Baked Tofu with Gun Powder

If you like tofu but hate when it splatters around with a hot oil while pan-fried, then this recipe is for you - oven baked tofu spiced up with delicious Indian Gun Powder spice mix.

Blog's Category: International, My Own Fast and Easy

Baked Tofu with Gun Powder

Intro

Do you really like to clean up these nasty oil drops all over your stove after frying tofu slices in your skillet? I don't. I always suspected that human laziness is the real force behind all inventions.

Of course I have not invented baking tofu per se but some acute moment of laziness was definitely behind this particular recipe that I put together recently - bake and sprinkle, what can be easier for tofu preparation?

I have to say I used here one of my latest finding on kitchen equipment market - silicon baking mat (see picture below with a tofu sitting on a mat and ready to go to go in an oven). This silicon mat is your best warrant that your food won't stick to it- even that one that sticks to oiled foil (the way I baked before silicon mat-era). I had my doubts about how safe those mats are at 450F oven but so far I'm convinced it is safe indeed - just do not buy cheap, made in china, versions (China - no offence - I love you guys).


What is it?

Smudged with a nice oil, tofu pieces are baked in an oven and flavored with Indian Gun Powder spice mix.

Taste Description

Tasteless, bland tofu gets its "face lift" from both, spice mix and oil. Oil brings smoothness and substance while spice mix put up a lot of flavor and gentle heat so the tofu becomes the perfect carrier for this this unique spice.

How to Serve

Serve as you would serve steak or piece of meat - with some vegetable or grain-based side and perhaps with your favorite sauce for added fun. It will be perfect in vegetarian sandwiches with all usual accompanying fresh vegetables and spreads.
It will keep in a fridge for a few days to be the part of your take-from-home lunches.

Baked Tofu with Gun Powder

 

• 2 blocks of tofu
• 4-5 tbs oil of your choice (or melted butter) 
• salt to taste
• 2 tbs of Gun Powder

- Slice tofu into 2/3" thick slices and place on a cutting board in one layer. Cover with a clean paper towel to absorb excess of liquid, place another cutting board on top and top with some weight (I use my kettle half-filled with water). Let it seat for about 15 minutes to get rid of some moisture from a tofu. 

- Place tofu on a greased baking sheet, generously top each piece with oil of your choice (I used grape oil for this) or melted butter and sprinkle with some salt.

- Bake in a preheated to 380F oven until tofu gets nice golden-brown edges.

- Remove from oven and generously sprinkle with gun powder. Voila! Enjoy!

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IN PICTURES

IF you plan to eat this tofu in a sandwiches - make bigger pieces than I showed here.

 

Here is my "system" for dehydrating tofu. I tucked a paper towel under a cutting board to level it toward the sink in case any water streams.

 

..oil these buddies nicely...

 

..just come out of oven...

 

...sprinkled with gun powder and ready to jump on your plate...

 

 

 

 

 



Korean Style Broccoli

This recipe belongs to my favorite korean cook Maangchi. As often the case at her kitchen, this "broccoli trees" are simple, flavorful and have a lovely gentle heat to it. 

Blog's Category:  International

Korean Style Broccoli

 

Intro

Maangchi call it Broccoli Tree. It is indeed looks like trees when you cut it the way she shows. 

Although Maangchi cook it by skillet-steaming method, I prefer to blanch broccoli - this way I can control better when my broccoli reached the right level of doneness and assure they are cooked evenly throughout the batch. This particular recipe I tried pan-steaming method but my broccoli come out unevenly cooked despite my "shake-shake-shake" actions on it. So next time I'll get back to my favorite blanching technique.

Nevertheless, even unevenly cooked broccoli turned out to be really delicious - even my not-very-adventurous-in-food hubby was caught next day on sneaking into container with broccoli...:)


What is it?

Cooked to tender-crisp condition, broccoli is mixed up with some garlic and a few spices - and voila!

Taste Description

Sweet-&-spicy, with garlic zing and flavor, these broccoli "trees" are fun to bite on.

How to Serve

Serve warm or cold as a healthy, fun and appetizing side to your today's entree. Keep in a fridge in a glass container for 2-3 days to have a nice "passing by" snack or as a topping for your sandwich.

