Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup has been one of my almost favorite things for years. I love love love tangy dishes, especially when that tang comes from copious amounts of vinegar or citrus. Plus, this soup has a lot of the flavors I love in Chinese cooking - lots of porky goodness, warm nutty toasted sesame oil, a good kick of heat, and the firm tofu that aids in rounding out some of these intense flavors. What was keeping me from truly embracing it was the texture. You know what I'm talking about here - that thick, gloopy broth that isn't so different from what runs out of my nose during allergy season? Yeah, not appetizing. 

Surprisingly, lots of recipes online call for the addition of a corn starch slurry to be added to the soup to achieve that undesirable viscosity, so apparently there are those of you out there that enjoy it. Me, not so much. When I stumbled across this gem, I knew it was a keeper. It has been on repeat in our house for quite a while now, mainly because it comes together super fast and nearly all the ingredients are things you probably already have in your fridge and pantry. 

I usually try not to get too nostalgic about my food memories, but I feel an urge to for this post. When I tasted this version of hot and sour soup, I immediately remembered the first time I had egg drop soup that wasn't prepared in a Chinese restaurant's kitchen. A high school girlfriend invited me over for dinner one night at her parent's house, and I gladly accepted, without knowing of the amazing treats that lay ahead of me. Her mom's egg drop soup was divine; homemade chicken stock, perfectly cooked ribbons of egg, a subtle hint of lemon, and none of that slippery, goopy texture. I never knew it could be that good. This recipe reminds me a lot of that - simple, yet packed with flavor and super comforting, something a friend's mom or grandma would make. I was 16 at the time, and I still remember that entire meal. Along side the soup, we had bean sprouts quickly sauteed with soy and butter, perfectly cooked rice, and fried spring rolls. Heaven. 

I didn't make any alterations to this recipe, since I think it's pretty much perfect already, but there is of course room to make it more sour or spicy to suit your tastes. I've been reading cookbooks a little obsessively lately, and this little gem was from Flour, Too by Joanne Chang. Seriously, check it out - it is full of amazing goodies, and lots of sweets, which I need to start making more sparingly... it's been like Christmas here with all the cookies, brownies, cakes, etc that I've had around. I can't remember the last time I didn't eat at least 2 cookies in a day. But enough of my new baking/eating my baking addiction. 

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 scallions, sliced thin, plus
   more for garnish
1/2 lb ground pork*
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 lb firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 - 5 button mushrooms, cleaned and
   thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup rice vinegar, plus
   more to taste
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp sriracha, plus more to taste
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Prep all your ingredients before you even set your pot over the heat, since this soup comes together super fast. You can use pre-ground pork from the supermarket, or *grind your own, which is what I prefer. Simply take a pork tenderloin or some boneless chops and cut them into smaller hunks that your food processor can handle, and place them on a plate. Put the pork in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up a touch so when you process it, it doesn't get all gummy on you. Once the pork is slightly firmed up from the freezer, toss it in 1/2 pound increments into your food processor and give 5 - 7 1 second pulses. Set aside the 1/2 pound needed for the soup and refrigerate or freeze what remains. You'll now have delicious ground pork with no mystery cuts and much less fat than what you'd get at the grocer. 

Place a large saucepan over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. Add the ground pork, ginger, garlic and scallions, stirring occasionally for ~1 minute. Break up the pork a bit with your spoon, but don't fret about getting into fine pieces - some variation in its texture is very welcome in this soup. When it gets to about this point, you'll want to add the stock:

Dial up the heat and cover to bring the soup to a simmer, which should take a couple of minutes. Add the the remaining ingredients except the eggs, and cook uncovered till it comes to a simmer. Once there, start swirling the soup with a fork while you slowly pour in the beaten eggs. Serve immediately with a touch more sesame oil, scallion greens for garnish, and rice vinegar and sriracha at the ready if you want a bit more bite to your soup.

