January 30, 2022 No Comments

January 28, 2022 No Comments

SWEET AND SOUR TOFU

Sweet & Sour Tofu is a simple twist given to the most popular Chinese recipe. This Tofu recipe is a wonderful combination of Sweet & Sour taste, which is definitely a tongue tickler. Within various Chinese Cooking methods, Sweet & Sour method is one variation, which is fancied all around the world. It is cooking Chicken, Fish, Pork or Tofu along with Sweet & Sour Sauces. It goes extremely well with simple Fragrant Jasmine Rice or Fried Rice Varieties.

For Sweet & Sour Chicken Recipe, Click here...

Tofu is one must have ingredient in my pantry, and it comes out to be a useful ingredient when I need to fix up something quickly. Tofu is a versatile ingredient and could be cooked up in quite a number of ways. Tofu can be so bland and boring if you don’t know how to cook it. I didn’t really like it at the beginning, but when you find some recipes you enjoy, you’re going to fall in love with this versatile ingredient.

This recipe is perfect for vegetarians who are in search for an all vegan version of Sweet & Sour Chicken/Pork. And when it comes to Tofu, there comes a number of varieties. I have used Extra Firm Tofu in this recipe, which is easy to handle and also absorbs all the flavours & tastes when cooked along with the sauces.

This is a very simple recipe. But the real trick and taste lie in the consistency of the sauce. And you need to simply coat the cubed Tofus with Corn Flour and then deep-fry until crispy, before tossing them up in sweet & sour sauce. When you bite into the tofu pieces it should be slightly crunchy, but at the same time, they should be delicate, smooth and succulent. The Sweet & Sour Sauce should be light, and it should coat the tofu pieces all around evenly. And they shouldn't turn soggy. Some recipes call for Pineapples or Cucumbers along with Tofu, Onions and Bell Peppers. But I have made this in the simplest way - just the Tofus & the Sauces, finally garnished with Spring Onions.

Any dish with a mix of tastes and flavours have always fancied me, especially sourness and sweetness mixed together, hold my taste buds to an extreme that they linger in my senses too deeply. This dish is one kind that suits the trick.

For more recipes with TOFU, Click here...

Cuisine : Chinese
Course : Side Dish
Spice Level : Low
Difficulty : Medium
Serves : 3-4
Author : SM

Preparation Time - 10 - 15 Minutes
Cooking Time - 10 -15 Minutes

HOW TO MAKE SWEET AND SOUR TOFU

SWEET AND SOUR TOFU

INGREDIENTS:

For Crispy Egg Tofus:

Egg Tofu - 250 Grams
Corn Flour - 5-6 Tablespoons
Oil - For Deep Frying.

For Sweet & Sour Sauce:

Tomato Ketchup - 3 Tablespoons
Chilli Sauce - 3 Tablespoons
Plum Sauce - 1 Teaspoon
Rice Wine Vinegar - 1/4 Teaspoon
Oyster Sauce - 1/2 Teaspoon
Honey - 2 Tablespoons
White Pepper Powder - 1 Teaspoon
Salt - To Taste
Sugar - 1 Teaspoon

For Sweet & Sour Tofu:

Garlic - 3-4 Cloves
Oil - For Frying

For Garnishing:

Spring Onion - 1 Stalk

METHOD:

For Crispy Tofus:

Remove the Tofu from the box and discard the water.
Pat dry the Tofus with a clean kitchen towel.
Then, cut the Tofu tube into 1.5 - 2 cm thick cubes.
Sprinkle some cornflour on to a plate.
Coat the Tofu cubes with the cornflour, shake off the excess flour and keep it aside.
Heat oil in a wok, let the oil fume off.
Now reduce the flame to medium-low.
Now, gently drop the coated Tofus in to the hot oil.
After a few minutes, flip it up and fry until the Tofus turn crispy and golden colour.
Fry the Tofu in batches. Do not overcrowd the wok.
Transfer the fried Tofus to a plate lined with kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

For Sweet & Sour Tofu:

Mix the ingredients mentioned under 'For Sweet and Sour Sauce' in a bowl and keep it aside.
Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a wok or a pan and sauté minced Garlic until fragrant.
Pour in the Sweet & Sour Sauce and bring it to boil.
Add the fried Tofu Pieces and mix well until all the tofu cubes are well coated with the sauce.
Leave this on a low flame for a few minutes, until all the sauces are evenly absorbed.
Garnish Sweet & Sour Tofu with chopped spring onions.
Dish out and serve it immediately with Jasmine Rice, White Rice, Brown Rice, Fried Rice, Noodles or any other dish of your choice.

