Braised Pork with Dried Whole Chestnut and Tofu

I recently made some chicken glutinous rice and needed to add some dried chestnuts.  Since I was going to soften the chestnuts anyway, I thought I just cooked the whole packet and freeze half for later use.  I just defroze the soften chestnuts in the refrigerator overnight for this dish.  I bought this natural dried whole chestnut and thus the color was brown.  Not good looking but tasted the same and healthier since it was not whiten.

This was like a braised soy sauce pork except I added a handful of dried chili peppers (not the bird eye dried chili) for some kick.  Since my girls were eating this, so not much to create a huge kick, just a little that I didn't much notice but my little Edda said the tofu tasted spicy.  Probably because I didn't soften it in warm water first, I just added some to stir-fry with the oil.  Perhaps that was why it was less spicy.  You can certainly add more if you like it spicier.  You can also omit the dried chestnuts or substitute it with Chinese mushroom.

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless pork chops, cut into small pieces

12 dried whole chestnuts, rinsed and simmered for 1 hour until soften. (do it a day before)

1 block of extra firm tofu, cut into pieces

1 handful of dried chili

4 cloves of garlic

1 piece of ginger, smashed

1 or 2 star anise

Sauce:

LKK premium dark soy sauce, Hua Tiao Chinese cooking wine, Kikkoman soy sauce, 2 tsp. brown sugar, a little salt to taste.

Method:

1.  Heat up a cooking pot, add a little oil.  Stir-fry the ginger and garlic until brown.  Add in the dried chili and star anise.  Stir a little.  Add in the pork, pan-sealed it.  Add the Hua Tiao cooking wine, stir a little.  Add in enough water to cover 3/4 of the meat.  Add in the dark soy sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and a little salt.

2.  Add in the chestnuts, stir to mix well.  Place the cut tofu on top, scoop some of the sauce to coat the tofu.  Cover and let it simmer for 3 hours or until the pork is tender.

3.  After 3 hours, lightly give it a quick stir to mix in the tofu, be careful not to break it.  Serve hot!

Stir Fried Cabbage With Tofu

Another simple and healthy home cook dish from me. I would buy cabbage if I did not go to the Asian supermarket to get my vegetable for the week as cabbage has a long fridge life. With cabbage on hand, just add some colors and some tofu and oyster sauce, a delicious and healthy meal awaits you. You can't go wrong with oyster sauce, so stock up on Lee Kum Kee's oyster sauce for easy Chinese stir-fry. I don't like other brands so I always stick to my trusted LKK brand for my oyster sauce. Look for it when you shop at your local Asian supermarket next time.



Ingredients:

Regular tofu, cut
Cabbage, cut
Carrot, cut
Green bell pepper, cut
Garlic, chopped
Oyster sauce to taste

Method:

1. In a heated wok, add in some cooking oil. When hot, add in garlic, fry until fragrant but not burn. Add in cabbage, carrot and bell pepper. Stir-fry well.

2. Add in oyster sauce and a little water. Mix well. Add in tofu and fry to mix well. Serve hot!

Creamy Corn Tofu

I created this dish by accident one night. I had a block of silken tofu for dinner but had no idea how to cook it. I looked through my pantry and saw a canned of creamy corns and thought why not? It should pair well together as we loved the creamy chicken corn soup with tofu. And I was right, this dish was so easy to put together and guarantee deliciousness. Smashed the silken tofu and served the rice with lots of creamy corn sauce. You can have this dish along and be satisfied. If you don't have the chicken stock granules, you can substitute it with a little sugar. Try this dish on one of your lazy nights, hey it's healthy too.



Ingredients:

1 canned of creamy corns
1 pack of soft tofu or silken tofu, sliced in half diagonally
2 scallion, chopped
Salt to taste
Chicken stock granules to taste
1/2 cup water

Method:

1. In a heated wok, add in 1/2 cup of water and one canned of creamy corns. Stir to mix well and let it boil. When boiling, add in the salt and chicken stock granules. Mix well.

2. Then, slowly slide in the silken tofu. Scoop the creamy corn sauce on top and heat up the tofu. Let it boil for few minutes or until the tofu is hot. Turn off the heat and add in the scallion. Serve on a big plate.

