Tag: tofu recipe

Healthy One Pot Carrot Cabbage Tofu Meal with Lime and Peanuts: Nasi Goreng

This delicious recipe comes from Anna Jones’ cookbook One Pot, Pan, Planet; A greener way to cook for you, your family and the planet. Here’s a link to her website where you can find a lot more yummy recipes and info about her book.

Why this recipe, especially after my long hiatus from contributing to this blog? Well, delicious, healthy, meal in a bowl: those are my favourite dishes. Plus most of the ingredients are things I normally have in my kitchen, with the exception of the crispy shallots. I found some crispy onions at a Mediterranean store for about $5 – close enough for me!

The title of this recipe in the cookbook is “Carrot and Peanut Nasi Goreng,” but I wanted a title that explains a bit more about the recipe. I’d say the cabbage, tofu, and peanuts are the main features here, with lots of flavour from ginger, garlic, herbs, lime, and the sauce that gets drizzled on at the end. My guests liked that they could add as much of the toppings as they wanted – not everybody loves cilantro and hot sauce it seems . . . so they can choose what they want to add the theirs.

Was a hot summer day the best time to make this? Only if you love standing in front of a hot frying pan . . . with a big fan running at least.

Was my frying pan big enough for this recipe? Of course not, even though it’s a big pan . . . so I just stirred carefully when it was fully loaded.

I only made a few little changes to the recipe: I did not use the complete half of a cabbage because I just couldn’t fit it in the pan; maybe I was meant to use half a small cabbage. I also didn’t put in as much rice as the recipe asked for; the recipe asks for 350g cooked rice, and I started with 1/2 cup dry rice, so that would be a bit less than called for. I used tofu; tempeh is given as an alternative, but I really don’t like tempe, and I really enjoy tofu! I also wrapped my tofu in a towel for about an hour before using it, to soak up some of the water. I put in only a little chilli oil, but put a bowl of it on the table to drizzle on later, so everyone could choose their own spice level. I have a batch of Wil Yeung’s chilli oil, which I highly recommend. I used the 50/50 mix of honey and soy sauce instead of ketjap manis. I didn’t use the optional fried eggs. I always keep ginger in my freezer – so I have it when I need it, and because it is so easy to grate it when it is frozen.

This recipe makes about 4 servings.

Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you thought of it! I’d love to hear from you!

What you need:

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 200 grams firm or extra firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 small onion or 2 shallots
  • thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated (easiest to do this with frozen ginger)
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
  • 300-350grams cooked basmati rice (cold, day old rice!)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon chilli oil or sambal oelek, depending on your heat tolerance
  • 2 carrots, peeled and grated
  • 1/2 a head of cabbage, chopped (or other green veg of your choice)

For serving:

  • juice of 1 lime
  • small bunch of cilantro, chopped
  • 100 grams chopped peanuts
  • 2 spring/green onions, thinly sliced
  • crispy shallots or onions
  • 1 tablespoon ketjap manis OR 50/50 mix of soy sauce and honey
  • (optional 2 eggs for frying)

What you do:

  1. Begin by laying out all the ingredients you need and chopping all the vegetables up as listed in the ingredients.
  2. Heat a large frying pan over medium/high heat, adding a little oil. Fry the tofu (I did mine in 2 batches) for about 5 minutes, turning frequently, until browned. Remove these from the pan into a bowl for later.
  3. Turn the heat to medium and add a little more oil to pan. Fry the shallots until soft, taking care not to burn them. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for another minute. Add the turmeric and fry for another minute.
  4. Add the rice to the pan, then pour on the soy sauce and chilli oil, stirring to coat the rice.
  5. Add the grated carrot and chopped cabbage, frying for about 2 minutes.
  6. Add the tofu and continue to fry until everything is hot. If you choose to fry eggs for this dish, do that now in another pan.
  7. Squeeze the lime juice over the rice and vegetable mixture.
  8. To serve, spoon some ketjap manis/ soy and honey sauce, on each serving. Sprinkle on the cilantro, spring onions, peanuts and crispy onions. Add extra chilli oil if you like a bit more heat!
  9. Enjoy!! Please comment!!

