Panfried Tofu with Asian Caramel Sauce

I am always looking for new ways to cook tofu - we like the taste and are both vegetarian sympathizers (we prefer eating vegetarian meals, but I will never turn a good steak down). I found this recipe and was intrigued by the prospect of making caramel sauce. I have only made caramel once - when I made praline for Thanksgiving and kind of burned it - but I was armed with experience this time and knew to watch the sugar more closely.

If you have never had Vietnamese-style caramel sauce, here is your chance. It is not anything like candy caramel, if you are concerned about that. It is a nice mix of sweet and savory. I didn't have shallots so I substituted the white parts of scallions, which turned out just fine. I skipped the fried shallots/scallions and didn't miss them. I also skipped the fresh basil and mint - I usually have those growing out on my patio, but I got lazy this year. I steamed the bok choy for about five minutes. I have always wanted a steamer but have never gotten around to buying one - then I read a tip online to just use a metal strainer over a pot of water - why didn't I think of that? Well, whoever did - genius! Thanks for saving me money.

We both really enjoyed the flavor of this dish. The bok choy goes wonderfully with the tofu and sauce - I have never made bok choy but I love the flavor. I would make this again, but unfortunately the recipe failed the dishes test. There were too many pots and pans that my husband had to clean, and he was not that thrilled with that. One pot for the sauce, one pot for the bok choy, and two skillets for the tofu (I don't have one that's big enough for all the slices). And of course a chopping board or two. So - when we live overseas and have a househelper to clean our dishes, yes, I would make this one again. Until then I think my hubby would prefer my one-pot meals.

Arroz Caldo

Part two in reclaiming my Filipino culinary roots. I was home for the holidays and my dad made arroz caldo one night. I had not had my dad's arroz caldo in a long time, and it was so delicious and comforting. Arroz caldo is the ultimate Filipino comfort food - it is basically a thick, creamy chicken and rice soup. My dad gave me a Filipino cookbook while I was home, so I used its arroz caldo recipe tonight. I used chicken thighs and just cut them up into smaller pieces. My dad adds chicken bouillon, so I used that tonight too.

Arroz Caldo

1 1/2 pounds chicken, cut up into serving pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, sliced thin
2 tbsp fish sauce (patis) - I use the Three Crabs brand
1 to 1 1/2 cups rice
6-7 cups water
2 tsp chicken boullion (or 2 cubes)
Chopped green onions (optional)
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute the garlic until lightly browned. Add the onion and ginger and saute for another 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken and fish sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add the rice, water, and bouillon. Season with little salt and pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until the rice is cooked through and has reached the desired consistency (we like it thick). Adjust salt, pepper, and fish sauce to your liking. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Thai Chicken Curry

I'm getting back to my Asian roots and learning how to make some Asian cuisine now. I will confess that I am not Thai, but I really like the flavors of Thai cuisine. I found this recipe and made this for dinner this week. It was SO GOOD. It reminded me of the chicken curry at my favorite Thai restaurant, Mama Thai in Oak Park, Illinois. I doubled the green curry paste (bought the Thai Kitchen brand) - I started out with what the recipe called for and just added more to taste. The Thai Kitchen brand is not spicy at all, which is good because we are not spicy food people. I used green pepper instead of red, and threw in a few stalks of lemongrass when I added the chicken. I omitted the tomatoes, since that flavor combination just didn't seem right to me. I also just used chicken breasts instead of tenders and cut them into strips. This was excellent and I will definitely make this one again.

Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup with Sesame and Green Onions

This was the last week that we got a CSA basket. This week there was a Chinese cabbage in it, which I have never cooked with before. Generally now when I get a new vegetable in the CSA basket, I look it up in The Joy of Cooking first to figure out what it taste like and how to use it. Sometimes I look on the Cook's Thesaurus website to get more background info too. Then I look for a recipe. I found this one for Chinese chicken noodle soup, and had most of the ingredients on hand. I had to substitute white wine for Sherry, and substituted Thai rice noodles for the yakisoba noodles. I was almost out of tahini so I probably used less than half of what the recipe called for.

This soup was pretty good. It was a good mix of flavors, with just a little bit of kick from the chili-garlic sauce. My husband gave it three out of four stars a la Epicurous's rating system. I've come to the conclusion that it is just hard to make Chinese food that knocks your socks off. Foods that knock my socks off tend to have a lot of butter, sugar, or cream, and unfortunately Chinese food doesn't use much of those ingredients. (That's probably why most Chinese people are skinny, and most Americans are fat.) I would try to get the actual yakisoba noodles if I make this again, because the long rice noodles were difficult to eat in a soup.

Pad Thai

There are no good, cheap Thai restaurants in the Tri-Cities, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and learn how to make pad thai. I've tried making it before but it just turned out bad. Then I found this recipe on how to make authentic, beginner level pad thai. I used white sugar instead of palm sugar, green onions instead of chives, and skipped the optional stuff because I knew my husband would not eat pickled turnips and dried shrimps. I used the fish sauce with the three crabs on it, which is a lot better than the other fish sauce I have tried. I bought a cheap wok from Walmart (it'll do) and cooked this up after seasoning the wok.

I was very happy with how this turned out. Since this was the first time I had cooked with a wok I didn't quite fry the tofu long enough - they started to look brown but they did not get crispy. But overall the flavor was very good, it was quick, and a lot less oily than I have had it at some Thai restaurants. Great pad thai and I will look no further for a recipe.

Stir Fry Sauce

We ran out of stir fry sauce this week and I forgot to buy more, so I decided to try to make my own. I usually go to Epicurious or Food Network's websites to look for recipes, but searches on those sites can sometimes take a while to find a good recipe, and I didn't have much time. I found this recipe when I searched on Google, and I had all the ingredients on hand. It was just okay - I don't think I will make it again. The fish sauce taste was a little too strong, and I think my husband prefers more of an American-Chinese stir fry taste (this was Thai). I'll keep looking...

Tofu Stir Fry

I've made a few things this week and have to catch up on blogging. I made a quick tofu stir fry this week which was actually pretty good. Walmart sells bags of frozen veggies that you can use for stir frying. Of course they aren't as good as fresh, but in a pinch on a weekday they will do. We almost always have a carton of extra firm tofu in the fridge, so I cut them into strips and panfried them. All I used was a heavy spray of cooking spray on the pan, then fried the tofu strips until they were brown and crispy. I then stir fried the vegetables, and then added the tofu and a bottled stir fry sauce to them. It was a good, easy, healthy meal and it's nice to have on days that I don't feel like making a big production but am tired of spaghetti!

Panfried Tofu on Sesame Watercress with Soy-Orange Dressing

I made this tonight for dinner. I subbed spinach for the watercress, and doubled the sauce except for the soy sauce. I also marinated the tofu for about 15-20 minutes in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Then I dipped the tofu slices in cornstarch to give them a crispy coating. This was pretty good - my husband really liked it. I think he likes his flavors a little stronger than I do though. Next time I would not marinate the tofu or try less soy sauce in the marinade. The cornstarch gave the tofu a crispy outer layer, but the inside was still pretty soft, so I don't know if I would try that again. I should have taken a picture since it makes a lovely presentation - maybe next time! The nice thing about this recipe is that I had all the ingredients in my kitchen and didn't have to make a special trip to the grocery.