Thai Tofu Green Curry with Lotus Rootlets

I love browsing the aisles of the Asian grocery stores. I always find something interesting such as the jars of lotus rootlets or stems either pickled or in brine. I got one jar in brine and searched from one of my Thai cookbooks for a recipe and lo and behold, there's a recipe for tofu green curry with lotus rootlets. Perfect!

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Tofu

fresh spring rolls filled with vegetables and tofu

Our August 2012 KCC hosts Kai and Isabel challenged us to prepare dishes that are healthy and nutritious, dishes for longevity, pampahaba ng buhay in Tagalog, or dishes that are believed to have restorative or curing power like tinola and cerveza negra specifically for nursing moms.

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Food Friday: Duck Soup

We had our first snowfall of the season today. It's very light though, accumulation is only 2 inches but it's very very cold, as in below freezing. Brrrr! It's time for an easy to make steaming hot duck soup. I had several cups of duck broth and added to it a little of the duck meat, scallions, cubed tofu, sliced snow peas, ginger, rice wine, dried shiitake mushrooms, sea salt, and soy sauce. Very yummy, and together with hot freshly brewed loose jasmine tea leaves, I'm now warm, toasty, and ready to watch Duck Soup.:D

Food Friday: Tofu-rrific

A friend gave me this recipe which she says she got from her sister's friend's friend. Most probably the recipe is already on somebody's website. This vegan dish is similar to sisig without the pork. It has the perfect balance of saltiness and acidity, is rich and creamy [from the mayonnaise] and mildly spicy [from the green finger chilis]. It is very very very good, it's tofu-rrific. I never thought I'd say this about tofu but yes, this tofu dish is awesome!

Tofu with Mayonnaise
2 firm tofu bricks, diced
water
2 tablespoons light olive oil
2 cups chopped sweet onions
5 pieces green finger chili, sliced
½ cup mayonnaise, more or less to taste
3 tablespoons lemon or calamansi juice
½ cup soy sauce

• Heat 3 cups water in a medium sauce pan and add tofu. Leave for 3 minutes then drain well.
  
• Heat the oil in a wok or large non-stick skillet. Carefully add the drained tofu, stir fry for 2 minutes. Add onions and stir cook for 3 minutes. Add finger chili, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Cook for another 3 minutes or until onions are soft. Turn heat off and stir in the soy sauce. Serve immediately.

Eggplant Relleno

Grilled Asian eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables because of its smokey flavor. I usually prepare grilled eggplants and chopped tomato salad with ginger juice and sea salt dressing. It is also delicious simply dipped in beaten egg and pan-fried, Tortang Talong in Flipino. Yesterday I wanted to make egg plant relleno stuffed with vegetables and ground pork but the pork was frozen solid and I didn't want to wait for it to defrost so I used chopped puffed tofu. The result is a very yummy and healthier stuffed eggplants and I didn't notice the absence of pork. I think it tastes even better without because the smokiness of the eggplant is more pronounced. I love it.

Eggplant Relleno

3 Asian eggplants

3 tablespoons light olive oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped sweet red, yellow, or orange bell pepper

1 tomato, chopped

4 pieces puffed tofu squares, chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

pinch of ground black pepper

2 eggs, well beaten and mixed with a pinch of sea salt

• Wash the eggplants, trim the top and leave stems on. Prick all over with the tip of a paring knife. Char the skin of the eggplants directly on the stove fire. Wrap in aluminum foil and leave to cool. When cooled, remove the skin and discard. Transfer eggplants into a plate and flatten. Set aside.
• Heat 1½ tablespoons oil in a skillet and stir fry garlic and onion. Cook until onion is soft, add pepper and tomatoes, stir fry for 2 minutes. Add tofu, salt, and pepper and stir fry for 2 minutes. Transfer into a plate and divide into 3 portions. Wipe the skillet with a piece of paper towel. Heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil on medium heat. Place one tofu portion on the skillet, shape it into an oval the size of the eggplant, pour 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg all over the filling and top with one eggplant dipped in beaten egg. Fry for 2 minutes, flip and fry the other side for 1 minute or until light brown. Repeat with the remaining eggplants, adding more oil if necessary. 

Fried Lumpia Taugeh (Mung Bean Sprouts)

fried lumpia with vegetables, mung bean sprouts and tofu

My daughter's friend is coming home from working overseas and he asked her if I can make him lumpia. Lumpia and pancit are the most popular or maybe the only familiar Filipino food here in the US. I asked my daughter what kind he likes because there are several ways to prepare lumpia:

• fresh with vegetables or heart of palm and wrapped either in egg and cornstarch mixture or flour lumpia wrapper served with a sweet and salty sauce
• fried with vegetables and prawn filling
• fried with mung bean sprouts, vegetables and firm tofu, true vegetarian but so delicious
• lumpia Shanghai filled with either prawns and ground pork or a mixture of both, the difference from 2 & 3 is these are thin and sliced into 2-inch pieces before frying, these are also served with sweet and sour sauce

My favorite is the one filled with mung bean sprouts eaten with vinegar and garlic dip. When I was working at the Asian Development Bank one of our co-workers came in the morning with all sorts of food stuff to sell and these were the ones I bought regularly. I never cooked fried lumpia of any kind in Manila and rarely here in the US because it is tedious to prepare. Separating the wrappers alone takes time and patience. We usually bought them or had them in restaurants and in Manila the maids cooked them for us and sometimes I asked my mother to make them, she is an excellent cook. This is only the second time I made fried lumpia and I was only able to make 3 decent looking ones that are photo worthy. The others are sort of ugly looking but nevertheless yummy. I'm not sure if I can make good-looking lumpia for him or if I have the enthusiasm to make them. Maybe she should bring him to the Little Quiapo restaurant near Washington, D.C. where the food is decent but not spectacular.

Lumpia Taugeh
8 cups mung bean sprouts, washed and very well drained in a salad spinner
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
1 cup firm tofu, diced
1 cup julienned green beans
1 cup julienned sweet potatoes or carrots
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
ground pepper
lumpia wrappers
grape seed oil for sauteing and deep frying

• In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil and saute garlic and onions for 3 minutes. Add tofu, salt, soy sauce and pepper. Saute for 2 minutes then add beans and sweet potato. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in mung bean sprouts, mixing well. The mixture should be dry. Let cool for 20 minutes before filling wrappers. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown and crisp, drain well on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Catfish Belly Adobo And Mungbean Soup

I love catfish adobo and when I see just bellies I always get them. To prepare marinate the bellies for an hour in vinegar, garlic, salt, extra virgin olive oil and kikkoman soy sauce, drain and fry in hot olive oil until brown. Then boil the marinade until thick, and pour over the fried bellies, yum, yum, yum. BoiI the mungbeans with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 2 smashed garlic cloves and 1 chopped onion, add 1 teaspoon sea salt when fully cooked, then add malunggay leaves (horseradish tree) which I get frozen from the Filipino grocery. I drizzle more extra virgin olive oil before serving using only Spanish or Portuguese olive oil as they are more robust than Italian or French.

I also made a Chinese vegetarian stir fry using canned vegetable mix and flavored gluten for non fish eaters.