Kung Pao Tofu

I have been making this recipe since I became a vegetarian, and still make it now. I asked Chef Deb for a recipe for this after having it at Ellwood Thompson's. It is delicious and simple to prepare, serve it over rice. I bumped up the sauce and added more heat....1 tbsp. chili sauce instead of 1/4 tsp. I was fine with it but Chris was dying but he still ate it with 2 cups of milk XD. I forgot the peanuts but it was still delicious. Try this recipe!!!! In case anyone was wondering, the white plates, bowls, the glasses and the bamboo chopsticks are all available at the Dollar Tree.

Tofu, Soba and Napa Cabbage Stir Fry

I am in a desperate search for Napa Cabbage recipes as I have a ton of it to use. I stumbled upon this recipe from Little Blue Hen. I have all of the ingredients and that for me is always a plus. It also sounds like a pretty easy and fast recipe. The pictures are beautiful, and that is actually how I choose what recipe I will try. I love all of the ingredients in this recipe.Chris and I really like the simplicity of stir fries and we like shopping at Tan-A (the Asian Grocer) since it is so cheap in comparison to buying it from the regular grocery store, and it is worth the trip even though it is a 30 minute drive for us to get there. I used a full container of tofu (14 ounces) instead of the 8 ounces called for. Sorry for the crappy picture. Chris loved it.

Tofu, Mushroom and Snow Pea Stir Fry

I found this recipe and I decided to make it since I have all of the ingredients and I  added mushrooms to mine since I <3 mushrooms and instead of the shallots I used some sliced green onions which I added at the end with the sauce. I also doubled the sauce.

I find it is easy to get into food ruts so I have decided to try a new recipe each week, and it is an added bonus when it uses up ingredients already on hand. I get most of my Asian ingredients from Tan-A Supermarket in Richmond (VA). They have lots of  vegetables, fruit (the best prices in town), sauces, mock meats, rice, noodles, dishes, knives, rice paper sheets, spices, soy milk, oil, fish, seitan, tofu..... I really like shopping here. There is a Middle Eastern market that I will be checking out next weekend and I will let you know how it is. Coming up next is Saag Paneer. I may or may not make my own Paneer and I am not sure if I will make it with rice or Roti....Decisions, decisions!

Anyway, here is the tofu in all of its glory. I like to pepper my tofu while it cooks. Hehehehehehehehe, that is a Beauty and The Beast plate XD......

Here is the dish without the sauce added.

With sauce.

Plated.

Udon Noodles with Spicy Peanut Ginger Sauce

I was looking online for udon noodle recipes that were spicy and I came upon this recipe , I am making it however without meat and using tofu instead, I also had no bean sprouts so I also left them out, along with the chili oil, which I subbed out with some garlic pepper sauce. I subbed out the almond butter for peanut butter and left out the vinegar. It is spicy, with a hint of ginger. I really enjoyed it. Here is the recipe that I made....

 Udon Noodles with Spicy Peanut Ginger Sauce

• 2 sleeves prepared udon noodles
  
• 1 tbsp. garlic pepper sauce
  
• 4 tbsp. teriyaki sauce
• 1 lime, juiced (one tbsp.)
  
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. sesame seed oil
  
• 2 tsp. dry ginger
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. sesame seed oil
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 2 cups Napa cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  
• 1 Tbs sesame seeds
  

Combine ingredients from Teriyaki Sauce to crushed red pepper in a small bowl.
Cook 2 sleeves udon in boiling water for 8 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water.
Combine sesame seed oil and vegetable oil.
 If you happen to have some tofu, cut into triangles and cook on medium until browned on both sides.

Saute garlic cloves in oil mixture

Add your carrots and the Napa cabbage, stir fry on medium high until lightly wilted.
Add your noodles.

Mix in sauce and half of the chopped cilantro.
Serve with tofu and garnish with remaining cilantro and sesame seeds.