Recipe for 'Mama Chang's Hot and Sour Soup' from Joanne Chang's Flour, Too

Tofu Scrambler

I've finally perfected one of my all time favorite ways to eat tofu, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I've been eating the tofu scramblers at Beans and Barley for years, and I've been trying throughout that time to make it at home, to no avail. For a while I even succumbed to the idea that it'll just be one of those dishes that I can only eat out. One of the downsides of this is that depending on what day of the week we went to Beans, (i.e. who's cooking that day) the scrambler might not be that good. It started to become really frustrating when I'd get one that was knocked out of the park, and then a couple weeks later it would be barely edible. So I recommited myself to learning how to make this at home - if you can't get something done right, do it yourself, I always say. 

If I only had known how insanely easy this was to make, and there wasn't any real 'secret' or 'special' ingredients needed... well, lets just say I didn't kick myself too much upon discovery. This dish is all about technique and the little details, and lots of tahini and Bragg's. I like to make a large batch so we have plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day, which you wouldn't want to do if this were made with eggs. Ever try to save scrambled eggs and eat them the next day? Yeah, pretty repulsive. 

Out of all the vegetarian and vegan dishes I have on here, this is the one I really urge you to try. It's simple and (I think) shockingly good. The tofu gives you that protein punch you want in the morning, and the oils from the tahini keep you full for a long time. I usually serve this with potatoes, but I just wanted a larger batch of it with some really good sourdough toast. We tried Trader Joe's Sourdough with Asiago and Black Peppercorns, and it did not disappoint. 

 INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds firm tofu (usually 1 1/2 packages)
11 ounces cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
5 scallions, sliced thinly
10 - 15 (depending on size) grape tomatoes halved
~3 Tbsp tahini
~3 Tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos
3 Tbsp canola oil, divided

Heat 1 Tbsp of canola oil in a large (12") non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms with a pinch of salt and cook till all liquid has been released and has evaporated. When you can hear the mushrooms sizzling again, add all but 1 of the sliced scallions and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring often. Remove from pan and set aside. 

Add remaining 2 Tbsp of oil to the pan and dial up the heat to medium high. Halve the 2 bricks of tofu and place one of the halves into a glass container and cover with cool water. Cover and pop it into the fridge for a later use. With the remaining tofu, gently squeeze as much of the moisture out as you can into the sink, without it completely crumbling. Crumble the tofu into large chunks (about 1.5") into the oil. Let sit for a few minutes so a nice crust develops. 

Drizzle over the tahini and Bragg's. Stir the tofu well and let sit for another few minutes. Do this a couple of times till tofu is pretty well browned, but not over cooked (aka dried out). Add the halved tomatoes and cook till their skins are just starting to wrinkle. Add back the mushrooms and cooked scallions. Taste, and add more tahini or Bragg's as you see fit. Serve immediately with some fresh scallions as garnish, lots of potatoes (whatever way you like em) and toast.

Soba Noodles with Tehina and Cremini Mushrooms

My daughter and I are definitely noodle junkies, following a long line of them from my dad's side of the family. Soba is a new favorite in the house, since its just different enough texturally and in flavor to inspire a whole new cache of tasty combinations. This one is very quick, and I since I was low on ingredients, forced me to get a little creative. I'd mistakenly picked up a jar of tehina (a popular mid-east condiment) instead of tahini, and wasn't too sure what to do with it. It had tahini in it, as well as chickpeas, garlic, and lemon. Well, it helped contribute to a wonderful 'sauce' that coats the noodles just enough and doesn't overpower them. What you end up with is an interesting mix of flavors; Asian and Mediterranean riffing off each other. 

This cooks up super quick and with very little effort. A perfect meal for an impatiently hungry toddler- hence, the shortage of photos this time. She wanted to eat it now. Needless to say, she loved it and even ate the scallions (after I mixed them in well with the rest of the noodles). Apparently noodles are the ultimate vessel for new ingredients in our home, and I'll be using them to try out beets again on her... I'm very determined to get her to eat them in one form or another. Even if it takes years. 

