Sauteed Pan Fried Tofu

You can never have too many tofu recipes! Tofu is made from soy beans which contain plenty of protein making it a perfect meat substitute. Due to it's delicate texture, tofu can be limiting when it is eaten often. If it's not deep fried, it's in some kind of soup. An alternative is to freeze the tofu which will give it s sponge-like texture but it become more "durable" and flavorful! Here, instead of deep frying, this is a lightly pan fried tofu

(Serves 4-6)

6 pieces of Tofu, cut into 4 slices

1 stalk of Spring Onions cut into 2" lengths

1 bunch of Cilantro

Plenty of Hot Peppers

6 tsp of Soy Sauce

White Pepper

Oil

1) Lightly fry each side of the tofu until each side is brown. When done, remove the tofu from the oil. In a high heat, heat the oil and add the springs onions and hot peppers. When 80% cooked, add the tofu, cilantro and soy sauce. Lightly mix everything.

2) Your final dish will look something like this.

Note: You can adjust the amount of sauce since your tofu will be a bit bland with less sauce. Just keep in mind that tofu contains alot of water and releases water as it sits. You may want to make your sauce saltier than other dishes as the tofu will dilute the sauce.

Steamed Egg "Tofu"

This is a dish that is very light but flavorful. It provides a soft, soupy texture that is very simple to make and requires only 5 ingredients!

2 Eggs

2 cloves Minced Garlic

White and Black Pepper

1 tsp Soy Sauce

1 cup Hot Water

1) Mix the eggs in a large bowl. Add all the ingredients except the hot water.

2) Mix well. There will be plenty of bubbles.
3) Add the hot water slowly while beating the egg mixture. As you mix, plenty of bubble will form. (This is very much like beating egg whites for Angel Food Cake). Mix for at least 2 minutes, longer will making the "tofu" more successful!
4) A side view of the "diluted" egg mixture. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and place in the microwave. The first couple times making this will require monitoring because every microwave is different.
5) After 1 minute, the egg mixture is about 70% done.

6) Another 30 seconds and voila! Steamed Egg Tofu, very fragrant, very soft and a fun way to make eggs.

Note: Soy sauce is used for coloring purposes, you can lessen or add more depending on the darkness of your Soy Sauce and your preference.

Recipe for Tomato, Scrambled Eggs and Frozen Tofu Soup - 2010.01.18

Per TkN's request, here's a general recipe...quantities can be adjusted per preference!

Ingredient preparation (quantities for 2-3 meals):

Frozen tofu (1-2)- Freeze fresh tofu for 1 day. (We usually buy the bucket of 10 pieces and end up freezing half or it so it doesn't go bad and to prevent from having tofu dishes everyday...) Defrost the tofu in the morning (if you're making dinner). If you need it defrosted quickly you can put it in a bowl and microwave it. You want to do this so you can squeeze the water out of the tofu. Frozen tofu is sponge-like. You can use fresh tofu or fried tofu instead of frozen tofu. Dice your tofu so they are the similar size as your tomatoes.

Tomatoes (2-3) - Any kind of tomatoes will do (though I've never tried it with cherry tomatoes). Dice or slice the tomatoes. I don't like eating cooked pieces of tomatoes so I dice mine really small. My parents like larger slices so you can taste the tomatoes...

Scrambled eggs (2-3) - Piece of cake, right?

Green onion (1 stalk) - Cut the white part of the green onion. Split the onion length-wise in half to thirds. Then cut the onion so they're about 1-2cms in length. It's very hard to describer the cutting method, but you just need to cut it so you don't have round pieces of onions running around. With the remainder of the green, just dice and put to the side.

2 cups of boiling water - don't burn the water!

Cooking directions:

1) Make all the food preparations first, including the scrambled eggs!
2) Half a teaspoon of oil and saute the white part of the onions. Put in a pinch of salt. When you smell yummy onions, put your tomatoes in.
3) Mix your tomatoes until they are cooked and there's tomato juice. Add in the boiling water - don't use cold water!
4) Add your scrambled eggs and tofu to the tomato stock. Put the remaining green onion and simmer for a few minutes - if your pan has a lid, cover it and turn the heat down a bit.
5) Taste the soup, add additional salt as needed and some white pepper.
6) Take a picture! (After it stops steaming!)

