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.

Chicken Soup

With the crazy abrupt weather change here in Southern California, my body has succumbed to illness. I hate sore throats. Ugh. Anyhow, I had some bouillon cubes at hand and some random veggies. I haven't had the opportunity to go stock up yet, so whatever was in my fridge went into this soup. LV, has a more delectable version here.

Serves 1-2 (if you're all giant sick pigs like me)
Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped/shredded leftover rotisserie chicken
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1 big clove of garlic, minced
1/2 a carrot, sliced
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
a palmful of peas
5 florets of broccoli
some cauliflower (optional)
5 mushrooms (i used creminis-- more flavor that butto/white mushrooms)
whatever else veggie you have on hand...(squash, celery, scallions, bean sprouts, napa cabbage, spinach, snowpeas, etc.)
3 cups chicken stock ( i just used 1.5 cubes of chicken cubes in hot water)
salt to taste
and lots of black pepper to taste.
pasta of choice (i only had some multicolored corkscrew pasta)
some vegetable oil

Method

1. In a pan add the oil and heat it up on medium-high. To this add the garlic and oregano and saute for about 1 minute. Next add the onions and saute for 1 minute.

2. Add the hearty veggies (carrots, broccoli, beans) and saute for about 3 minutes.

3. Lastly add the chicken and mushrooms and mix for about 2 minutes.

4. In a separate pot bring the chicken stock to a simmer and add the cooked veggies and chicken to this. I cooked my pasta in the simmering stock before adding my veggies...you could do that or cook it separately. Lastly add a palmful of peas and bring to a boil. Taste and add lots of black pepper/salt.

Serve hot.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

I found the recipe for the spice mix on AllRecipes.com - and since that *makes* this tagine, credit must go there. However, I have experimented with the other vegetables and found what works best: mini-zuchini! Tagine is supposed to be made in a Tagine (food and pot are named the same thing), but I find that a large sauce pot works very well. You can make extra spice mix and store it for next time since that is the part that takes the longest. --AnglophileLV

Moroccan Lamb Tagine
Serves 4


The spice mix:
2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pinch saffron
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

Other ingredients:
2 pounds lamb meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut into fourths
10 Baby squash or zucchini thrown in whole or large squash cubed
10 Fingerling potatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 lemon, zested
1 (14.5 ounce) can low-sodium canned broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or 1-2 fresh tomatoes)
1 tablespoon honey
10 Dried apricots or prunes
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
1 tablespoon water (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Place diced lamb in a large pot with olive oil, toss with half of the spice mix. Brown well.
2. Add onions, garlic, and ginger. Let cook for 3 minutes. Add carrots, potatoes and squash/zucchini.
3. Stir in the lemon zest, chicken broth, tomato paste or tomatoes, and honey. Add in the other half of the spice mix.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender.
5. Add the dried apricots or prunes a few minutes before serving.

***Taste test and add more spice mix if the tagine is too bland. If it is bland, it’s not this recipe’s fault—YOU just added too many vegetables. Hey, I’ve done it myself. Just add more spice mix and you’ll be fine.

If the consistency of the tagine is too thin, thicken it with a mixture of cornstarch and water during the last 5 minutes.

Serve with couscous and crusty bread. The Moroccans use the crusty bread to pick up the chunks of meat and vegetables with their fingers. I highly recommend doing the same.

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.