what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

yes, I buy 1lb extra firm tofu. I freeze it over night and thaw in the fridge. Then I cut into 7 or 8 rectangular slices to put between paper towels. Then I cut into small triangles and put in a container with the garlic, lemongrass, white pepper, salt, and water to cover. Leave for 30 minutes at room temp and then drain. I bet some of that is not necessary, but it works.

I also fry it in the wok for a minute or two at the beginning of any stir fry because we like it a bit crispy. I add .5 to 1 tbsp of prik tum (I think this is a generic name, but it's just minced garlic, jalapenos, and birds eyes simmered low in oil for 45 minutes) after the first minute or so, if we want it to be spicy.

making garlic green beans again tonight, but also trying out homemade orange fried cauliflower. made and ate my first larb during the week, which was awesome to me, but my partner was not as into it. so will probably need to save it for lunches.

i love when i read what someone's making and it sends me down a rabbithole which is what just happened with your talk of larb and orange cauli. is the latter like an asian-flavored dish or just using orange colored cauli (or both)?

Wait why do you freeze it overnight? To make it more porous?

yeah i was confused by that too. like do you take it out of the brine and then wring it out?

xp yes, that's what it's supposed to do, and I think it makes sense. The tofu also seems to drain the water into the paper towels more readily after thawing? but I've taken the approach of doing everything to the tofu. I should probably start subtracting some things to figure out what's actually necessary. I so admired Nancy Silverton's brute force approach to figuring shit out in that one chef's table episode. She would probably make one of every permutation of that recipe and taste them all. I wish I had the time and space to really understand what works.

xxp for the orange cauliflower, I am just subbing the cauliflower into the recipe for orange chicken in the night + market book. that is also the book with the recipe for vegan larb (a variation in the margin of the larb gai recipe, but he does serve it at the restaurant). I've not done the orange cauliflower before, so it may not end well. but I have to get the oil going to fry the green beans, anyway, so I'm just going to fry everything.

Yeah, I think I knew about it being porous because my mom freezes tofu a lot when she buys it in bulk. I am not a fan of the texture after so I would probably skip that part for myself.

xp I don't ring it out before frying. I brine it, drain it, and then dump about 1/4 lb into a bowl lined with paper towel to absorb some moisture before brining. I save the rest in the fridge and do this 2 to 3 more times during the week. I don't think you need to get all of the water out before frying. I figure that there'd be moisture in chicken, too, if I were frying that. I might be doing this wrong because I'm more or less following a recipe meant for chicken.

Yerac, do you prefer softer tofu? or you just don't like how porous it gets? think I only enjoy soft tofu in soups.

I am fine with soft tofu when it's made in-house or fresh. Otherwise to buy for the home we get very firm tofu. My spouse doesn't eat cheese so besides using it in asian dishes I'll make lasagnas or manicottis with it for him.

My mom gets a lot of the tofu skins, seiten thingys but I can never seem to find the right things when I go to asian markets.

Oh and yeah the porous, spongey ones I don't like. but I think that happens more when you freeze the ones that are laying out in open water in asian stores and not the ones commercially packed. I like aburaage sometimes even though that gets a little too spongey for me.

late to this but Uwajimaya is a must-stop destination if u are visiting Seattle, it's all true

There is a yelp picture captioned "variety of eggplants" that i visit from work and daydream about.

I made spaghetti with sauce from a jar, Parmesan cheese, and toast at home garlic bread. Not sure if there’s a better way to make dinner without actually doing anything.

sometimes it’s the best way!!

my go to quick and easy is de cecco spag, raos sauce, and some gardein fake meatballs

if you actually toss the noodles in already warm sauce with a bit of water from the noodles it's entirely satisfying

de cecco spag, raos sauce, and some gardein
wut?!

i wasn't sure if these were typos or i just didn't know what you're talking about
"fake meatballs" i understand

raos is good, quick, and easy, but i still have to complain that it's too expensive. Could buy the same amount of sauce, including a few meatballs, from a pizzaria and save $4.

gardein (i haven't had the meatballs) makes a fantastic pseudo fish nugget thingy i've been loving lately. was really in the mood for fish and chips and these guys, imo, are a sub that makes me not really miss the real thing.

their chik'n tendies are also v good

made my best ever batch of seitan last night. came out SO much more tender than previous batches. may have been due to being a little clever and going straight for a Isa Chandra recipe this time. anyways, just sauteed it lightly then brushed on a simple homemade bbq sauce. A+

tonight, since i only have one class on mondays, getting ready for https://www.veganricha.com/2017/07/methi-malai-paneer-tofu-fenugreek-greens-creamy-sauce.html
don't have fenugreek leaves so subbing a little fenugreek and some baby spinach

going to try out the butter tofu on that site, thanks.

Those look delicious. I want to try it too although I have the feeling that all the tofu dishes I have been making recently may be wreaking havoc on our digestion.

Had a try at halloumi fries yesterday, BBC Good Food recipe. Don't really "get" it, I have to say - halloumi is well heavy on its own, why douse it in oil?

