Stir fried tofu and vegetables with Rice Noodles

This recipe was concocted at random by yours truly. I'm totally in love with the flavor but it has to be said that I was still under the weather and could barely smell or taste anything..

Serves 2
Ingredients

Broccoli - 6 florets
Green beans - 5-7, roughly chopped
Red Mushrooms/creminis -7
Yellow onion - 1/2 either sliced or chopped to match the size of tofu/broccoli
1-2 thai dried red chilli peppers
soy sauce to taste
hoisin sauce to taste - i used about 1 tbspn
sugar - to taste- i used about 1-2 tspn
chicken stock - 3/4 cup
corn starch - 2 tspns mixed in aout 2tbspn water or stock.
rice noodles or any noodles or rice whatever you have at hand
vegetable or sesame oil.
tofu - extra firm or grilled tofu works too.

i would add: bok choy, snow peas, shitake mushrooms, carrots etc., but that's for next time.


Method

1. First I fried up the tofu...you can either deep-fry it or shallow pan fry it until golden on both/all sides. Keep aside; drain on towels. Or If you have Yaki-dofu/grilled tofu, skip this step.

2. In a pan add oil and heat it up on high. next add the thai chillies for about 30sec-1 minute.

3. Add the onions, broccoli, and beans and add about 1 tbspn of stock and saute for about 3 minutes. Lastly add the mushrooms and saute for 1 minute. Keep this mixture aside.

4. In same (or different) pan, on medium low, add some chicken stock (2 tbspn), add hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar and keep mixing. Adjust amounts until your palate is satisfied. Add remaining Stock and corn starch liquid and let it thicken up (but not too much). At this point add the veggies and tofu and mix.

5. Pour over rice noodles or rice and serve immediately.

Stir-fried Vegetables with Tofu

I'm in love with Tofu. Ever since I used it for my sukiyaki recipe, I've been a fan. I need to experiment with the different forms (soft, firm, extra firm, etc.) So far I've only cooked with broiled/grilled tofu.

This is a very simple recipe and no measurements required, imo. But I've guesstimated what I did.

Ingredients: Serves 1-2

Broiled Tofu - 1/2 a block. so about 10-12 cut pieces.
Carrots - 1/2 cup-1 cup
Broccoli - 1/2 cup-1 cup
Zucchini - 1
Cellery - same amount as carrots
Onions (I used yellow) - 1/2
Garlic - 1 clove
Dried red pepper/chilli - 2
Vegetable oil - 1-2tbspn
Soy Sauce - 1-2tbspn
Corn Starch - 1/2 tspn mixed in 2tbspn of water
All purpose flour - just enough to coat the tofu.


Method:

1. Coat the tofu pieces with flour and cook them up in an oiled pan until it's brownish on both sides.

2. In same pan, add 1/2 tbspn oil and let it heat up. to this add the garlic and the 2 dried red peppers. Let if crackle and pop to release all of their essence into the oil.

3. Add all the veggies and toss around for about 3-4 minutes on the medium to high heat. Your veggies might start getting brown which isn't good. Add a tbspn of water after about 2 minutes to keep this from happening.

4. Next, add about 1tbsp-2tbspn of soy sauce (first add 1 and then taste. you can always add more later). Toss around.

5. Add the corn starch water and mix thoroughly. The "sauce" will start to thicken. Add the cooked tofu and gently toss so everything is coated with sauce.

6. Serve with rice.

Suggestions: Add more vegetables that you like: asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, peas, scallions, spinach, mushrooms, snow peas, etc. You get the drift.
It probably will be just as tasty if you skip cooking the tofu before hand. I just like the taste better this way.
Lastly you also could avoid the corn starch step, if you're ok with a soy saucy dryish dish. You could just add water to have some sort of a sauce to go with the rice. I've done it both ways.

Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki
I’m very picky when it comes to food; I’m extra sensitive to foul odors and staleness. That being said, this Japanese restaurant in Costa Mesa “I love Sushi” had a great thing going for it when it came to my patronage. That is, until the entire service staff got horrible. The food remained great but it was painful to go there and sadly I haven’t gone back since 2006. I crave the food there every now and then, but the horrifically pathetic service has successfully kept me away.

In my quest to find a good replacement for this restaurant, I went to several restaurants. I think I need to come clean right now before the comments are flooded with sushi suggestions: I don’t eat sushi at all. If my food smells like the ocean (seaweed), I’m outta there. On the contrary, I should try sashimi and I do enjoy the seaweed in Miso soup. Sue me. Now back to this elaborate rambling that I’ve somehow gotten myself into…yes. Anyway, I haven’t found a replacement restaurant in terms of taste and I’m sad about that but I finally took matters into my own hands and tried making dish #1 : Chicken Sukiyaki.

Here is the recipe (guesstimated), adjust condiments according to your taste.

Ingredients for the broth:
1.5 cups Chicken Stock ( I used a pinch of Bouillion cube which had salt in it).
6 Tablespoons Japanese Soy Sauce (I used Kikkoman)
5 Tablespoons Mirin (sweet rice wine type thing. Sugar is NOT a good enough substitute)
6 teaspoons sugar
5 Tablespoons Sake (mmm after eating a big bowl of this, I was passed out for a good 2 hours)


Other Ingredients all of which can be got at a Japanese Store :
Glass Noodles – made out of potato starch [Shirataki] 4-8 oz.
Napa cabbage
Snow Peas
Shitake Mushroom (I hate these Fungi but it’s always added)
White/button Mushroom
Spinach
Onions
Bean Sprouts
Scallions
Zucchini
Broccoli
Grilled Tofu [Yaki-Dofu]
Thin Slices of chicken (marinate thin slices of breast meat in mirin, soy sauce, sugar and ginger for about 1.5 hours)
Vegetable oil- about 2 tbspns


Method:
1. In a saucepan, add the broth ingredients sequentially in the order listed above. Let it heat up at each step and taste. Adjust quantity of sugar etc. according to taste.
2. In a separate pot, add some vegetable oil, just enough to coat the bottom. To this add the chicken and cook it until semi-done.
3. Toss in the Tofu, veggies, and noodles (can cook noodles before hand or it will cook in the broth) and let it gel for about a minute and then add the prepared sukiyaki broth.
4. Let all the ingredients simmer and veggies cook—takes about 10-15mins (also ensure chicken is now cooked).
5. Serve over sticky Japanese rice!
6. Also if you know how to make tempura, topping your bowl with sweet potato or pumpkin tempura = FOR THE WIN!


Sidenotes:
You can make a vegan/vegetarian version by omitting the chicken and chicken stock. I made a vegan version and it was freaking delicious.