Tofu for Tofu-Haters

Fried tofu bao, plus one bao with fried eggplant, just because.

I know there are those out there who say they will eat tofu no how no way. "It's yucky," or "it doesn't have any flavor" are common complaints. For one thing, it's not at all yucky, and for another, the lack of inherent flavor is one of the things that makes tofu so versatile. You might have heard that it absorbs the flavors around it, but that's not necessarily true unless you simmer it in a very flavorful sauce for a long time. However, a neutral protein like tofu can really make other ingredients shine because they will stand out in contrast to the soy's bland smoothness. One of my favorite tofu recipes is very simple and very delicious. In it, bold garlic, soy sauce, and chile flavors are emphasized by the milky tofu, which also provides a silky and soothing foil to the palate.

Another thing one can do with tofu is to fry it until it's crispy crunchy, like potato chips or fried chicken. It becomes all about terrific texture and works really well in something like Taiwanese-style steamed buns, or bao. You can buy frozen bao in Chinese supermarkets, or you can make them at home, or, you can totally cheat by using refrigerated biscuit dough (find that recipe here). Pillowy buns, crispy tofu, a bit of creamy Sriracha mayo or sweet hoisin sauce, sliced cucumber, cilantro, and an optional topping of crushed peanuts and sugar (to which I added black sesame seeds), makes a mighty tasty snack.

If you don't want to go to all that trouble, just mix up a dipping sauce of mayo, sriracha, a bit of sugar, some minced green onion, and a pinch of salt. Dip in crispy tofu squares and enjoy.

Super Crispy Fried Tofu

1 14- to-16-pounce package extra firm tofu (the refrigerated kind)
Corn starch
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt

Remove the tofu from the packaging and discard the liquid. Wrap the tofu in a layer of paper towels and place on a plate. Put another plate upside-down over the tofu and weight plate with a jar or can. Refrigerate for at least four hours, changing the towels at least once during that time.

When you're ready to cook the tofu, remove the soggy towels and discard. Cut the block of tofu in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 5 or 6 slices.

Put a half cup or so of corn starch in a bowl. Dredge each slice of tofu in the cornstarch, patting it into each piece and shaking off excess. Put dredged tofu pieces on a plate until you finish coating the rest of them.

Add a couple tablespoons of oil to a large non-stick skillet and heat over high heat. Add the tofu pieces in one layer and cover the pan. Cook until crisp and brown on the bottom, 4-5 minutes. Check the browning process occasionally (it will seem to brown slowly at first) by picking up a piece with kitchen tongs. (Be careful when lifting the lid off the pan! Condensation will have accumulated and will drip off the pan into the oil, causing spattering. It's best to lift the lid straight up, not on an angle, and move it away to the side quickly.)

Once tofu is browned on the bottom, turn pieces and cook an additional 4-5 minutes until the other side is brown. If you feel the tofu is browning too quickly, turn the heat down a bit. (If it browns too fast, not only can it burn, but it won't be as crisp because there will still be moisture inside.)

Remove tofu pieces from the heat and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Season tofu with a pinch of salt while still hot.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Meatless Monday - Massaman Curry

While my favorite Thai curry is the red variety, Mr Minx favors Massaman, or Muslim-style curry. Because of the cardamom in the curry, it has a vaguely Indian-esque quality about it. Potatoes are another unusual ingredient in this hearty dish.

Recently, we prepared it with extra firm tofu, and added sugar snap peas and green beans as well. We used Maesri brand canned curry paste, some coconut milk, a splash of fish sauce, some tamarind, palm sugar, and lime to get a nice balance of flavors.

I still prefer red curry, but Massaman curry is always nice for a change.

Meatless Mondays - Korean Scallion Pancake

If you find yourself with a surplus of leftover or frozen vegetables, scallions in particular, Korean pancakes, or pa jun, are a quick and delicious way to use up some of your plenty.  (You can use meat and seafood, too!) The pancake itself is pretty simple - eggs, water, flour, and veg; what makes the dish sparkle is a tangy/spicy vinegar-based dipping sauce.

I like to serve pa jun with some Korean-style pickled vegetables. This time I chopped up some cucumber and tossed it with a bit of Korean red pepper flakes, and generous dashes of soy, vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil.

