An easy vegetarian dish to prepare yet tasty and good with plain white rice. The recipe uses fresh tofu skin [aka tau pau] which comes in 2 shapes [round and oblong]. It comes in a packet of 10 pieces. For this dish, I used the round ones cos' I think it is easier to coat with the batter for frying. Ingredients
10 pieces fresh tofu skin [tau pau] - round shape ones
5 tbsp oil for pan frying
2-3 dried mushrooms - soaked and cut strips
1 red chilli - cut shreds
20 gm ginger - shredded
Batter - mix together
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sesame seeds
5 tbsp water
2 tsp oil
Sauce Ingredients
3 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp Worchester sauce
1 tbsp HP sauce [I substitute with Worchester sauce]
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
- Heat oil in pan [preferably non-stick pan]. Coat tofu skin pieces with batter.
- Pan fry until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Dish and drain.
- Remove excess oil. Saute ginger and mushrooms until fragrant. Add in the sauce ingredients and chilli.
- Bring to boil and return the fried tofu skin to coat well with the sauce.
Dish up and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve.
This mixed vegetable pickle popularly known as 'Achar' are found in most economy rice stalls or at the stall at the wet market selling cooked food. However, theirs are usually with shallots in the curry paste. For religious purpose like Nine Emperor Gods Festival [Kew Ong Yeah in Hokkien],shallots and garlic must not be added. I cooked this annually during this festival for the family and to give some friends who are on strict vegetarian diet like me. In my previous post on this, I prepared the curry paste from stretch but this time, I bought the ready-mix paste [In Penang, this ready-mix paste is available at most wet markets. You just need to tell the vendor how much vegetables you are cooking and he will prepare the quantity needed]. For this recipe, the total weight of the wet paste is 375 gm.
Cut vegetables before blanching2 kg cucumber - cut 1 inch length thin strips
700 gm cabbage - break into bite size pieces
300 gm carrots - cut 1 inch length thin strips
300 kg long beans - cut 1 inch length pieces
200 gm grounded peanuts
3-4 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
200 gm sugar [I used about 9 tablespoons]
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vinegar
150 ml oil
1.5 ml water and 200 ml white vinegar
Frying sesame seeds till golden brown
Blanching vegetables in boiling water and vinegar
- Season cut cucumber with some salt and set aside for 15-20 minutes. Place seasoned cucumber in a muslin bag and squeeze out the water. Do this in several batches. Drier cucumber will make it crunchy when cooked.
- Bring water to boil in a wok then add in vinegar. Blanched each of the cut vegetables for about a minute and remove using a serrated ladle into a basin. Usually, I will blanch the cucumber first, followed by carrot/long beans and cabbage. Do not overcook the vegetables. Discard the water after all the vegetables are blanched.
- Heat up oil in the wok to saute the chilli paste till aromatic and oil separates. Add in half portion of sugar and salt.
- Fry to combine then add in all the blanched vegetables. Stir to combine the chilli paste and vegetables. Then add in the cut chillies, balance sugar and salt. Taste to adjust seasoning [need not be too sweet, sour or salty as it tastes better after 1-2 days].
- Bring it to a boil, lower heat then add grounded peanuts and sesame seeds [keep a little as garnish]. Mix well and off fire.
- Leave to cool before storing in containers. Sprinkle with sesame seeds when serving. Keep well for 2 weeks or more in refrigerator. Bring out and leave it to room temperature before serving with white rice.
Notes:
If cooking less, just adjust the quantity of the ingredients proportionately.
Acar tastes better after several hours or even after several days. Acar stays good for at least 1/2 a month in the fridge.
Verdict - smooth, buttery, savoury potatoes and vegetable salad which can be eaten on its' own. Ingredients
3 large potatoes - peeled and cut into wedges
1 carrot - peeled and cut wedges
1 broccoli - cut into florets
1 canned large button mushrooms - halved [you can use fresh button mushrooms]
a dollop of butter
salt and pepper to taste [can also use freshly ground black pepper] - Put carrots and potatoes in a pot to boil with some water [just enough to cover ingredients] until soft.
- Add in the mushrooms and broccoli. Stir to mix well or until broccoli is cooked.
- Add in butter, salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir to mix well and dish up to serve with roasted chicken or meat.
I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up Event - Potatoes
Occasionally I loved to prepare this kind of soup that does not require much ingredients but the end result is a soup that can feed an 'army' - quite filling. This is a meatless soup and should be considered healthy. A quick cook soup if you like the ingredients like black fungus and Szechuan vegetable a little crunchy. You can add a few dried chillies too for a spicy version.
Ingredients
[serves 2-3]
1 piece soft tofu - cut strips
2 dried mushrooms - soaked and cut thin strips
1 floret black fungus [bok nee] - soaked and cut thin strips
30 gm Szechuan vegetable - rinsed and cut strips
1 small carrot - peeled and cut strips
a few tofu puffs - cut thin strips [optional]
700 ml water
1 tsp vegetarian stock granules [used chicken stock granules for non vegetarian]
1 tsp sesame oil
dash of pepper
some cornstarch mixture for thickening
some black vinegar [chit chor] or Shaoxing wine - optional
some Chinese celery [kin chye] - chopped
- Heat a soup pot with sesame oil, saute mushrooms, black fungus, Szechuan vegetable, carrot and tofu puffs for a several minutes to mix well.
- Pour in water, bring to boil. Lower heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add seasoning to taste. Add in tofu, bring to boil again.
- Thicken with cornstarch mixture to the consistency preferred.
- Dish up to serve with black vinegar [if prefered]. Garnish with chopped celery, serve immediately.
Notes: Visit this site for Its' Nutritional Facts [here]
