Tofu veg stir fry

 

The veg dodger is away this week - so the veggie and I are indulging in veggie fare.  Infact, we are going towards entirely plant based - though reserving the right to go off piste if we fancy.

This veggie stir fry was chock full of veggies and tofu, with soba noodles.

Vegetable oil

Leek

Garlic

Ginger

Chilli flakes

Carrot

Red pepper

Green beans

Broccoli

Tofu

Chinese 5 spice

Vegetarian mushroom sauce

Soashing rice wine

Soy sauce

Spinach

Soba noodles

Sesame seeds

1.  Chop all vegetables into quite small pieces - particularly leeks, as these are tougher than the sping onions which I would normally use for stir fries.

2.  Cut tofu into cubes and fry gently in sunflower oil, flipping so that each side are golden brown.  Turn off heat.

3.  In a wok heat sunflower oil - add leek and fry for a few minutes.  Add crushed garlic, ginger and chilli flakes.  Stir.

4.  Add remaining hard veg and stir fry.  Add a little water to steam fry.

5.  Add spices, sauce, rice wine and stir in.  Cook for a minute or two.

6.  Boil noodles in salted water.

7.  Add drained noodles, fried tofu and spinach - toss together.

8.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds, serve and scoff.

Tortilla pies - beef and tofu (not together) - Britsih pie week day 4, pie 2

National pie week - so I thought I would join in the fun again, and see what I could rustle up from the fridge and cupboards.  Basically, I came up with 2 pies  - one with minced beef, and one with tofu - both were very well received.

Served with sweet potato wedges, saffron braised fennel with leeks and a simple salad.

For both pies:-

Tortillas (2 per pie)
Olive oil
Leeks
Celery
Garlic
Red pepper
Courgette
Mixed herbs
White wine
Grated cheese (I used a mixed of smoked and plain cheddar)
Mushrooms
Soya milk (or dairy milk)

For the meat pie:-

Minced beef

For the tofu pie:-

Tofu
Ketchup
Soy sauce
American mustard
Olive oil

For the sweet potato wedges:-

Olive oil
Sweet potato
BBQ seasoning

For the saffron braised fennel with leek

Olive oil
Leeks
Garlic
Fennel
Tomatoes
Saffron
Thyme
Pinch of chilli
White wine

1.  Start by marinating cubed tofu in a mixture of the ingredients from the tofu pie list above.  Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
2.  Chop 3 leeks.  Split between 4 deepish frying pans, with a splosh of olive oil - 1 for the fennel, 1 for the veg mix for both pies, 1 for the tofu and one for the beef filling.  Sautee gently.

If you were doing all 4 dishes you need to continue with the braised fennel and leek, then the sweet potato, then the vegetables for the pie(s), then the meat and mushroom mixture, then the tofu and mushroom mixtture.  The grate the cheese.  Then build the pies, and bake them for 25-30 minutes.

 so ...

3.  To one lot of sauteed leeks add crushed garlic, stir in, and then add wedges of fennel.  Sprinkle in a couple of strands of saffron, a pinch of thyme and add a few chopped tomatoes.  Stir.  Cover with white wine and water and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper.

4.  Peel sweet potataoes and chop into wedges.  Toss in olive oil, salt and BBQ seasoning and roast for 45 minutes.

5.  To the next lot of sauteed leeks add crushed garlic, chopped celery, courgette and red pepper, with the herbs and a slosh of white wine.  Simmer gently until beg are a bit soft.

6.  To the third lot of sauteed leeks add minced beef and fry until browned.  Add the half of the chopped mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes.

7.  To the final lot of sauteed leeks add marinated tofu, toss about a bit on a highish heat until tofu is a bit browned, then add the rest of the chopped mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes.

8.  Grate cheese.

9.  Oil two pie dishes.  Line them both with a tortilla.  Layer the mixtures - veg, meat/tofu filling, cheese.  Top with another tortilla.  Wash with milk (plant based or otherwise) and bake for 25--30 minutes.