Korean Scallion Pancakes

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups ice water
2 eggs
1 cup scallions (light and dark green part), cut into inch long pieces
1 cup roughly chopped vegetables (I used raw corn, cooked edamame, raw mushrooms, and blanched green beans)
vegetable or canola oil for frying

In a large bowl, combine the flour, water, and eggs, stirring with a fork until the batter is no longer lumpy. Add the vegetables and stir to combine.

Over a medium flame, heat 1/2 teaspoon of oil in a large sauté pan. Spoon in some batter, spreading to make a 6" circle. Cook about 2 minutes per side, until each is lightly browned and dry and a bit crisp. (For some reason, the pancakes never really get uniformly brown or dark.) Continue this step until all batter is used.

Serve with dipping sauce. Serves 4.

Dipping Sauce

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons agave syrup
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Big pinch of Korean hot red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Let rest for a few minutes to blend flavors.

Meatless Monday - Tofu with Spicy Sauce

Gourmet Magazine may be gone, but one can still catch episodes of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie on PBS. In an episode seen not long ago, Ruth Reichl whipped up this Korean panchan-style dish. It looked quick and easy and a great way to use up that block of tofu that was getting dangerously close to its sell-by date.

Despite going against a major rule for preparing tofu - boiling it rather than pressing all of the extra moisture out - it retained a nice texture and was not at all water-logged. Although Reichl used soft tofu, the technique worked great with extra firm. And it was delicious. With all that garlic, scallions, and soy, how could it not be?

Warm Tofu with Spicy Sauce (adapted from Gourmet)

1 (14- to 18-oz) package firm tofu
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup chopped scallion
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Korean hot red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon sugar or agave syrup

Rinse tofu, then cover with cold water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Lower heat and cook for about half an hour.

In a bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together.

Just before serving, carefully lift tofu from saucepan with a large spatula and drain on paper towels. Gently pat dry, then transfer to a bowl. Pour sauce over tofu and serve.

Meatless Monday - Rotini with Broccoli

We planted our garden early in May and within a few weeks our basil situation was out of control. Four kinds of basil were growing like wildfire - not a bad thing - and Mr Minx was forced to whip up a quick batch of pesto with the spicy globe variety. We used some as a burger topping, and the leftovers on pasta, along with about half a cup of leftover heavy cream (leftover from sometime at the end of April - does the stuff ever go bad?), and the dregs of a container of shredded Parmesan cheese.

We also had some broccoli crowns in the fridge, so I blanched them and tossed them into the sauce, which went over "rainbow" rotini. (Surely an orange, green, and cream colored rainbow could only have existed in the 1970s.)

With a judicious amount of salt and a bit more shredded Parmesan added at the end, it was a filling and delicious meal, full of vegetable goodness.

What's your favorite way to eat broccoli?

Meatless Monday - Corn Soup

Mr. Minx here, filling in for Mrs. Minx who is on assignment.

One of my pet peeves about living in Baltimore is that it's very difficult to find yellow corn. Every supermarket or road side stand is chock full of white, sweet corn, but your ordinary yellow corn is virtually nowhere to be found. For my taste buds, white corn doesn't taste like anything except sweet whereas yellow corn tastes like - well, corn. I can only assume that stores carry white corn over yellow corn in this area because more white corn is grown in this area and people have been conditioned to like it. Heck, in this world full of high fructose corn syrup, it's not surprising that people are hooked on anything that is sweet, sweet, sweet.

Anyway, last summer I was thrilled to discover that a supermarket near my mother's home carried both white and yellow corn. Several times, when I visited the store on shopping errands for my mother, I would pick up several ears of yellow corn for the Minx and myself. I also told my mother about my preference for yellow corn.

"Well, I like the white corn," Mom replied. "because it's sweet."

My point exactly.

I forgot about our corn discussion until I visited her on Mother's Day. Mom happily announced that there was a bag of corn in the refrigerator for me. "I got you some ears of white corn because I know how much you like it." I was shaken by annoying memories of my childhood. My mother always had a habit of transferring her personal tastes onto me. No matter what I said to the contrary, she would always buy what she liked assuming that I liked it too. I ate it because I had no choice. As an adult, when she would catch me eating something she didn't like, she would immediately accuse me of being some sort of fraud because I never liked that item before.