Kailan with Tofu

Another easy home cook meal from me. I tried Chai Hsin with tofu before and really liked it, so decided to stir-fry it with kailan this time. It turned out very good too. I guess now I can stir-fry the tofu with various kind of different Chinese greens and can come out with a healthy and delicious dish that good eaten with rice. What best is you only need oyster sauce to season it or just salt and soy sauce would do.

Ingredients:

Chinese Kailan, washed each leaf separately and cut thinly (I only used the leaves here)
Firmed tofu, cut like above picture
1 small carrot, sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Oyster sauce to taste

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up with some oil. When hot, add in garlic and fry until fragrant but do not burn. Add in kailan and stir-fry well. Add in carrot and stir-fry for a minute.

2. Add in tofu, oyster sauce and a little water. Stir well to mix, be careful not to break the tofu too much. Dish out and serve hot.

Steamed Tofu with Minced Meat

My initial plan was to bake some meat balls. Then, I saw a blog post at Babe in the City on this steamed tofu and thought why not since I had some soft tofu. I marinated my minced pork with ShaoHsing rice wine, sesame oil, salt, white pepper, garlic powder, chopped carrots, ginger and scallions and some cornstarch water. Then, I cut out the soft tofu, lay it on a steaming tray and used a melon scoop to scoop a hole in the middle of each tofu. The scooped out tofu I added them into the minced meat mixture (don't want to waste you see) and mixed it well.





After that, I used the melon scoop and a spoon to make meat ball shape balls and placed it on top of each tofu. Lastly I drizzled some soy sauce, ShaoHsing rice wine and sesame oil before putting it to steam at high heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the meat balls are cooked. Serve warm!

This steamed dish was very fragrant with the Shao Hsing rice wine and sesame oil. What best was it was well received by my two girls. Got to make them loved tofu at young age. ;-)

Vegetable With Tofu

Goodness in one plate again, well be another delicious vegetarian dish, protein and fiber combo. For this dish, I would recommend regular or hard tofu so that it can maintain its' shape. The vegetable I used for this is Chai Hsin (Asian green) and carrot. Again, another easy stir-fry dish using only oyster sauce as seasoning. Evy loved this, not only she ate the veggie but lots of tofu.

In a hot oil, add in chopped garlic, stir-fry for a while, add in the stems (harder part) of the veggie, fry for a little while, add in the greens, fry until soften. Add in a little water and tofu. Then season with oyster sauce, quick stir and serve hot. Quick and easy and I believe anyone can cook this.

Tofu with Ground/Minced Pork Asian Style

This is one of the common household dishes. Most Malaysian Chinese families should have their own version. I cooked this dish often for my family and I was surprised I haven't posted this recipe before. This is a good one dish meal too but often time I would serve it with another Asian green with or without a chicken herbal soup. I often cook a minimum of two dishes, one make up of protein/seafood and the other of fiber and about 2 soups in a week, one is herbal, and the other one can be of anything.





Ingredients:

1 box of regular Tofu, cut into cubed
Ground/minced pork, about 1/2 lb.
4-5 Chinese dried mushroom, soak in hot water to soften, drained and chopped.
1/2 Carrot, chopped
3 cloves of Garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Frozen green peas

Seasonings:
Oyster sauce
Cooking wine
Dark soy sauce
White pepper
Sesame oil

Method:

1. Heat up wok with oil. When heated, add in ground pork and garlic. Stir-fry until pork is no longer pink. Add in Chinese mushroom, carrot and green peas. Stir-fry for awhile.

2. Add in cubed tofu and seasonings to taste. Add a little water if need to (for sauce). Stir- fry well and dish out to serve hot.

Tofu Glazed with Salted Bean Sauce

I loved this Crab Classic, chunk style imitation crab meat! It came in Lobster Classic too but the only difference I can see is more red coloring added (since it's redder in color), other than that, everything looks identical to me (I forgot to look at the back of the ingredients list, might have a little lobster meat added instead of king crab?). I always buy more and freeze it in my freezer when it is on sales for buy one gets one free (it can freeze up to 9 months). Crab Classic is made with a mixture of seafood, mainly Alaska Pollock. So this is an excellent source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids. Not only that, the shape holds well so it's great in stir-fry, in soup and in spaghetti. A great food to substitute for meat/poultry and for the vegetarians who don't eat meat/poultry but do take seafood.