SWEET AND SOUR TOFU

NOTES:

Just coat the cubed tofus with corn flour, shake off any extra flour and immediately fry them. Leaving them in the flour for a long time with make them soggy and wouldn't yield you with a crispy texture.
Make sure the Tofu isn't wet while coating it with the flour.
Can mix all the above-mentioned sauces or skip sauces like Plum Sauce, Oyster Sauce etc.,
And for Chilli Sauce Any type of Red Chilli Sauce, Chilli-Garlic Sauce or sweet Chilli Sauce can be used for the recipe.
If you like a bit of spiciness in this Sweet & sour recipe can add Sriracha Sauce. If doing so, just add 1/4 - 1/2 a Tablespoon of the Sauce and balance the sweetness, as it is very hot.
Can add Green, Red and Yellow Capsicums(Bell Peppers) to add colour to the dish.
If adding Pineapple cubes, adjust the sweetness accordingly.
Can serve Sweet & Sour Tofu, sprinkled with white sesame seeds.

January 27, 2022 No Comments

CHINESE VEGETABLE STIR FRY

One dish which fascinated my whims the very first time we dined at a Chinese Restaurant in Malaysia was the Chinese Vegetable Stir Fry. The moment I tasted it I knew it was a bit under cooked for our preference then, later, realizing and strictly following the way it is cooked with almost all the vegetables I cook at home. Literally speaking, this Vegetable Stir Fry gave me a total new revelation to cooking vegetables, the way it has to be, retaining the colour, texture and nutrition. From then on, I have never looked back, I still cook most of the vegetable even while making Indian style stir fries like Poriyals/Thorans, Sabzis etc., a bit under cooked.

Chinese Style Vegetable Stir Fry is a quick & easy Chinese dish. This style of cooking vegetables adds a whole new dimension to the all plain vegetables. But the secret behind perfect Chinese Style Stir Fry is the techniques you need to follow to get it right. Keep in mind that the vegetables in the stir-fry should retain the colour, crunchiness and freshness of the vegetables. When perfectly done, this Chinese Style Vegetable Stir Fry is going to be lustrous, gorgeously beautiful, presenting itself with a cornucopia of colours with a remarkable texture. I love this stir-fry whatsoever.

Just follow these simple tips and techniques for perfectly cooked Vegetable Stir-fry.

CHINESE VEGETABLE STIR FRY

VEGETABLES:

As we need to stir-fry the vegetable in one quick movement in a high heat, it is always advisable to keep all the needed items ready side by side. First clean, peel & cut the vegetables and when it comes to the Vegetables which you can add into this stir-fry, I mostly use Carrots, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Capsicums & Snow peas. Can add Baby Corn too. If using mushrooms, use varieties like Button Mushrooms, Crimino Mushrooms, Shitake or Oyster Mushrooms. Small Beech or Bunapi Mushrooms also suits well for Vegetable stir fries.

BLANCHING THE VEGETABLES:

Then I blanch the vegetables before stir-frying them. Blanching shortens the time required for stir-frying. And also the vegetables are cooked half way, retaining the shape & colour. Then, while stir-frying, the idea is just to mix them up with the sautéed garlic and the sauces on a high heat. This way the Stir Fry turns out to be perfectly cooked through, retaining the texture, colour, and all the more the nutrition. Once the Vegetables are blanched, you can straight away go with the stir-frying process.

Then mince the Garlic, Cut the Onions into big pieces and then thinly slice the bird's eye chillies. Well, I do add a Bird's eye chilli into this Stir Fry. After all, the taste buds of Indian ethnicity asks for a bit of heat in everything. You can totally skip it in this recipe.

SAUCE:

The next step is to get the sauce ready. The idea of a sauce in a stir-fry is to add taste and flavour into the bland vegetables. So you can get easy with the type of sauce you use. Commonly Oyster Sauce is used along with seasoning like salt, sugar and a dash of white pepper powder. I love to add the popular locally available ABC Sauce, which is a sweet thick soy sauce with caramelized palm sugar in it. Alternatively, can add Dark Soy Sauce. I have added the Corn Flour slurry into the sauce mix. So, you do not need to add ‘cornflour slurry’ during stir-frying. Corn flour slurry glazes & gives a sheen to the stir-fried vegetables. You can prepare this sauce and refrigerate it for a few days. The same sauce can be used while stir-frying Chinese greens like bok choy, choy sum, kai lan, napa cabbages etc.,

STIR-FRYING:

Then, the stir frying - keep in mind, you need to stir-fry in a high heat, in quick movements. Sauté, the garlic, Onions, bird's-eye chillies, briefly sauté the Capsicums & then pour in the sauce and cook for a few minutes, then add in all the vegetables and mix it well in quick movements over a high flame. Once the sauces all coated and the vegetables are glazed, switch off the flame and serve immediately.

For more VEGGIES & STIR FRY Recipes, Click here...

Cuisine - Chinese; Southeast Asian
Recipe Type - Stir Fry
Spice Level - Low
Difficulty - Easy
Serves - 2- 3
Author - SM

Preparation Time - 15 - 20 Minutes
Cooking Time - 5-10 Minutes