Monthly Archives: March 2011

Eggplant and tofu are friends

Eggplant and Tofu Stir fry

Here’s a great protein packed and flavorful dish sure to please your friends and family. It tends to be on the salty side, but it will satisfy even a hearty appetite. See Working with Tofu for a sure fire way to prepare the tofu for this recipe.

Eggplant and tofu are friends

Ingredients

4 tbsp safflower or sunflower oil
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
2 tsp ground fenugreek
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 lb Tofu, cubed
¼ cup red peppers, sliced
¼ cup poblano chili, sliced*
¼ cup red onion, sliced
½ tsp garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp Rice wine vinegar
1 tsp Liquid smoke
1 cup Liquid Braggs aminos (or soy sauce)
1 purple eggplant, sliced (Japanese eggplant)**
2 tsp fresh ginger, sliced

Process

Heat up a wok, or similar skillet. Add the oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the lemongrass, fenugreek, coriander, chili powder, and turmeric. Stir the spices and then add the tofu. (be careful not to burn the spices).

Stir fry the Tofu until coated with all the spices. Turn the heat down to medium. Pour in the Rice wine vinegar and about ¼ of the Liquid Braggs Aminos. Stir fry until well mixed.

Add the peppers, poblano chilis, onions and garlic. Stir fry until the vegetables are cooked a bit. (3-4 minutes). Mix in the eggplant, and cook another 3-4 minutes. Keep adding the aminos so the mixture doesn’t get dry. Cook until the eggplant is soft. Add the fresh sliced ginger, and remove from the heat.

Serve with rice, or rice noodles. This stir fry will be salty all on it’s own, so there’s no need to add salt. If you are not vegan, a little honey would be good too.

Notes

f you can’t find poblano chilis (called pasilla chili in some markets), use Anaheim chilis or jalapenos. If you like a lot of heat, you can use the red thai chilis (bird's eye chilis), but they are very hot. If substituting hotter chilis remember to adjust the levels of red chili powder.

If you can't find purple Japanese eggplant, use Black Beauty eggplant, or whatever you can find in your grocery store or Farmer's Market.

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The Way of Tofu

2 Replies

In the wide world of vegan and vegetarian cooking, tofu is the preferred protein. Most Americans are intimidated when it comes to working with tofu and have no clue how to approach this super bean. I know that I had no concept of how to process tofu until I lived with a vegan roommate in the late nineties. She really taught me the way of tofu. And since then I’ve been improving on how I work with it.

There is a variety of tofu on the market. I purchase two kinds, firm or extra firm tofu, which comes in 1 lb blocks packed in water, and also soft tofu. Soft tofu is the wiggly jiggly stuff I use in my Breakfast Tofu Scramble.

Tofu needs to have the water pressed out of it before you cook it. Another method is to boil it, but that is a more advanced level of cooking. Take the block and cut it in half. Then wrap it in cloth or paper towel and press it between two plates. Put something heavy on the top plate to squeeze that water out. Let the tofu press for at least half an hour. I usually wait between forty five minutes and two hours.

After pressing, unwrap the tofu, and then slice, dice, mince, bake, or marinade it. The point is not to be afraid when looking at the tofu and wondering how on earth you are supposed to make it taste good.

There are lots of books out there with tofu recipes. But hopefully you’ll stay with me, and we can learn the way of tofu together.

I Want a Pot Rack

1 Reply

I know I’ve been gone awhile. It was a devastating couple of months with moving, settling into the new place, getting used to a new kitchen that is smaller, more cramped, and really not that great of a light source. But like a good Kitchen Shaman, I am adjusting to the new space.

Then the Universe called several family members, and we suffered some loss. It took some time to recover from grieving, traveling, and then having the partner gone for over a week. I know, I know, this is a food blog, but it is also about the process of writing a food blog, and what interferes with that process and why. If I was a really good food blogger, I would have had multiple posts ready to go on a second’s notice, that would have covered this long absence. I am not that adept yet. Sometimes it’ s a challenge just to get a good photo of the food I make (not having a digital camera handy, one can understand why), or getting a recipe put together and uploaded. And during the last month or so, just getting to work on time was a challenge. And now, I come back to the blog, to you my faithful readers, with this story.

In today’s world of uber-organization, and experts telling us to get our stuff together, I am unnerved that some of the super-supermarkets do not carry a simple pot rack. Sure, I can find one on-line. I just want the kind that has the bar that bends out from the wall with some hooks on it. I think it would be cool to be able to hang my pots up. Then I could use the shelf that I store the pots on for food storage, since the kitchen I now have has almost no storage space.

I went to several markets yesterday, not just super-supermarket, but departmenty type stores too. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. They’ve got everything to organize inside your cupboards, and food storage, and plates, and ways to organize your plates, and nice shiny new pots and pans, and tools to cook with, but not one pot rack to hang up those nice shiny pots. I’m a little upset over this. Really, I want the pot rack and I want it now, and shouldn’t I be able to go to my uber-supermarket and get said pot rack? You would think.

So now I am back to looking on-line again for the pot rack, and hoping the partner will let me order it, and wait for it in the mail. I am deprived of the instant gratification of buying the pot rack, and installing it on my wall. I’m a chef. I live for instant gratification. And, I am deprived.