Korean Style Broccoli 

 

• 2 broccoli heads
• 1 tsp red korean chili flakes (or 1/4 tsp regular red pepper flakes)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbs vinegar (or lemon/lime juice or apple cider vinegar)
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1tbs salt (for blanching)

- In a pot, bring 1/2 gallon of water to boil, add salt, throw broccoli in and cook it for about 3 minutes or until broccoli are still bright-green but, when prickled with a tip of knife, they are tender-soft. Drain broccoli immediately in a colander and pour the coldest tap water possible for a 20-30 seconds to stop cooking process.

- In a large bowl, mix pepper flakes, black pepper, garlic, sugar and vinegar together. Add broccoli and stir them into spices to coat.

- Transfer broccoli onto serving plate and pour remaining spices from a large bowl over your broccoli and enjoy!

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IN PICTURES

 

Don't forget to peel a stock first to remove tough outer layer.

..ready to go..

Those were two mighty cloves of garlic ;)

For this particular recipe I was steaming the broccoli but next time I'll return back to my favorite way of cooking broccoli - blanching in a boiling water.

..cooked..

I do not bother myself by mixing up spices separately - I usually drop them one by one over and then deal with distributing them evenly throughout... Although for this recipe it is better to stick the way of mixing spices I put it above in a recipe.

 

 



Quinoa Carrot Salad

It's just another healthy and tasty much-buzzed-around quinoa recipe - juicy, full of texture, delicious summer salad.

Blog's Category:  My Own Fast and Easy

Quinoa Carrot Salad

Intro

I befriended quinoa for the last several years, right before it has become a well-known star of all healthy food fanatics. This is a nice and interesting grain (actually seed). In my ranks of preferred "grains" it firmly holds place somewhere on top but :( below my lovely buckwheat, versatile rice and rustic toothy bulgur.
Quinoa is very nice as a side dish served hot with various vegetables, nuts or fry fruits mixed in but I appreciate quinoa in a salads the most because its lightness serves as a perfect base for any type of salad. The recipe below is my improvisation of "everything I have in a moment" on a subject "quinoa" which turned out to be very tasty so I couldn't come by not posting it for you, for my kids, my dear friends and relatives (and for future myself :)).


What is it?

It's just leftovers of cooked quinoa with different mixed in spices and seasonings and couple of fresh vegetables, such as carrots and cucumbers, thrown in.

Taste Description

It all has resulted in juicy, crunchy, flavorful (thanks to classy garlic, some coriander, cumin and parsley) and zingy (some raw onion!) notes. Parmesan-like cheese (I had Crotonese from Italian store) adds up awesome umami to all that festivity. But what about queen-quinoa? Well.. Its Majesty soaks up all those flavors and passes them onto you with every squeaking juicy bite - real summer dinner pleasure on a plate!

How to Serve

Serve on its own as light and healthy dinner. A glass of frosty white wine on a side doesn't hurt here :)

Quinoa Carrot Salad

 

For a generous 3 portions:

• 3-4 cups of cooked and cooled down quinoa (leftovers? - perfect!)
• 1 english cucumber, diced (0.5"x0.5")
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 cups of chopped parsley
• 3-4 tbs olive oil
• some shaved parmesan cheese (or parmesan-like cheese)
• 1 tbs dijon mustard
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• salt to taste

- Mix all ingredients, except parmesan, together. Topped with shaved parmesan and enjoy!


Some Notes

- We all have different taste buds, different preferences and perceptions - if it's not enough acidity for you there - add some more lemon juice or splash of vinegar. It's too sour - add some sugar to balance it out.

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IN PICTURES

 

 

 

 

I chopped up all together, garlic and onion, to get very finely chopped aromatic thingy. 

 

I often do not mix dressings separately for my salads - I just throw ingredients right into a "communal" bowl with vegetables. This time it was semi-right: I gathered some dressing components on a side plate, carelessly stirred them together and added to quinoa mix.

 

Coriander and cumin have added that medium-layer of flavors that are not assertive but definitely spied by sensitive taste buds.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Oriental Salmon

If you are tired making your favorite salmon recipe over and over again, this simple oriental style, garlic and sesame oil infused salmon may bring some diversity into your salmon cooking routine.

Blog's Category: International

Oriental Salmon

Intro

I've got my new favorite cooking site fine dining lovers and this recipe is from there. I love-love-love this site for super simple although sophisticated recipes which totally in agreement with my inner cooking rules. Also the site is loaded with all-around-the-food news and tales that are so much fun to browse through - so check it out!