10.  Throw salad together.

11. Scoff, serve .... my goodness they were both good.

Tofu bibimbap

We are spoilt at Todmorden market - we can venture way beyond our Yorkshire borders for some tasty dinners.  Today, I had a scout around t'interweb, and after reading a number of recipes thought I would create my version of a bibimbap ... big bowl of rice, topped with a protein source with assorted raw, pickled and cooked vegetables with a chili sauce ...ingredients are mostly available from the market - Oriental foods, The Mediterranean Pantry, a couple of vegetable stalls ... but I had to go to a local supermarket for the beansprouts!

Tofu
Jasmine rice
Peanut oil
Korean red chili pasta - gochujang
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
Sugar
Agave syrup
Sesame seeds
Garlic
Ginger
Radish
Carrots
Cucumber
Green beans
Cavolo nero
Mushrooms
Bean sprouts
Spring onions

Basically you cook all the ingredients separately, give each person a bowl of rice topped with pan fried tofu and a fried egg, and they choose which of the other bits they want, add some sauce, and stir it all together.  I started with putting the tofu in salted water, then pickled the radish and carrot, then chopped the rest of the veg ... put the rice on, steamed the cavolo nero and green beans, fried the tofu, made the sauce, and stir fried the veg - one at a time - keeping them hot in the oven while I finished the tofu.  Finally fry the eggs .. and begin the assembly.

The tofu:-

Soak in salted water for 15 minutes to tighten up the edges.  Slice into fork sized slices - return to the salted water to firm up further.  Fry in hot peanut oil, in batches, do not over crowd the pan, until crispy on both sides.  Keep warm in the oven.

The sauce:-

Mix 3 tbsp gochujang with 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp (to taste) agave syrup and 1 tsp sesame oil.

The pickled veg:-

Prepare carrot and radish batons.  Heat together 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 cup rice vinegar and 1 cup water.  Put veg into pickling liquid, swish about and take off the heat.  After 10 minutes drain and chill.

The stir fried veg, one at a time, keep warm in the oven:-

Mushrooms, sesame seeds, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil
Cavolo nero, sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, soy sauce
Green beans, garlic, tiny splash soy sauce
Beansprouts, soy sauce, tiny splash sesame oil

The raw bits, chop finely:-

Cucumber
Spring onions
Sesame seeds

On your marks - go ....

Broccoli and tofu stir fry with noodles

I only stock three of tonight's ingredients at the market (garlic, tofu and chilli) - but I'm sure that everything else could be picked up from the veg stall outside, and the oriental stall inside - so this is a real Tod dinner.  It is quick to make and vegan as well.  Happy days.

Vegetable/peanut oil
onion
garlic
ginger
tofu
green beans
carrot
mushrooms
black bean and garlic sauce
chinese rice wine
soy sauce
ketchup
broccoli
chilli flakes
brown rice noodles


1.  Heat oil in a frying pan and fry tofu on all sides.
2.  While the tofu is doing prepare and chop all veg into smallish pieces.
3.  When the tofu is done take it off the heat, and put on a pan of water to boil for the noodles.
4.  Start the stir fry with the onions in hot oil, followed quickly by garlic and ginger.
5.  Keep veg moving and add the other bits of veg - except the mushrooms, stick them in a bit later.
6.  Toss the veg about a bit, then add a big spoon of black bean sauce, a splosh of rice wine, a splosh of soy sauce and a pinch of chilli flakes.
7.  Add a little water, and keep it all moving so that it steam-fries.
8.  At this point stick the noodles in the water.
9.  About 6ish minutes later the veg will be done, and the noodles will be soft.  Drain the noodles and swish under cold water.
10.  Add the noodles and the tofu back into the veg, toss about a bit.
11. Serve, scoff

This is absolutely on everybody's "do again" list, which is very pleasing, as I am not always totally confident with oriental stuff - and it's entirely seasonal UK veg.

