Stir-fried Soy Tofu Sheet

I love anything tofu, so when I spotted this soy tofu sheet, of course I wanted to buy and try to cook it.  I had it before at a potluck party and it left me with a good impression.  I loved the texture of this tofu sheet and loved that it kept its shape really well even when you stir-fried it. It also took on the flavor of the seasonings well.  So, here is my version and I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

1 packet of sou tofu sheet, cut into long strips and separated it.

1 medium size yellow onion, sliced

2 jalapeño, sliced into strips

2-3 stalks of green onion, cut into 2 inches length

Thumb size ginger, thinly sliced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Black and toasted white sesame seeds, to suit

Lao Gan Ma chili paste, or homemade chili paste. chili oil, about 2 Tbsp. or to suit

Hoisin sauce, about 2 Tbsp.

Premium dark soy sauce, 1 Tbsp.

1/2 tsp. mushroom powder, optional

Sesame oil, about 1 tsp.

1 tsp. cane sugar

Soy sauce, to taste

Method:

1.  In a hot wok, add oil.  Add aromatic, ginger, white part of the green onion, then garlic, yellow onion and jalapeño, stir-fry until fragrant.  

2.  Add the sliced soy tofu sheet, mixed well.  Add the rest of the seasonings, season to taste.  Lastly, add the green part of the green onion, mixed well.  Turn off the fire and add the sesame seeds.  Mixed and serve.  It can be served hot or cold from the refrigerator.  Enjoy!

Homecooked meal

 

What can be more satisfying then a delicious homecooked meal made with love?  I love to provide my girls with a nutritional balance meal whenever I get the chance.  With the two air-fryers that I have, cooking a meal is so much easier and faster.  I air-fried the asparagus in one and air-fried the miso cod in another air-fryer and I time it so that both finish cooking at about the same time.  Here's how you get warm food and not one cold dish with your meal.  I also time the beancurd knots to hit start button on my air-fryers to cook.

Served it up with my turmeric, black pepper and coconut oil rice!  Yummy in the tummy every time!

Seasoned Crispy and Fragrant Beancurd Knots or Tofu Knots

Well, I love almost all variety of tofu products.  I love beancurd knots because it holds it shape well when braising. Before this, I mostly use it in braising my soy sauce chicken or pork.  It goes well with rice with some homemade chili oil.  And then I saw a video of a different way of cooking dried beancurd roll.  I didn't have dried beancurd roll but I did have this dried beancurd knots that I could use.  Hence, here this recipe is born.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my girls and I.  Happy cooking!

Air-fried 5 Spice Tofu

This recipe popped into my mind while I was exercising on my stationary bike.  I know tofu takes the flavor of the marinade and I thought of an Asian style flavoring.  Like what if I marinate it with soy sauce and add 5 spice powder into it?  The other spices just came together while I was seasoning the tofu.

Did I mention how much I loved my air-fryer?  It just gave me so much more convenience when cooking the fried tofu.  I used to pan-fry the tofu in 2 batches and now I just threw it into the deep-fryer and it was done in 13 minutes.  How convenient is that?

Seasoned and marinated tofu cubes ready for air frying.

Braised Chicken with Frozen Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms

Have you tried the frozen tofu before?  If not, give it a try because I strongly recommended it!  It works best with extra firm or firm tofu.  Just wrap it in foil and in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for at least 2 days or up to a year.  When you want to use it in any of your dishes, just defroze it in the refrigerator overnight.  When defroze, squeeze out the water as much as you can before cooking.  I normally used it in braising meat or chicken and the sponge like texture with soak up all the braising flavor.

This dish is actually kind of spicy because of the dried chilies, but you can freely omit the dried chilies for a more child friendly dish.

Spicy Szechuan Fish

A co-worker gave me a packet of Szechuan fish premixed to try and told me that it was very good. As I loved spicy food and I also liked Szechuan fish, I gladly tried it at home.  Since I had some Szechuan peppers at home, I added that for the numbing effect.  I also added non-GMO tofu, organic romaine lettuce, organic portobello mushroom and some cilantro.  I used Swai for this, but you can also use Tilapia or Cod fish.  The rest I just followed the instructions at the back of the premixed packet.  Definitely very spicy and numbing, very good serving it with white Jasmine rice.  Enjoy!

Korean Rice Cake Soup

My original plan was to make a seaweed tofu miso soup with added Korean fish cake.  And then I remembered I still have half a packet of the fresh rice cake in the refrigerator and then the AHA moment, why not I just mixed it in together with the soup?  Now I had a one dish meal ready to consume hot in this cold weather day and I didn't have to worry about cooking the rice.  This makes one excellent meatless meal as well.

The fresh rice cake is good in stir-fry, spicy with gochujang or non-spicy with soy sauce and so good in soup too, so remember to grab a packet of this whenever you are in a Korean supermarket, it can certainly comes in handy.