"Why are you eating okra?" she would exclaim. "You never liked okra!"

"No, mom," I would reply, attempting to remain calm. "You never liked okra. I've always liked okra."

"Who are you and what have you done with my son?"

So I was left with seven ears of oh-so-sweet white corn. The Minx suggested making soup out of it so we could adjust the flavor as we pleased and mitigate the sweetness. She found two recipes that looked promising, and I chose to make Bobby Flay's chipotle corn soup.

Reading over the recipe, I knew that I had to make some adjustments. First of all, the recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream. Since I only had about half a cup on hand, I had to find some other way to create richness. I decided to start with a roux made from 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, and 1/3 of a cup of flour. Stirring the roux occasionally over medium high heat while I did other prep, I eventually got the roux to a milk chocolate color in about 15 minutes (the darker the roux, the more flavor). After adding the onions to the roux and cooking them until they were translucent, I added the corn and cooked the whole mix for another 3 minutes. Without 6 cups of chicken stock as the recipe stated, I opted to dissolve two chicken bouillon cubes in six cups of water. Finally, I poured the liquid over the vegetables and roux, leaving it to simmer for 30 minutes.

While it was simmering, I added in the seasonings. The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of dried chipotle chili powder, which I dutifully added but I would not recommend because the resulting flavor is incendiary. (The Minx adds: IN.CEN.DI.ARY.) Perhaps with the 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, it's not so bad, but using my method, the soup had a real mouth numbing quality. I would recommend starting with a teaspoon and slowly adding more depending on your heat preference.

Once the soup had finished simmering, I took a hand blender and whizzed it to a fine mush, adding some heavy cream to lighten the color and give it more body. Of course, the recipe asks that you whir it in the blender and push it through a strainer, but I didn't feel the need to be fancy. Besides, I like the little bits of corn skin in the soup. Please note: the recipe calls for four ears of corn, and I used all seven that Mom had given us. Despite that, the flavor wasn't all that corn-y. However, after tossing in some fresh cilantro and sour cream, the soup tasted pretty wonderful. Along with some buttered bread, it was hearty enough to eat as dinner.

I'd like to try this recipe again with less chipotle and yellow corn.

Meatless Monday: Fettuccine with Ricotta and Spinach

In an attempt to eat less meat at home, I broke out two of my vegetarian cookbooks and bookmarked recipes that sounded interesting. One of them was a pasta dish that involved ricotta cheese, which we happened to have in the fridge because it never made it into the flatbread lasagna.

With all of the cheese, butter, and oil, this dish was soooo rich, in a carbonara/Alfredo sort of way, but I can imagine adapting it further to include less cheese and more veg. Mushrooms, broccoli, sliced Brussels sprouts, roasted bell peppers, and even corn would all work nicely.

But so would bacon. :)

Fettuccine with Ricotta, Spinach, and Nuts (adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian)

3/4 cup fresh ricotta cheese
salt
freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons mixed nut pieces (walnuts, cashews, pine nuts - your favorites)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 lb baby spinach, washed and drained
freshly ground nutmeg
1 lb fettuccine

Put 4 quarts of water in a large pot and bring to a boil.

In a bowl, toss cheeses with salt and pepper and half of the butter. Set aside.

In a sauté pan, mix olive oil and remaining butter. Add nuts and stir to toast, then add garlic. When it releases its aroma, add all of the spinach and cook until wilted.

When water boils, add a generous pinch of salt (about 1 Tablespoon) and put in the pasta. Cook until just done and drain, reserving 2 Tablespoons of the cooking water. Return pasta to the pot and add the cheese mixture and the spinach mixture, tossing to combine. If the mixture seems a bit dry, add the reserved pasta water. Season with a bit of freshly ground nutmeg.

Serve hot.

Meatless Monday

After so much recent carnivorousness, I thought it was time to try eating more veggies. I'd like to do a whole week of vegetarian dinners in the near future (when we get rid of the meaty goodness that is currently in the fridge) and Mr Minx thought it would be nice to try a Meatless Monday. So this is a Thai red curry he whipped up with various veg we had in the fridge and freezer, including onions, carrots, peas, and Italian-style green beans. Yum!