Some simple but effective technique is demoed here such getting pretty strings of wilted scallions or garlic infused sesame oil which can be handy for a lot of other things besides salmon.


What is it?

It's simply lemon or lime drizzled salmon, steamed and then served topped with garlic fried in sesame oil and julienned green onion.

Taste Description

Distinct sesame oil flavor tempered down with a garlic, gives the tender and juicy steamed salmon bright taste and crunchy texture. Thinly sliced strips of green onion add a lot of freshness and, along with sesame flavor, oriental vibe to the dish. Acidity of the lemon breaks up beautiful but flat taste of other ingredients and all together creates multi-layered complex deliciousness.

How to Serve

This dish born to be served with freshly cooked jasmine rice - that's what I did. But it can be easily served with any other side such as pasta, roasted potato or other vegetables - why not? Due to a lot of flavor of its own, this salmon does not require any supplemental sauce but some kind of pickles on a side would not hurt definitely.

Oriental Salmon

• 5 portion-size filets of salmon, skinless and boneless
• 5 tbs sesame oil
• juice from 1-2 limes
• 8-10 garlic cloves, sliced
• salt to taste
• 3 green onions, cut in 3" pieces and then each piece sliced in thin strips with end of knife

- In a steamer or on a large skillet, place your salmon, salt it and drizzle very generously with a lime juice. Steam it for about 10 minutes. If using skillet, splash a 1/2 cup of water, cover tightly with lid and skillet-steam on a very low heat for 10 minutes, no more.

- Meanwhile, heat a sesame oil on a separate skillet and, on a medium low heat fry sliced garlic in it until garlic become nice golden and somewhat crispy. Take off the heat and right away add julienned green onion. Stir once or twice until onion wilts a bit and lose its initial bitterness.

- Top salmon pieces generously with mix of fried garlic, sesame oil and onion and serve. Enjoy!


Some Notes

- I was concerned with a relatively large amount of sesame oil in a recipe but realized later that strong sesame flavor softens a lot with garlic, fried in it.

- Green onion has pretty assertive taste when raw. In this recipe, it ingeniously gets wilted on a still hot skillet and acquires great soft delicious softly-oniony taste.

- Don't skip on slicing your onion into thin strips - you'll thank me later :)

- If you are not paranoid about butter, a little piece of butter thrown on a top of each piece of salmon along with sesame oil topping would bring whole lot of additional taste and flavor to already beautiful dish.

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IN PICTURES

This was an inexpensive frozen wild salmon I bought on sale. I just can imagine if it would be the fresh one!

 

My garlic is sprouting.. that's all right - it was tasty anyway. Also I guess it should possess more nutrients when it's sprouting, right?

Thinner you split your scallion - better. I was a bit lazy :)

 

 

You can't beat the taste of fried (not over-fried!) garlic - crunchy, flavorful - real jewels on a plate.

On a still hot skillet, onion wilts quickly, becomes supple, softer in taste and texture.

 

Do not over-cook salmon. 10 minutes should be more than enough to steam.

Delicious!!!

 

 

 

 



Nutty Kale Salad

I was very skeptical about this ultra healthy salad until I made it. Who could think that tough macho kale can be so tender and delicious?

Blog's Category: My Own Fast and Easy

Nutty Kale Salad

Intro

Though category for this recipe states "My Own Fast and Easy", I have to give credit to my co-worker who first spotted this recipe in one of her cooking books. Heavily modified, I come out with this kale salad which, I'm so glad, deserves to be on my family menu forever (..is there such a thing as forever though?..).
Original recipe calls for pine nuts, which I replaced with whatever nuts I had on hand, namely walnuts, and dried currant omitted by me without hesitation.
Speaking of my co-worker, isn't it remarkable that she managed to turn her health (life) around by starting to cook at home using local fresh and wholesome ingredients versus eating at restaurants and on take-outs? Tell me about power of right food we nourish our body with!
Getting back to our salad.. please, please, please give it a try, make this salad and you will understand why I'm so annoying about this. Even my food-conservative hubby tried and totally approved it ;)


What is it?

Fresh-fresh-fresh kale, rubbed with salt and consequently beautifully softened up, mixed with lemon, garlic, nuts and best-possible olive oil.