I made the butter tofu from the above site last night. The sauce was very good ( I did add a couple of other things to it though and used soy yogurt). I am not sure how I felt about the baked tofu. I think I added something that made it too salty and not flavorful enough and the texture was a little like tofu-pups on the grill.

Beef rendang tonight. I love cooking with aromatics like lemongrass.

xpost, yeah the dish i made from there was fine, but didn't knock me out too much. cashew cream made it *really* thick, too, so i had to keep adding bits of water. so i tried bumping up the spices a bit, but it still could have used a bit more zip. i like the idea of baking the tofu with spices though.

Yeah, I haven't ever used soaked cashews before (although I see these vegan cheese plates online that seem wow) so I had to use what was around. I think I would've liked the baked tofu more if I had used the tandoori marinade I usually use before grilling. But I also don't know how much real flavor it adds when you are putting tofu back into a strong sauce. I feel like I could've done a lemon, oil, garlic powder, salt thing before baking and that would've been fine. The recipe did alert me that this style not using onions usually and also I got kind of got my cheap immersion blender to produce better for me. Today with some of the leftover tofu I made a wrap out of the naan that I made last night and some berros/mache, red onion and lime.

home made naan! yeah, i agree abt seasoning of the tofu getting lost in a dish with strong flavors. i take back what i said regarding the methi malai paneer dish after finishing leftovers last night. aside from sauce getting too thick the flavor actually was pretty fabulous and i def. would make it again someday

My masala butter tofu had better flavor the day after as well. Making naan from scratch is surprisingly easy. I should've been doing that for years. I am using an iron skillet though, so our forearms are getting exercise with turning it over the flame.

will keep the naan idea in mind. that reminds me, i made english muffins from scratch once. it was really quite simple, too, and they came out perfectly.

Made vegan larb and sticky rice and good god was that spicy but good

Attempted to make Philly cheese steak roll ups last night. The idea was to pound out a sirloin until pretty thin, layer grilled peppers and onions on it, then a bunch of slices of provolone, roll it up into a pinwheel held together with toothpicks, cook it up in a pan, then slice it into little rounds. Unfortunately I didn't flatten it nearly enough, and it wouldn't hold together. It turned into a literal hot mess, but still tasted good after everything.

My son and I made a southwestern chilli tonight, which came out much better.

you might think that having a rather expensive waffle iron would be silly but the overnight waffles we regularly make are a counterpoint

mr veg got me an Instant Pot for my bday & last night I made red beans & rice. It turned out great. Will cook beans a teeeeeensy bit longer next time but otherwise 😃

xpost If I had kids I would probably be pro waffle iron. You're in France, no weekend crepes?

We love crepes too but waffles are even better: the crispiness is amazing. And overnight waffles, yeast-risen ones, are tangy too. We use Bittman’s recipe.

On the Côte d’Azur this week, so gonna cook with prime Italian ingredients while not having to deal with Italy bullshit.

something went very right with what I prepared last night. Not sure where in the combination of rhubarb, ginger, garlic, coconut milk and all the other ingredients and so not sure how easily I can recreate it but taste was sublime.
Really going to further explore the use of rhubarb as a savoury ingredient.. seems to add a level of near citrus piquancy to things i think.

Was it fresh rhubarb? I don't think I have ever used rhubarb besides a pie once. It was growing in the backyard of my rental and it was like a weed.

I have more naan rising right now to eat with some miso marinating tuna and salmon for later. We were going to grill but now are too lazy and are just baking it.

xp well, shop bought rhubarb so not quite that fresh but recently picked. I was experimenting with it a bit last year, just bunging it into stir fries to see what the result was.
I think it tends to be heavily sugared in most English usage and that's to counter its sharpness. I think that works quite well in a savoury dish though

tried the scarpetta spaghetti tonight. the oil infused with chili, basil, and garlic is definitely great. the butter and parmigiano reggiano kind of took over the forefront of the flavor, though. I will definitely make it again, but I'll add a few extra tomatoes for the sauce. Or maybe I'll cut the cheese and butter down a bit.

chili+basil+garlic oil in spaghetti. jalapeno+bird's eye+garlic oil in nearly everything. spiced butter in ethiopian food. starting to think that infusing cooking fats with flavor is one weird trick for enjoying every meal.

I made a roasted asparagus, bacon, and egg bake that was pretty good and easy to make. Next time I'll probably use a bit less bacon fat for the asparagus, and bake the eggs a couple minutes less.

starting to think that infusing cooking fats with flavor is one weird trick for enjoying every meal.

― Tapes 'n Tapes of Osho (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, April 26, 2018 11:13 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i've never really done this intentionally but i think yr otm

The only time I add cheese to the scarpetta recipe is if for some reason the sauce comes out flavorless (not good basil or tomatoes) otherwise yeah, it doesn't need the cheese. That oil is sooooo good. Glad you liked it.

oh, interesting. I think I won't do the cheese next time.

added bonus of making the whole endeavor a bit cheaper