Pop up restaurant

Yesterday, my friend and I, hosted our first popup restaurant.  It was fantastic - but we took very few pics as we were too busy.  This is the gluten free scone with smoked mackeral pate, beetroot jam and horseradish cream.  It was followed by vegan moussaka, coleslaw and green salad, and finished with strawberry and rhubarb, hazelnut crumble with ginger ice cream.

Gluten free scones

Rub olive oil spread into self raising gluten free flour with a teaspoon of baking powder (it really needs extra raising agent), salt.  When is resembles breadcrumbs form into a soft dough with an egg and a splash of soya milk.  Bake at 180 for about 12 minutes.

Mackeral pate

Zizz 3 packets of flaked mackeral fillets and 1 box of medium tofu until smooth.  Add black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Chill.

Beetroot jam

2 red onions, finely chopped and sauted off in olive oil.  Finely chopped beetroot - about 8.  A handful of sugar, a splash of red wine, a few chili falkes and a good splosh of sherry vingar - simmer to let flavours meld - add water if it gets too think.

Horseradish cream

Grate about 1 inch horseradish root finely.  Add 1/2 carton double cream, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Taste to adjust.

Vegan moussaka

Potatoes, peeled boiled and cut into thick slices.
Sauce 3 chopped onions sauteed in olive oil, add chopped celery, chopped red pepper, courgettes and mushrooms.  Add red lentils, a good few herbs, lots of garlic and a few chili flakes.  Add a splash of red wine, some vegan bouillon, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and water.  Simmer, stir, simmer, season etc.  I added a teaspoon of cinnamon at the end to ring the changes.
Make a litre of white sauce with soya milk (I just thickenned with cornflour, but could have done a bechamel) flavoured with bay and nutmeg.
Put the moussaka together - lentils, sauce, then potatoes - drizzle with olive oil and bake for an hour until top is crisp and golden.

Tofu nuggets, pasta salad - to make lettuce boats

So, I understand, tofu is very good for you - and it's also very reasonably priced (from the right place).  But, it can be so bland ...really so,so, so bland.  So I had a scout about on the interweb - and a look at what was in the fridge, and this is what I came up with.  They were very nice - but I say "nice" because with the flavours behind them, without the tofu the mixture would have been hugely flavoured (over flavoured realy) - the tofu pulls it all down several notches.  So what you get is a crunchy "nugget" with a silky velvety, pleasant mouthful inside.  Served with (gluten free) pasta salad, home made mayonnaise (http://kitchenfairies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/veggie-paella-and-salad.html) and gem lettuce "boats" to scoop it all into.

Tofu nuggets

1 red onion
1 leek
Garlic
1 red pepper
mushrooms
sun dried tomatoes
chili flakes
cashew nuts
herbs
firm tofu
polenta
olive oil

1.  Saute onion and leek in olive oil until a bit soft.
2.  Add red pepper, mushrooms, crushed garlic, tomatoes and chili flakes and cook for a few minutes.  Leave to cool.
3.  In a food processor blitz tofu, vegetable mixture, a handful of cashew nuts and a fistful of herbs (parsley, oregano, marjoram).
4.  When blitzed, put in the fridge to solidify a bit (it wont change much unless you stick an egg in).
5. Take spoons of mixture and coat in polenta.
6.  Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side (I am sure deep frying for 2 minutes would be great).
7.  Drain on kitchen roll.

Pasta Salad

1 red onion
sweet corn
olive oil
pasta (gluten free pasta twists)
cherry tomatoes
gherkins

1.  Chop red onion and chuck in sweetcorn and good glug of oil.
2.  Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet instructions.
3.  Drain pasta and throw into onion, sweetcorn and oil - toss about so that all pasta has a film of oil on it.
4.  When cold add cherry tomatoes, shopped into halves/quarters - and chopped gherkins.

Serve with gem lettuce leaves.

Scoff.