Taste Description

What strikes at first it's a wonderful texture: tender-crunchy, moist greenery of kale friends up with meaty texture of nuts. Secondly, you notice great garlicky acidity of lemon. This acidity is not bothering you at all, it's so natural and refreshing here, with a light citrusy aroma of lemon. Really, surprisingly bright and delicious salad!

How to Serve

I can eat it on its own but as soon as it has very nice sourness, it will go as side to any of your entree. Serve right away. It probably will keep in a fridge for a several hours and may even become better but we didn't have chance to check it out - we just cleared out a bowl in one set.

Nutty Kale Salad

• bunch of fresh kale
• 2 cups of walnut halves
• 1 lemon - zest and juice
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• about 1/3 tsp of corse salt (or to taste)
• black pepper to taste (optional)
• 4-5 tbs very good extra-virgin olive oil

- Wash nicely and tear kale leaves off the stalk. Discard stalks. Chop kale relatively finely, about 1/4" strips.

- In a large bowl, rub kale and salt with your hand for a minute or two until kale become moist, bright-green and somewhat softer.

- Add remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly to distribute all ingredients evenly. Enjoy!

Some Notes

- Substitute walnuts with pine (pignoli) nuts or pecans if you wish, but I really liked it with walnuts.

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IN PICTURES



Oyster Mushrooms Omelet

Meaty oyster mushrooms omelet - how about this double protein boost to begin your day with?

Blog's Category: Perfect Breakfast

Oyster Mushrooms Omelet

Intro

Rumor has it that there is a man here, on a local market, selling great oyster and shitake mushrooms he grows himself. I had to check it out because I NEVER TRIED fresh oyster mushrooms. I'm a big fan of marinated oyster mushrooms sold by all Russian stores around Cleveland area but fresh ones - wow...

Moved by curiosity, I visited the market and got a whole lot of white and blue oyster mushrooms. Inspired by my co-worker's staple, oyster mushroom olemet, I thought that omelet would be the perfect application to get to know each other (well.. I mean me getting know the mushroom ::). For experimentation sake, I have made white and blue oyster mushroom omelets separately to figure out taste nuances of each one to set once and forever my oyster mushroom preferences - blue or white.
Well, I didn't notice any significant differences in taste so my stubbornness, most likely, will force me to make another experiment by cooking some "pure mushroom" recipe to settle the issue of white versus blue. But let's not deviate from this post's subject - oyster mushroom omelet. Here it is.


What is it?

It's wholesome oyster mushrooms, coarsely chopped and fried with onion, some garlic and eggs. Simple and rustic.
 

Taste Description

Warm and homey taste of mushrooms, supported by flavorful fried onion and garlic, happily married with eggs. Parsley adds a lot of freshness and brightens up chewy and earthy mushrooms. It's very filling, satisfying and flavorful breakfast.

How to Serve

Serve right off the stove for a late weekend breakfast.

Oyster Mushrooms Omelet 

 

• bunch of (about 10) oyster mushrooms, chopped
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3-4 minced garlic cloves
• 5-6 eggs
• 1/2 milk or cold water
• 4-5 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tbs butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh parsley, finely chopped

- On a large non-stick skillet, add olive oil and butter. When butter melts, add mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook on a medium heat, stirring, until mushrooms nice and golden. Add half of your planned amount of salt and pepper.

- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with milk for a minute or two or until whites are not stringy anymore. Add remaining salt and pepper, stir. Add egg mixture to mushrooms, switch heat to a lowest setting, cover and cook until eggs are set, about 5-7 minutes.

- Take off the heat. Serve garnished with parsley. Enjoy!

Some Notes

- If you want more body and chewiness to your omelet then chop oysters in a large pieces. If you want your omelet to have more delicate, but still somewhat chewy texture - slice mushrooms thinly.

- Adding milk or water to the eggs will make your omelet more tender and fluffy.

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IN PICTURES

Fresh from a market, oyster mushrooms looks like made of rubber, resilient and buoyant.

...Blue oyster mushrooms are at the right, white - at the left.

I cut out mushroom "root"..

 

 

Small piece of butter gives a lot of flavor. Feel free to use only butter :)

Unlike many other mushrooms, oyster mushrooms have relatively low moisture content, it won't release a lot of juice juring cooking, therefor will brown up faster.

Don't they have the most beautiful tan?