Caution:  Don't overcook the rice cake, otherwise it won't be chewy anymore, it will expand and become soft.

Korean Style Cold Tofu Banchan

There is a reason why I like to eat at a Korean restaurant, I will get to sample their banchan/ side dishes and then discover new banchan to cook at home.  There are some Korean restaurants that serve up non-traditional banchan that use mayonnaise, fruit salad and salad.  But I like the traditional banchan more especially those that I am not familiar with.  I find it great to sample food that I have never eaten before from another culture.  My husband is the least adventurous of all as he won't touch some of the banchan such as kimchi.  Luckily I have exposed my girls to kimchi early on and they all love kimchi now and three of us will finish the kimchi in the restaurant.

This spicy cold tofu dish is the replica of what I had recently.  I am not sure whether this is the right way of doing it but this is my way of making it and I think it turned out pretty good.  I think it make a quick and easy banchan.  My hubby didn't like it, he didn't even want to try it at first but took a tiny bite after I asked him. Oh well... more for me then!

Pan-fried Tofu with Broccoli

I was trying on a new sauce called "Wan Ja Shan- Stir Fry Sauce" and I wanted to share it with you all.  It made this stir-fry dish delicious and I only used this sauce alone without any other seasonings.  You can make it into a one dish meal by adding some meat or poultry and serve it with a hot bowl of rice.  Or serve it vegetarian by adding some mushroom with a bowl of hot rice.  You should be able to find this sauce in the Asian supermarket.  You don't have to add a lot, just 1 Tbsp. should be enough for a whole dish.

Tofu Shirataki Noodle Soup

When their daddy was on a business trip, I just wanted something easy to make and good for lunch and dinner.  A big pot of slow cooker chicken stock that I can cook overnight just pop up.  Just so happen that we had some leftover rotisserie chicken breast and some fresh romaine lettuce and mushroom in the refrigerator, the meal was planned.

For dinner, instead of tofu shirataki, we had some whole wheat thin spaghetti as noodle and also par-boiled spinach as the vegetable.

Tofu Shirataki

Finally I got my chance to try the House Food's Tofu Shirataki!  I gotten my chance because those coupons were just irresistible!  Whole Food accepts one manufacturer coupon and one in house coupon, so when combining the two, I only paid 30 cent for each packet, irresistible right?   A plus for me is it is also Non-GMO certified, gotta love that!

I thought that noodle made with tofu must be soft and fragile but this is not the case, with added yam flour, it is actually chewy and doesn't feel like eating tofu.  Seeing the cashier just dump the packet across the scanner, they probably know that it is not as fragile as its name implies.

I took a picture so that you would have an idea of what it looks like.  One packet is just enough to serve one, not a lot.  I served mine with stir-fried cabbage and Korean style spicy chicken.  Both recipes can be found in my blog.  Then, just mixed it all together and season with a little fish sauce and white pepper.

Vegetarian Mapo Tofu

I loved mapo tofu!  The usual mapo tofu is cooked with ground pork and since I stop buying pork and too lazy to mince some chicken breast, I created a vegetarian version.  I substituted the ground pork with fresh shiitake mushroom, of course you can use the meaty portabello mushroom too (or crimini or button mushroom).  Since mushroom is good for us, I try to cook more mushroom dishes. 

Tofu Knots with Mushrooms

This is another of my meatless vegetarian meal.  I loved these cute baby dried flower mushrooms that I bought in Malaysia.  Since it's so small, I could just serve it whole.  It is great for presentation too!  I have seen this baby mushrooms here too and it is not cheap.  Wish it is cheaper though!  Anyway, the tofu knots and mushrooms in this dish will soak up all the flavor of the stock and you can serve this with rice or porridge.

King Oyster Mushroom with Tofu

King Oyster Mushroom (杏鮑菇) is antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, antioxidant and has positive effects on the immune system.  You can buy it at the Asian and Korean supermarkets here in the United States.  All kinds of mushroom are good for us so I would suggest you to add a variety of mushrooms into your diet.  Just read that Enoki mushroom has a very high anti-cancer property too. 

Tofu is high in protein, has selenium, omega-3 fats, iron, calcium, etc and low in calories.  A great substitution for meat in those meatless days.  I always strike for a balance meal and diet, so serve this with a plate of green vegetable and a little brown rice and there you have it.

Spicy Tempeh

My version of spicy tempeh.  I used my homemade sambal tumis, if you don't have one, a great substitute would be the shrimp paste in soy bean oil and a little fish sauce.  When I made my sambal tumis, I made a bunch and freeze them in individual small size containers.  So, each time I only took out one container that usually lasted for a week or two, either in cooking or as a condiment.  This one definitely goes well with rice,  but might be too spicy for children.  My Edda loved the none-spicy version but won't touch this spicy one.  My hubby and elder daughter are not a fan of tempeh, but they would still eat it if I cook it. 