Thanks to everyone who has been so patient in waiting for a blog post! I’ve had some incredibly busy years, completing a Masters degree while working a very full-time job. I got out of the habit of taking photos my new dishes, and sure didn’t have time to write up a blog posting. I also wondered if anybody is out there… I get a bunch of hits on my site, but very few people comment, so I sort of thought no one would really care if I quit this blog. I’m going to make an effort to post from time to time, so I hope you’ll stay tuned!

Cilantro Guajillo Chili Tofu

cilantro guajillo chili tofu - trust in kimguajillo chili tofu - trust in kim

This is one of my favourite new recipes, and I’ve made it a few times this summer already.  I can honestly say that this is my favourite tofu recipes I’ve ever made, and right now one of my favourite meals period.  And I’m not a vegetarian!

The guajillo chili salsa is a garlicky olive oil sauce with orange juice and cilantro – packed with flavour, which is just what tofu needs.  I make up a recipe of the salsa and keep it in the fridge to use on various foods, including grilled chicken and shrimp.  This time I served it on a bed of greens with grilled fresh zucchini. Another time I made it with spinach and my favourite dressing. 

What you need:

  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 head garlic, chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • juice of 1 large orange
  • 2 dried guajillo peppers, cut into strips (I use kitchen scissors to do this)
  • 1 bunch cilantro, washed and dried
  • 1 block medium-firm tofu

What you do:

  1. I like to prepare the guajillo chili salsa a while before I need to use it so the flavours have a chance to mingle.  To begin, heat a frying pan to medium heat and add the olive oil.  Add the garlic, pepper and a liberal amount of salt, and stir once in a while.  When it is slightly golden add the orange juice and guajillo pepper strips, seeds and all.  Let this simmer for a few minutes. Set aside to cool, then use an immersion blender or food processor to blend with the cilantro, stems and all.  Season to taste with salt and pepper; I find it usually needs a bit more salt. Refrigerate to use when you wish.
  2. Pat the tofu dry on a towel then slice about 1.5 – 2 cm thick.  Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and add the tofu strips. Spoon about one teaspoonful of guajillo chili salsa on each strip of tofu, then flip them.  Let them fry for about 2-3  minutes on that side, then add another teaspoonful of salsa to the other side and fry that for another 2 minutes or so until it has darkened a bit.
  3. When you remove it from the pan make sure to scrape up any baked-on bits of salsa and spread them over the tofu.  So tasty!

guajillo chili in olive oil - trust in kim

Palak “Paneer” aka silken tofu

I’ve had this recipe in draft mode for months because I can’t seem to get a picture that makes it look as appealing as it truly is.  So now I’m going to be okay with the photo, and just let you know that it’s so good – it’s vegan comfort food.

Paneer is a fresh cheese you can make at home with milk and lemon – the silken tofu does a great job of representing the creamy, almost melty texture of paneer.  Tofu will also satisfy your umami cravings – umami is known as the fifth or savoury taste, which is often satisfied by meat.  Tofu also contains the compounds that the taste buds register to satisfy the savoury cravings.  Maybe that’s why this one seems like comfort food to me.

You need:

2 red onions

1 garlic clove

3 small green chillies

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

5 tablespoons vegetable oil (butter if you eat dairy)

500g/2 bunches spinach

1 teaspoon cornstarch or tapioca starch

1 block soft silken tofu (the “paneer”)

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 or more cups plain yogurt

salt to taste

What you do:

1.  This is great served on Brown Basmati Coconut Rice, so you’ll want to start that first.  White rice won’t take as long, so if you’re using that you don’t need to start it yet.

2.  Put onions, garlic, chillies and ginger in food processor or blender.  Process until smooth.  You may need to add a little water.

3.  Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil/butter in a large frying pan, then cook the spices on medium heat until fragrant.  Add the other 3 tablespoons of oil/butter and the onion paste,  cooking for about 10 minutes.

4.  Cook the spinach until wilted and add to the food processor along with the cornstarch and puree it.  Add the spinach, along with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, to the paste. Bring it to a boil and cook for about two minutes.  At this time have a taste and see if it needs more salt; it probably will.

6.  Cut the tofu into squares and add it to the pan to heat it.  Once it is hot, stir in the yogurt carefully so the tofu doesn’t break too much, and serve right away.

I enjoy this one for leftovers too!

You can substitute the spinach with swiss chard if you like.