Ingredients:

1 packet soft tofu, sliced like above picture
1/2 packet of imitation crab meat, separated (Crab Classic, chunk style)
1/2 cup of frozen corns
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 stalk green onion/scallion, thinly sliced
Chopped onion (I added this just to finish the little bit of onion that I have in the fridge but not required)

Sauce:
1 Tbsp. salted yellow bean, smashed
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup water
Oil for cooking

Method:

1. Cut the tofu and lay it nicely on a plate. You can have it cold or you can heat it in the microwave for 2 minutes to warm it up before pouring in the sauce.

2. In a heated wok, pour in a little oil. Add in garlic, stir-fry until golden but be careful not to burn it. Add in imitation crab meat and corns, stir-fry well. Add in salted yellow bean and fry for a while then add in the rest of the sauce ingredients. Fry well, add the water and let the sauce thicken a little and pour it on top of the nicely arranged soft tofu.

Pan Fried Crispy Tofu

Had some leftover tofu and decided to pan-fry it. Tofu can be quite bland so remember to season generously yet not over board. Best to enjoy the crispy tofu with a condiment such as this Thai sweet chili sauce or ketchup.




Ingredients:

Regular Tofu, cut into slices like above

Season with:
Sea salt grinder
McCormick Italian herb seasoning grinder
Peppercorn Medley grinder
Rice flour or cornstarch for coating

Serve with:
Thai sweet chili sauce

Method:

1. Cut the tofu and pat dry with paper towel on both sides. Season generously with seasoning listed on both sides except rice flour/cornstarch. Let it season for at least 30 minutes.

2. In a plate, pour some rice flour/cornstarch. In a medium heat skillet, heat some oil. Coat both sides of seasoned tofu with flour and slowly put into the heated oil. Pan-fry both sides of tofu until golden brown. Drain on paper towel. Serve with Thai sweet chili sauce or ketchup.

Korean Spicy Tofu Stew

Remember the other day I bought lots of bay scallops and finding way to use them? Since I also bought some imitation crab meats and tofu, I just combined them into my spicy Korean soup. The key ingredient here is Gochujang, Korean red pepper paste. You can easily buy this at any of the Korean grocery store. This paste alone is pretty spicy but I always want an extra kick and added a few dashes of cayenne pepper powder. Guess who besides the parents loved this soup?



My little Edda enjoyed this spicy soup very much. Even me the mother thought this soup was spicy and yet this little fellow finished a bowl and requested for more! I had some leftover for the next day so ladled the rice with this soup and some tofu and crab meat for her and she finished everything in her bowl. WOW right? As for the big sister, she won't even dare to touch the soup!

For recipe, click here. Oh, I also added an egg into the soup this time.

Tofu with Corns

My cooking is getting easier and easier these days BECAUSE I am addicted to Taiwan Idols Drama Series!! I have no idea I can watch Taiwan series on You Tube until my hubby recommended one for me to watch. And since that one, I was hooked!! HELP!! I have been watching Chinese series from China on T.V. all these while and have no idea that the Taiwan actors and actresses are so handsome and pretty compared to the China one. I saw a clip while in Malaysia and remembered mentioned it to my older sister, wow the actors are getting very good looking. And now I know that was actually a Taiwan idols drama series. So, my cooking has been majorly affected by my addiction and not to mention baking because what baking, I want to watch my series!! I am so afraid to start on a new series, or else everyone will suffer in my household!

Okay, okay, enough rambling. Here sharing with you my lazy and easy tofu with corns dish.

Ingredients:

1 packet soft tofu
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Frozen corns, about 1/2 cup
2 green onions/scallions, cut
Black bean in chili oil, about 1 Tbsp.
Salt & sugar to taste

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up oil. When heated, add in garlic. Stir-fry until slight brown and fragrant, add in frozen corns. Stir for a minute, add in tofu and black bean in chili oil. Season to taste with salt and a little sugar. Add in scallions, mix well and dish out to serve.

Scallops Mapo Tofu

I was trying something new. Instead of the usual ground meat, I replaced it with chopped sea scallops. I know I shouldn't use sea scallops in this dish, a bit wasted to cut the beautiful big scallops into small pieces. But then again, everything still go into the tummy, so it didn't really matter. But of course it's cheaper to use bay scallops as you don't even have to cut it into small pieces but to just use it as it is, cost wise, it's so much cheaper too.