Picture of tempeh

Seasoned Tempeh

Tempeh has been a staple in Indonesian diet for over 2000 years.  After knowing about the benefits of tempeh (fermented whole soy beans) for a year or two, I finally introduced it to my girls.  I heard about it but never tried it until last year my friend cooked it and let us tried it.  She cooked it in sambal so my girls didn't try it but my hubby and I did.  My hubby didn't really like the nutty taste but I thought it was not too bad.

I prefer to slice mine thinly so that it would be well seasoned.  I made this non-spicy version for my girls using half of the tempeh shown below and the other half I made it with my sambal tumis.  My Edda loved this non-spicy tempeh a lot and even requested to keep some for the lunch box the next day.  The tempeh took the flavor of the marinade and actually quite delicious.  I can see this being sandwich in bread and make a good burger.

Picture of tempeh

Don't freak out if you see black spots on your tempeh.  It is still edible, just that it is more ripen and age more than the white one.  I read that the flavor might be more intense as well.  But if you see color other than black and white, discard or refund it.  Another indicator that it is spoiled is that it becomes slimy and smell bad.

Stir-Fried Tofu with Chayote

I fell in love with chayote once I tried it.  So, I have been buying it quite frequently because chayote is a nutritious veggie.  I mentioned about the nutrition in my previous or first post about chayote, please refer back to my old post (under vegetable) to read about it if you are interested.

The above dish is easy and super delicious.  I just substituted the chicken breast with tofu for my meatless meal.  All you need for this dish is a bottle of Lee Kum Kee's Chu Hou Sauce.  I just ran out of this sauce and I have been to two Asian supermarkets and couldn't find it.  *cry*  I guess I had to make another trip to a different Asian supermarket up in Denver to search for it.  I dislike how the Asian market here is not quick in restocking their products or sometimes they just stop ordering it.  *sigh*

Stir-Fried Chicken with Leeks (鸡胸肉炒韭菜)

I have started buying more leeks at my supermarket trip recently.  I found the flavor here is less pungent than the one in Malaysia.  Perhaps that was the reason why my hubby (he disliked eating leek in Malaysia) and girls have no problem in eating leeks that I cooked.  Leek is a part of onion family called Allium just like garlic, scallion and onion.  Leeks provide a good source of fiber, folid acid, manganese, potassium, calcium, vitamin B6 and C and iron.  It was said to improve the immune system, lower bad cholesterol levels, increase good cholesterol levels and fight certain cancer.  I eat leek purely not because of its health benefits but I happen to like leek a lot especially when it is stir-fried with a little oyster sauce.

I served the above as a one dish meal with a bowl of watercress soup.  This dish had frozen tofu, chicken breast, leek, red bell pepper, carrot and garlic.
 

Frozen Tofu with Shiitake and Dried Lily Buds

Dried lily buds (金針菜) is also called golden needle vegetable but don't confuse it with dried golden needle mushroom (dried enoki mushroom) as they look almost similar.  Usually found in Asian supermarket where they sell dried woodear and mushroom.  Once open, I would keep it in a Ziploc bag and in the refrigerator.  When you want to use it, you need to soften it in the water first.  I often see dried lily buds in auspicious Chinese dishes because it symbolizes wealth for the Chinese when celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year.  Shiitake mushroom symbolizes longevity + opportunity and yellow color tofu symbolizes wealth and happiness (like dried beancurd stick and fried tofu puff).  Since frozen tofu is yellow in color and yellow means gold in Chinese, it should symbolizes wealth and happiness.  Whereas the fresh white tofu is not included as it is unlucky for new year as the color white means death and misfortune. You can braise your tofu in a sauce to change the color or pan-fried the tofu until golden before stir-frying to change your luck if you are superstitious like me.

This would make a great vegetarian Chinese New Year dish too!   The frozen tofu cubes and mushrooms soaked up all the flavor of the sauce and made this dish such a plus!  Imagine biting into the spongy and juicy cubed tofu and flavorful mushrooms!!

I am sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 1st.  I know I will!  :-)

Korean Tofu BuChim/ Dubu BuChim

This recipe caught my eyes when I was browsing Aeri's Kitchen for some Korean recipe ideas.  It caught my eyes because it looked exactly like a tofu dish my friend served at her house recently.  So, I added this dish because it was so simple to make and I have the organic firm tofu at home.  This tofu buchim didn't fail me, the sauce was delicious and did I say it was so easy to make?  Give it a try if you are having a lazy night and want a quick and delicious side dish for your dinner.  Oh, I liked Aeri's website for Korean food as she also made the trouble of making videos of her preparing the dishes.  I really kudo to those who did the extra step.