Note: You don't have to add water to the dish if you don't want soup. It makes a nice dish to eat with rice as well.

Recipe for Drunken Chicken Soup

Upon request, as I promised, here is my attempt to writing a recipe with numbers...

/* You have no idea how hard this is, I really can't tell 1 cup from 8oz... =P */

Ingredients: Serves 2-4
/* Depends if you eat it as soup or as a meal*/

• 1/2 lb - Chunks of Chicken with bones
  /*Dark or white or both, depending what you like best. Both or just dark meat is good, unless you really like white meat because white meat can be a bit dry when cooked in soup. I like eating white meat, so I don't mind. */
• 1/3 cup - Vodka or another strong alcohol
  /* Not rum since it has a strange taste, but something you can tolerate or have. Cooking wine doesn't really count though, not strong enough... */
• 1/3 cup - Sesame Oil
  /* There are alot of different types, some are more pure than others, but for this you can get the cheapest kind or whatever you currently have in your fridge. */
• 5 Thick Slices of Ginger
  /* With or without the skin is ok. If you plan to eat the ginger, I would skin it, otherwise you can leave it on. Approximately 2 to 3 times the thickness of your blade. */
• Dried Tangerine Peel
  /* It doesn't have to be tangerine but because the skin is thinner, it's easier to dry, usually 24 hrs or so in open air. Others will work but take longer to dry. Try to keep the peel in large pieces, it doesn't taste good, so you definitely don't want to mince it! One whole tangerine peel is enough for this recipe. */
• 8 to 12 cups of Boiling Water
  /* Don't forget to boil the water BEFORE you start the steps below. Or if you have a coffee pot that isn't used for coffee, you can oil cook the water and pour when you need it in Step 4. That's what we do when we need hot water, better than cooking it on the side... And you don't have to use all the water, in fact it may be too much, just read on and you'll see. */
  

Wok or deep frying pan that can hold the chicken and water.
/* If it can fit 8 to 12 cups of water, you should be ok. I will use a 'wok' to cook, less to spell. =) */
Gas Range
/* This is not to say you can't cook with an electric range, but it's SOOO hard to cook chinese food with that stuff, you can't control the temperature at all!! */


1. Heat wok at high. Add the sesame oil. When the oil is warm to hot, put the ginger and tangerine peel in. Lower the heat between medium and hot and let it cook a bit until you can smell the ginger and tangerine peel mixed together. Don't let it burn!

Tip 1: Remember, you can always pick up your wok to save your food from burning.

2. Turn the heat to high. Add the chunks of chicken and 'saute' until the the outside is cooked and you can smell the essence of the chicken. /* Yes, chicken has an essence. Think about it, it smells different cooked than when it's raw. */

Tip 2: If the chicken sticks to your wok, you can add a bit more sesame oil to make it easier. Don't add too much because everything you put in it part of the soup!

3. Add water so it is at least level with the chicken. Add 1 to 2 cups more of water. /* Too much and your soup will be bland and the chicken essence all gone. */ Let it simmer for 5 minutes on medium.

Tip 3: Using water that is not boiling hot will cause the chicken to become cold. It locks the essence inside the chicken and your soup will become bland. The boiling water puts everything at the same temperature for a homogenous mixture. Well, it's homogenous between the essence and the boiling water...

4. Add vodka to the soup. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat.

Tip 4: Taste the soup, if you want to add more vodka for taste you can. This soup is often eaten in cold weather since it warms you up very quickly!

5. Enjoy! =)

You can eat this soup by itself or with rice or thin vermicelli rice noodles. I eat it with whatever is in the fridge. This can be a great breakfast on a cold morning when eaten with rice or noodles. Of course, you wouldn't cook this in the morning, it would have to be leftovers... =P

This recipe probably makes more sense when you extract only the recipe and remove the italicized comments after every single item... =)

Good Luck! And don't forget, take pictures! =)