INGREDIENTS

1 8 oz package soba noodles
1/2 lb firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch thick cubes
6 - 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 scallions, sliced on the bias
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup tehina
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 - 2 tsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tsp - 1 Tbsp sriracha, depending on taste
2 Tbsp Bragg's liquid amino's or tamari

Place a large pot of water on the stove and crank the heat to boil. Place a saucepan over medium high and add canola oil. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the mushrooms and tofu. Stir occasionally till the tofu gets a little crust going, and the mushrooms have released all their liquid and it has evaporated, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Once the water is boiling, add the soba and cook 1 minute less than instructed on the package. Meanwhile, combine the tehina, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, sriarcha and Bragg's in a small bowl. Pour the sauce over the cooked tofu and mushrooms. Drain the soba and add it to the pan, mixing well to coat it in the sauce. Serve immediately with scallions as a garnish.

Spring Roll Salad

I adore fresh spring rolls, and coming across a recipe for a spring roll salad in Vegetarian Times magazine was like a revelation. All the things I love about the rolls - the thin and delicate rice noodles, the fresh herbal hit of cilantro, chunks of tofu... and the peanut sauce! Lots of simple and great flavors happening in the classic spring roll, yet I never made them at home since I never felt like bothering with the 'roll' part. Wrapping all those ingredients in a temperamental rice paper wrap seemed like too much of a hassle. When I saw the recipe for a spring roll salad, I was almost kicking myself for not thinking of it myself. And then I promptly made it.

The recipe was pretty good, but it didn't really have the flavors I was looking for. It calls for mint and cilantro, but I prefer only cilantro since it doesn't overpower the other ingredients. The dressing was not my favorite either. The recipe's version was not very balanced. Even though there are chopped roasted peanuts garnishing the salad, there wasn't enough peanut flavor for us. 

If you happened to check out and/or make the salt & pepper tofu from last week, you may be wondering what to do with all that extra peanut sauce... or not. The recipe does make a pretty large batch, and we really use a lot of it with salt & pepper tofu, but I always have some left over. This salad is pretty much the perfect way to use that left over sauce, and with just a couple additions it really changes the flavor profile to it. And it is so perfect for this salad. It ends up making the perfect amount to dress it, and really gives the vegetables that extra punch of flavor, as well as playing up their delicate taste.

This salad is definitely going to be repeated a lot in our house, especially during those hot and humid days when using the oven is out of the question. It's really easy to change it up and use up some veg in your fridge, or other herbs you may prefer. Cilantro seems to be a hate it or love it thing, so if that is the case, Italian parsley, basil, and/or mint work here as well. Cashews or almonds would be great (especially if there are any peanut allergy things happening), and other nut butters can be used in lieu of peanut butter for the 'peanut' sauce. This salad can feed a lot of people if used as a side, or easily feed a family of four as a main dish. I feel that it tastes the best at room temperature, but its still great cold. It would be a colorful and healthful addition to any up coming cookouts.

INGREDIENTS    

~4 ounces thin rice noodles

1 package firm or extra firm tofu, drained and cut into small bite sized cubes

1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled into thin ribbons with veg peeler

1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into fat matchsticks

1/4 of purple cabbage, thinly sliced

1/2 cup cilantro (or basil, parsley, mint, or combination of these) coarsely chopped, 

plus extra for garnish

1/2 cup roasted peanuts (or cashews, pistachio, etc), coarsely chopped

for the dressing

1/2 recipe of peanut sauce

juice of half a lime

2 - 3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

Fill a tea kettle or medium pot with water and set over high heat. Place rice noodles in large glass bowl. Once water is boiling, remove from heat and pour over the noodles. Let sit for 3 - 5 minutes, carefully stirring every minute or so. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Meanwhile, prep the vegetables, herb(s) and peanuts (or other nut). You can increase or decrease the amount of any of these ingredients to your taste. This recipe calls for a pretty balanced mix of ingredients, but is still very good if you change the ratios (except on the dressing) so if you prefer to tip the scales with the noodles, you can prepare a double batch. Or, if you are wild about cabbage, use half a head. Add all the ingredients (except for the nuts) to a large bowl. 

