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes with custard cream filling for a church function. The recipe links - Bake for Happy kids or Nasi Lemak Lover. I must say…I did a good job!

Night fall comes early now, I just have one of those,  a cup of decaffeinated  earl gray tea and a good book to curl up with…when I wake in the morning, it’s still dark. I feel like I need mega dose of Vitamin D.

Kimchi Oyster Jjigae(Stew)

With Homemade Kimchi

Oh shucks! I didn’t take very good photos…anyway, it tasted grrrreat!

My husband is blessed to work in nice office environment. A friendly Korean  co-worker shard her homemade kimchi with us. The generous portion packed in Tupperware, the deep tangy flavor has a nice kick,  we have been enjoying for weeks now…I made this stew with homemade (just not by us) kimchi.

I watch Korean drama often enough that I can speak chokkom (a little) Korean…food scenes are fascinating to me! 2002 mega hit Korean drama, Winter Sonata, brought strong Korean boom to Japan -  the high school heroine preparing kimchi jjigae for a love interest/class mate part was particularly memorable.

My jjigae needs only one Korean spice – gochujang (Korean chili paste) – thus uncomplicated, nice thin flavor. Other jigae recipes I recommend – Marc’s kimchi jjigae  or Sissi’s kimchi stew. both recipes have appetizing, gorgeous deep red color! 

Not exactly related to the recipe but I enjoyed so much, I wanted share.this YouTube video –  Japan China Korea Happy! Peace!

 

Ingredients and Instruction for for 4 servings Print Recipe Here

(I halved the recipe)

• 8 -12 fresh shelled oysters
• 1-2 teaspoons salt, dissolved in large bowl full of water. This is to wash oysters.
• 2 Tablespoons sake
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce, tamari soy sauce for gluten free recipe
• 2 –3 Tablespoons potato starch
• 2 plus Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 firm tofu, cut in 2 inch cubes
  
• 1 bag/300g (about) bean sprouts 
• 1 bundle/150g (about) garlic chives cut in 2 inch length
• 200g Chinese cabbage kimchee roughly cut
• 6 cups fish stock  Note: I made from 2 Tablespoons sardine dashi powder dissolved in 6 cups hot water
• 2-3 Tablespoons gochujang 
• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons potato starch

1. Quickly wash oysters in salted water, Pat dry with paper towel. Mix sake and soy sauce in bowl and place oysters in it. Marinate for 5-6 minutes. Run through your fingers to remove excess moisture from oysters, dust lightly with starch. Set aside
   . 
2. Heat vegetable oil in non-stick frying pan at medium heat. Cook oysters until slightly brown on both sides. Do not over cook. Transfer onto paper towel.
   
3. Clean the same pan with a paper towel and pour sesame oil to heat at medium heat  Add cut kimchee and sauté for 1 minute.
4. Boil the fish stock in hot pot then simmer. Add sautéed kimchee to the pot. *Scoop 1 ladle full of warmed fish stock out into a small bowl, add gochujang and dissolve, pour back into hot pot. *This step makes it easier to dissolve rather than directly adding the gochujang into the hot pot.
5. Mix in soy sauce and sugar. Then add tofu, bean sprouts, oysters and garlic chive. Cook for about 3-4 minutes over low heat. Serve hot.

To reciprocate for the kimchi, I made a raspberry shortcake….she had the day off that day….however it was enjoyed by other people in the office.

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. We had dinner at St. Jack a French bistro restaurant. They offered a Special Valentine’s Day dinner. The baked Alaska was the only dessert they served. I never had this one before so it was kind of fun! for me (my husband not  so much…he does not like meringue).

My orthodox husband had a dozen roses delivered, predictable but I always appreciate his gesture.

My Today’s TAPAS continues on Instagram. This sashimi grade tuna wrapped with thinly sliced daikon radish, topped with quail egg was refreshing!

So far I have lost 2 pounds eating small lunch….my scale might be broken.

 

 

 

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?

Soyful

Sweet and Sour Tofu Burger

Tofu burger sounds vegetarian, right? but not so with this recipe. The 4 pack Organic Tofu was on sale at Costco. The word ‘organic’ is over used lately I think. It’s true that organic resonates ‘healthier’ but really?

My tofu repertory is rather limited and perhaps boring. After I used tofu in hot pot (鍋料理) and mapo-tofu (麻婆豆腐), its expiration date is fast approaching. I dig into treasure chest… I mean storage box (I sometimes like low-tech search) and there I found this recipe that calls for ingredients I already have. Lucky! The bed of vegetables could be optional yet it completes the dish. I highly recommend that you include it in the circle.

Ingredients and Instructions for 6, 3 inch diameter burgers (Print Recipe Here)

For Tofu burger

• 1 package of medium firm tofu
• Ground pork 1/2 pound
• 2 stalks of green onion finely minced
• Ginger finely minced 1 Tablespoon
• Sesame oil 2 teaspoons
• Salt and pepper 

For Seasoning sauce – adjust as needed

• Water 1 cup
• Chinese chicken soup granules or Japanese dashi base 1 teaspoon
• Tomato ketchup 1/4 cup
• Rice vinegar 3 Tablespoons
• Sugar 2 teaspoons
• Potato starch or cornstarch 2 teaspoons

For vegetable

• Bean sprouts 1 bag or 2 cups
• Green onion or garlic chives 2-3 stalks cut green part only in 2 inches length.
• Bok Choy (optional) 1-2 Separate and cut in half length wise.
• Salt and pepper (I recommend white pepper)

Vegetable oil 2 Tablespoons

1. Remove water from tofu – Lay 2 sheets of paper towels onto shallow microwave safe dish. Tear off tofu by hand and put on the top. Microwave for 2 minutes at 60% power. Bring the four corners of the paper towel together and squeeze (careful, it may still be hot) above a dish to catch the drippings, ensure that most of the liquid from tofu is removed, discard liquid. Leave tofu on a new sheet of paper towels till needed. 
2. Mix ground pork with the salt and pepper until the pork is pasty. Add minced green onion, ginger, prepared tofu, sesame oil in a large bowl and mix well. Divide in 6ths or 12ths and make patties or balls. Set aside.
3. Make season sauce– Pour water in a bowl or large measuring cup. Dissolve Chinese chicken soup granules or Japanese dashi base. Add rest of the season mix ingredients except cornstarch then mix well. Pour about 1/4 cup of the just prepared seasoning sauce into a small bowl and dissolve potato starch or cornstarch. Put the starch mix back into the seasoning mix bowl. Set aside.
4. Bedding vegetable - Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan at high temperature. Sauté the bean sprouts, green onion (or garlic chives) and bok choy until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large platter.
5. Wipe the same frying pan with paper towel. Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil at medium heat. Lay the patties in and brown about 3 minutes. Turn over to brown other side about 3 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Stir the seasoning sauce once again and pour over the patties. Cook until the liquids get thicker and patties are coated.
7. Put the patties over the vegetables on the platter. Spoon remaining seasoning liquid over the patties. Serve hot.

Fancy Chocolate Kefir Sourdough Waffles showed up one morning. My husband’s two day project. He loves homemade fermented kefir.

After my husband mowed the lawn last Saturday, he took a number of “Signs of Spring” pictures. This is my fav pic, Star Magnolia. Our back yard vegetable garden – forgotten kale plants and noxious weeds.

I hope you’re having a great Spring Break. I wish I’m somewhere I can hear my grandkids whining.