Avocado Spring Rolls and Green (Tea) Bubble Tea

I bought two avocados from Tan-A-Supermarket ( the local Asian grocer) thinking that I would use them up in TLAT'S but the boy says that he is tired of them (I know, GASP!) so what to do...We came up with this recipe and I realize that this is not a new idea, so here is our version of it.

Avocado Spring Rolls

1/2-1 avocado cut in half, then into thin strips
6-12 rice paper wrappers (however many you want to make)
one mango, cored and peeled, cut into thin strips or pineapple chunks or mandarin oranges
1 "flat" rice vermicelli, cooked for 3 minutes in boiling water (don't cook any longer than this or they will be overdone)
spring onion tops
bean sprouts
shredded Napa cabbage (I forgot to use this)
cilantro or mint
sesame seeds
honey or agave nectar
ground ginger
Sriracha

Mix the honey, ginger and Sriracha to make a sauce to your tastes. Soak the rice paper one or two at a time and place on cutting board. Start with avocado, adding fruit of choice, spring onion, mint or cilantro, bean sprouts, Napa cabbage then rice vermicelli. Roll up bean burrito style. Repeat. I get my husband to do this ;) When the rolls have all been "packaged" drizzle with the honey mixture and sprinkle with seeds.

 

I think that I remember saying in a previous post that I had happened upon some Green Tea Boba Milk Powder (Greenmax brand) and Green Tea Pearls at Tan-A. I boiled up the pearls and made some sugar syrup today. BTW, watch what links you click when (or if) you look up Greenmax, I got a terrible spyware attack on this computer because of a link I clicked in connection to that search.

Here is the recipe that I used for the sugar syrup

Sugar Syrup

1 cup EACH brown sugar and white sugar
2 cups water
Mix sugars and the water in a medium saucepan. Cook at medium to high heat. Once the sugar water boils remove from heat immediately. Let cool and refrigerate leftovers.

How to cook green tea

4 regular bags per quart of tea
Place tea bags in water, bring to the point that small bubbles are coming to the surface over medium to medium high heat. Let cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat immediately. Place a layer of ice at the bottom of a heat proof storage container, pour tea over this. Rinse out tea bags with additional cold water. Chill.

How to cook the Pearls

I thought that I would mention this because my bag of pearls actually says that it cooks in 5 minutes. Well that is and isn't true at the same time. What I did was place 8 cups water and 1 cup pearls in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Once the pearls float to the top (and this may take a bit of time) turn heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Then take the pearls off the heat. They are not done yet. Cover your pot with the lid for about 20 minutes. They should be chewy but not hard. Cover with sugar syrup or sweetener of choice.

Green Tea Bubble Tea
2 tbsp. Green Tea Boba Milk Tea Mix
2 tbsp. cooked pearls
sugar syrup to taste
2 tbsp. Non-Dairy Creamer
1&1/2 cups chilled green tea

Blend the creamer and milk powder together in a small bowl to combine. Place all into your blender (except pearls, add those to  your finished drink). Blend until smooth. I tried to make an icy version but my dying blender BROKE. Sadness..... :*( 
I made mine with a stick blender. In any case, the above drink is awesome. Highly recommended. If you can find the Green Tea Pearls, get them. You can really taste a faint green tea taste and I like them better than the plain ones. Chris actually thought that they were peas, LOL.

Udon with Tofu and Baby Bok Choy from Little Chef and I

I found this website Little Chef and I while looking for a recipe including baby bok choy. While you are on her webpage, check out her other recipes. Wonderful recipes and step by step instructions. This recipe inspired me to go to the Tan-A-Supermarket and get ingredients for this recipe and others. I love the Asian Grocer because they have the the best prices on fresh veggies, tofu, spices, condiments....I wish I still lived in the West End of my city so I could shop there more often. I digress. Anyhow, this recipe is delicious, the udon noodles soak up the sauce and are so flavorful and baby bok choy is one of my favorite cabbages. It is also known as snow or Chinese cabbage. The only thing I did different was to use two packs of udon noodles, one package did not seem like enough to me. For such a small amount of ingredients, this recipe packs a wallop in the taste department. Slightly hot.

Steamy goodness......

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