I bought the LKK mapo tofu spicy bean curd paste recently and decided to give it a try. Hmm... I haven't gotten use to the paste yet and it needed more to make it tasty. I added some sugar, sweet dark soy sauce and some spicy chili bean paste and still find the flavor not to my liking. I will post the recipe once I perfected it. First time using this paste and I still need to play around with it.

Easy Cold Tofu

This is one super easy home cook dish that I ever came out with. So easy that everyone can make this and no skill needed. Just cut some soft tofu and use the sauces that you already have at home and it's ready if you like it cold. If you prefer it hot, warm it in a microwave oven for 2 minutes and you have yourself a delicious dish.

Ingredients:

1 box of soft tofu, sliced into pieces (I only used half packet above)
Drizzle some oyster sauce on top
Drizzle some dark soy sauce on top
Drizzle some sesame oil on top
Sprinkle lots of fried shallots on top (I used store-bought crispy shallots that I keep in my freezer once opened, ready to use whenever I needed some, very convenient!)
Chopped fresh scallions for color (I didn't have any but would add this if I have some)
Chopped fresh red bird eye chilies (optional, for extra spiciness and color, and if you don't have kids sharing your food :P)

I don't think I need to write down the direction/method here. Try it for your family dinner tonight!

Easy & Delicious Stir-fried Tofu

I like healthy food. Healthy food to me is that the dish has to be colorful, with lean skinless chicken breasts, fish or tofu. I also cook with lots of fresh garlic, ginger, scallion, shallot or onion. The above dish is healthy to me because it has celery, carrot, straw mushroom and tofu. It's a vegetarian dish actually. This dish is so easy to cook with only two seasonings and yet the taste is so divine. Tigerfish cooked a similar version recently too.





Ingredients:

7oz soft tofu, cut into cubes
1/2 can of straw mushrooms, drained
1 medium carrot, sliced
2 sticks of celery, cut
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of water
2 Tbsp. of cooking oil

Seasonings:
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 Tbsp. Japanese white rice wine

Method:

1. Heat the wok with oil. Add in garlic, fry until golden. Add in celery and carrot. Stir-fry until almost cooked. Add in the straw mushrooms. Stir-fry well and add in the seasonings and water.

2. Lastly add the cubes tofu, fry until heated through and mixed well with the sauce and veggies. Serve hot.

House Brand: Chinese Mabo Tofu Sauce

I decided to product testing this House brand of Mabo Tofu sauce. I actually got to sample this at H-Mart last year and thought it tasted pretty good. I didn't buy it then but two weeks ago while I was grabbing some Jap. curry, I decided to grab two of this to try.

Verdict: Not as good as I remember. It's only so-so and not hot at all. My little Edda finished everything I put on her plate, she ate it just like that with a little rice. Good thing is my girls can eat this kind of mabo tofu. If you asked me to cook my own, it will sure be too spicy for them.

Shhh...P, if you are reading this, it's better to buy the LKK hot bean sauce instead of this, cheaper that way.

*Verdict is by my own opinion*

My Yong Tao Foo Sauce

What I did with my leftover fish paste from making the you tiao? Make yong tau foo of course. I only have taufoo poks and red chilies so that would do. But the main purpose of this post is to share with you this yong tau foo sauce. I created this sauce by chance at my friend A's house when she suggested me to make a sauce for her yong tau foo. I have been using Rasa Malaysia soy bean paste sauce all this while but my friend soy bean paste has turned bad so had to throw it away and left me to think of an alternative fast. And thus this sauce was created.



All I used were chopped garlics, Hoisin sauce and honey. And this sauce is delicious and complimented the yong tau foo really well. Just put a little oil (~1 tsp.), add in the chopped garlic (~2Tbsp.) and fry until brown, then add in some water (~1/2 cup), hoisin sauce (~3 Tbsp.) and honey (~2 Tbsp.), stir well to mix and lastly thicken with a cornstarch mixture before adding in the yong tau foo to coat well. I really like this sauce and if you do try it, feedback to me ya!

Yong Tao Foo soup.
Also see my Yong Tao Foo dinner here.