Prepare the dressing by combining all ingredients and mixing well. The consistency should be thin, yet with a bit more viscosity than a vinaigrette. Add the cooked noodles in with the other prepared ingredients. Pour over the dressing. Toss gently yet thoroughly, taking care to ensure the noodles are mixed in well with the other ingredients (they tend to want to clump together), while not breaking up the tofu.

Garnish with nuts and  extra herbs. Serve room temperature or chilled. Lasts up to 3 days in a tightly sealed container - mix well before re-serving. 

This recipe has been adapted from Vegetarian Times magazine.

                            

Salt and Pepper Tofu with Peanut Sauce

Some days I am too exhausted, or feeling a general lack of creativity in the kitchen that prevents me from turning out something 'fun' for my (almost) 2 year old to eat. And when I'm alone with her, I prefer something that doesn't keep me tied to the stove/practically makes itself. 

This is a meal that is super quick to whip up, leaves enough leftovers for lunch the next day, and is a favorite of my daughter's because it has 2 of her favorite things: roasted broccoli, and a thick, creamy dipping sauce. For some reason my daughter has decided that as far as most vegetables go, they will not pass her lips unless they've been roasted. Which is perfectly fine with me, since it is so insanely easy to prepare them this way, and I don't feel that any of the nutrients are getting leeched out into a cooking liquid. 

Unfortunately I am a sucker for thick, creamy, Americanized peanut sauce, and always order extra when eating at one of the Thai places in our area. This recipe is the closest I've come to recreating it at home, and we all love it. It may not be for you, but keep in mind that the recipe provided is super adaptable to your tastes - I make it differently every time depending on what I'm in the mood for, or what it will be accompanying. Just keep a spoon nearby in order to repeatedly taste it as you go along - making it your own is the fun part.

INGREDIENTS

for the salt & pepper tofu
1 package firm or extra firm of your favorite tofu
salt and pepper
1/4 cup neutral oil, such as grapeseed or coconut

for the peanut dipping sauce
6 Tbsp of your fav peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp mirin
2 Tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tsp Bragg's liquid aminos or 2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce (optional)
2 1/2 tsp sriracha (or to taste)
3 Tbsp low fat coconut milk
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp lime juice (optional)
1 inch nub of  peeled grated ginger (optional)

for the roasted broccoli
1 bunch (2-3 heads) organic broccoli
extra virgin olive oil mister/spray
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place a silicone mat or piece of parchment on a baking sheet. Rinse broccoli and separate heads into large bite size florets and peel stalk with a knife, ensuring to remove all of the tough fibrous exterior. Slice the peeled stalk into coins and place on lined baking sheet with the florets. Mist/spray with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place in oven on middle rack and roast for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring halfway through roasting time.

While the broccoli is cooking, drain the tofu and cut into about 1 inch square cubes. Heat the 1/4 cup neutral tasting oil over medium high heat. Dry the cubes well on both sides with clean kitchen towel. Sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Place all tofu in pan and let cook till golden brown on first side before flipping (about 4 - 7 minutes). Once tofu is browned on 2 sides, remove to paper towel lined plate and set aside. 

While the tofu is frying, add all the ingredients of the peanut sauce to a glass bowl and whisk together. If you like it really spicy, add more sriracha. A bit more tang, more rice wine vinegar - this is where it gets fun and you can make this completely tailored to your tastes. If the balance is good for you, but still seems a bit thick, add more coconut milk. 

Serve tofu alongside broccoli with lots of peanut dipping sauce on the side.