Pan-fried Tofu with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

It is a busy week. Why? Chinese New Year is coming.  It is the best festive to have family reunion and friend gatherings.  I have to do lots before this Saturday.  Cleaning before CNY is a tradition which means to drive the bad luck or the old things away from the house in order to get ready for a new start.  In the past, people would go shopping and buy new clothes after cleaning.  They believe that buying new items and putting on new clothes symbolize welcoming a new start.  During the last weekend, I did cleaning and finished decorating my house like pasting paper-cuts and “Fu” 福 on the main door, hanging Chinese knots and sticking couplets (words on blessings) on the wall. I feel blissful that my mom has written couplets for me and mailed it to me one week ago.  She is new to Chinese calligraphy; she has learnt it just a few months.

Yesterday I went shopping at a very big Chinese supermarket.  It was very crowded.  People were busy with buying fresh seafood and cooking ingredients for making scrumptious meals in the coming days. I bought five packs of different types of flour and a big pack of brown sugar for making turnip cakes and coconut pudding, fresh king prawns, frozen clams, oysters, veggie, tofu and rice dumplings.  Then I have to buy some fresh flowers in the coming two days and busy with making turnip cakes. 

I was tired after shopping so I cooked a simple dinner last night. I pan-fried tofu with homemade teriyaki sauce, a hot pot of veggie and served with brown rice.  

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-         150g firm tofu (cut into big pieces, about 1 cm thick)

-         2 tsp olive oil

-         1 tbsp corn flour                           

-         1 spring onion (chopped)

-         1 shallot (finely sliced)

-         1 tsp white sesame seeds

-         1 tsp dried skipjack Tuna flakes (optional)

Teriyaki Sauce:

-         3 tbsp light soy sauce

-         2 tbsp brown sugar

-         2 tbsp mirin

-         1 tbsp rice wine (optional)

-         1 tbsp water

-         ½ tsp ginger powder

-         ½ tsp garlic powder   

-         ½ tsp sesame oil

-         ¼ tsp corn flour

Method:

1.	Use a piece of kitchen towel to dry the surface of tofu.  Add a pinch of salt onto a plate and put the tofu cubes on it.  Then add another pinch of salt on the tofu.  Sprinkle the tops with a small amount of corn flour.
2.	Heat a non-stick pan over low heat and add olive oil.  Then pan-fry the tops and bottoms of the tofu to golden yellow.
3.	In a small mixing bowl, mix all ingredients of the teriyaki sauce well.  Set aside.
4.	In the meantime, toss in the shallot and spring onions and pour the well-mixed teriyaki sauce in the pan.  Spoon the sauce on the tops of tofu occasionally until the sauce is thickened. If you like more sweeten, add more sugar.
5.	Place the tofu on the plate and spoon teriyaki sauce around the tofu. Sprinkle with white sesame seeds and dried skipjack tuna flakes on top of tofu.
6.	Ready to serve with brown rice.

Homemade Sweet and Sour Tofu

Sweet and sour sauce is commonly used in Chinese cuisine.  It is a sauce which mainly combines vinegar and sugar.  There are so many yummy dishes made with this sauce, like sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour fish and sweet and sour spare-ribs. 

My lovely Aunt Eva used to cook sweet and sour pork all the time when I was a child.  She loved cooking and she was a great cook.  When I was small, my brothers and I loved to visit her because we loved all of her good food and always had lots of fun with our cousins. She was kind, thoughtful, hardworking, patient and generous.  We lost a wonderful woman, mom, sister and aunt last month.  She will forever be in our thoughts.   I love you, Aunt Eva! You are loved and missed!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-         200g medium firm tofu (cut in cubes)

-         30g red pepper (cut in cubes)

-         35g green pepper (cut in cubes)

-         35g orange pepper (cut in cubes)

-         70g pineapple pieces

-       1½ tsp olive oil

-         2 garlic cloves (approximately 6 g, minced)

-         ½ shallot (finely chopped)

-         ½ spring onion (chopped)

-         a pinch of salt

-         a pinch of plain flour

Sweet and Sour Sauce:          

-         1 tbsp water

-         2 tbsp ketchup

-         1½ tbsp vinegar

-         2 tbsp brown sugar

-         3 tbsp pineapple syrup

-         ¼ tsp Zhenjiang vinegar

-         ¼ tsp soy sauce         

-         ⅛ tsp table salt

Thickening sauce:

-         ¼ tsp corn flour

-         ½ tsp cold water

Method:

1.	Use a piece of kitchen towel to dry the surface of tofu.  Add a pinch of salt onto a plate and put the tofu cubes on it.  Then add another pinch of salt on the tofu.  Sprinkle the tops with a small amount of plain flour.
2.	In a small mixing bowl, mix all ingredients of the sweet and sour sauce well.  Set aside.
3.	Heat a non-stick pan over low heat and add ½ tsp olive oil.  Then pan-fry all sides of the tofu to a bit golden yellow, remove and set aside.
4.	Heat the wok over medium heat and add ½ tsp olive oil.  Then add half of the minced garlic into the wok and cook for 10 seconds.  Add the mixed pepper and a pinch of salt; and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes until just tender.  Remove the pepper and set aside.
5.	In the meantime, heat the wok over low-medium heat, add ½ tsp olive oil and minced garlic.  Pour the mixed sweet and sour sauce in the wok and stir often until it boils.  Toss in the tofu and mixed pepper and stir-fry gently to make sure they are thoroughly coated with the sauce.
6.	Mix the corn flour with the cold water well.  Pour into the wok and stir-fry until the sauce is thickened.
7.	Ready to serve with rice.
	Tips for pan-frying tofu:
i.	Use a non-stick pan. I prefer using a small brush to add the oil evenly on the pan before heating the pan.
ii.	It is easy to pan-fry tofu pieces over lower heat.
iii	Leave each side of the tofu pieces alone for about 1-2 minutes. Do not turn them or agitate them in any other way. Just gently shake them to make sure they don't stick to the pan. When you see a golden crust beginning to creep its way up the sides of the slices, turn them and pan-fry another side. Add a little bit more oil if the pan seems too dry.

Stir-fried shiitake mushrooms with Tofu

My friend is one of the founders of a social enterprise called ‘Green Monday’ in Hong Kong.  The project has been run since 2012.  When I met him in Hong Kong in a restaurant a few years ago, he firstly introduced his concept to promote having a ‘green’ meal once a week in order to protect our environment.  The project is successful after running for a few years.  It is highly supported by the government and the catering industry. 

As I am getting old, I have started to think more about what I eat. I have begun having one ‘green’ meal once a week.  It is good to health and I feel happier after forming this habit.  I am used to having ‘green’ either at lunch or dinner every Monday because Monday is the first working day.  It is easy for me to plan my meals.  Hope you will be one of the fans of ‘Green Monday’.  I will post more recipes of making 'green' meals later.  Welcome all of you to make comments and share the photos of your dish.

Preparation time:

                            -         20 minutes (for using dried shiitake mushrooms) or

                            -         10 minutes (for using fresh shiitake mushrooms)

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-         210g firm tofu (diced in cubes 2cmL x 2cmW x 1.5 cmH)

-         45g carrot (sliced)

-         50g fresh baby corn (sliced)

-         4 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked and quartered)

-         90g button mushrooms (quartered)

-         ½ spring onions (finely chopped)

-         1 slice of ginger (sliced)                          

-         ¼ tsp table salt                             

-         1 tsp olive oil

-         ½ tsp sugar

-         1 tsp light soy sauce

-         1 tsp bean sauce

-        700g water

Thickening Sauce:

-         1½ tsp cold water

-         1 tsp corn flour

Method:

1.	Clean the dried shiitake mushrooms, trim and discard the stems. Add hot water and mushrooms in a bowl. Soak the mushrooms up for 20 minutes until they become soft.  Using dried shiitake mushrooms can give a more fragrant flavor.  Fresh shiitake mushrooms can be used instead of the dried shiitake mushrooms. For fresh shiitake mushrooms, just clean, trim and discard the stems; and quartered.
2.	Heat a non-stick wok over a medium heat and add oil. Add garlic and ginger, stir-fry about 30 seconds.  Then add the soaked shiitake mushrooms, salt, sugar and 150g water. Cover and simmer for 8 minutes.
3.	Toss the baby corn, carrot and add soy sauce in the wok and stir-fry for another 5 minutes.
4.	In the meantime, add button mushrooms, tofu, bean sauce and   50g water.  Stir-fry gently for a further 5 minutes.
5.	In a small mixing bowl, stir corn flour well with 1½ tsp cold water to prepare the thickening sauce.
6.	Add the spring onion and pour the sauce in the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute.
7.	Ready to serve with rice.

Spicy Tofu with Minced Meat

We loved tofu very much.  It is a versatile ingredient with many health benefits.  It is an excellent source of amino acids, iron, calcium and other micro-nutrients.  The dish is like ‘Mapo tofu’ (a Sichuan dish) but it is not so strong and spicy.  It is because we cannot eat too hot and spicy.  Then I modified the recipe a bit but I still use the chili bean sauce to add some flavor.

I tried some doubanjiang (chili bean sauce) in different brand names during the past few years.  I found the taste is not so good until I found the following one (the red plastic bottle on the left hand side  shown in the second picture).  This one was highly recommended by my cookery teacher one year ago.  It is tasty and not too strong after adding it into the dish.  It is easy to buy in Chinese supermarkets.  If you like more hot and spicy, you add Sichuan peppercorns or chili oil.  

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-        160g minced pork

-        ½ tbsp oil

-        2 pieces soft/silken tofu (cubed)

-        ½ red chili (chopped)

-        1 garlic clove (shredded)

-        1 tbsp doubanjiang/chili bean sauce

-        ½ tbsp. spring onion (chopped)

-        ½ tsp chili oil (optional)

Seasoning:

-        1 tsp soy sauce

-        ½ tsp sugar

-        ½ tsp sesame oil

-        a pinch of ground black pepper   

Sauce:

-        ½ tsp sesame oil

-        ½ tsp soy sauce

-        ½ tsp sugar

-        ½ tsp corn flour

-        1 tbsp water

-        a pinch of white pepper

Method:

1.	Marinate the minced pork with sugar, sesame oil, black pepper and soy sauce.
2.	Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic cloves and minced meat into the saucepan.  Use a wooden spoon to break the minced meat up and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3.	Toss in the doubanjiang/chili bean sauce into the minced meat and keep stir-fry for another 2 minutes.  Pour in 150g water and soft tofu, toss to coat the sauce over the tofu and then covered for 5 minutes.
4.	Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour over the sauce and spring onion and simmer for 1-2 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.  It is optional to add 1-2 tsp chili oil for more hot and spicy flavor.
5.	Serve with rice.