Dateline: February 4, 2021 Tofu 2 Ways

After a discussion with friends Alan and Lyn, I decided to make some Mapo Tofu.  I was rooting around in the pantry and found a package of tofu skins and thought, great, I'll make some bean curd skin rolls and we can enjoy a spicy dish and a not spicy dish.

I quickly got to work, found a recipe, and started chopping things madly.  Soaked the tree ear mushrooms, gave up looking for my dried shitake mushrooms and decided to chop other veg instead.  For the rolls I quickly prepared some slivered carrots, cabbage and cucumbers.  To the meat, I used beef, I added the requisite minced tree ears, garlic, ginger, cornstarch, sesame oil, shao xing wine, and soy sauce.  Stir like mad to combine and voila!  meat filling.  

Next, I opened the package of bean curd or tofu skins and realized that this was going to be a nightmare scenario.  The sheets were folded up onto themselves so that each "page" was multiple layers thick.  I dunked them in the warm water, fiddled with them, and tried to pry the layers apart.  This was not going to work at all.  So I had to go to plan B with this.  I decided to soak 2 pages and then just chop up the result and saute everything in the wok.

Mapo, I have written about many times.  Last night, I was pressed for time, AND hungry, so I went with the easiest method possible.  Stir fried the meat and ginger, added in 2 T of doujiabang sauce and then splashed on some soy, shaoxing, rice vinegar, and anything else I felt like throwing in.

Since I had some soaked tree ear mushrooms I threw them in and, well, that was a mistake.  I should have cut them into smaller pieces, instead I just hacked a large piece into quarters or sixths, and they were just too damn big and chewy.

Mapo Tofu

Deconstructed Tofu Skin Rolls

The combo was quite tasty, Bill was going back for more.  I was pretty happy with the deconstructed rolls, and would probably tweak that a bit more going forward, like, buying fresher bean curd skins and actually making the rolls!  But as an invented dinner save, it was pretty damn good.

Dateline: December 22, 2020 VEGAN MEAL, I know, I know.....Creamy Vegan Tofu Noodles

This is a keeper!  I had no idea that it would be this tasty.  It will stay in the rotation.

Creamy Vegan Tofu Noodles  this is a true winner.  The spicy sauce on top, just added that lil sumpin' xtra that made the dish sing.

What I really liked about the recipe is that there were suggestions for substitutions or variations that will totally work.  I will try this again taking it in the Italian direction, but keeping it vegan with the use of nutritional yeast and various herbs.  

The sauce is garlicky, and delightfully creamy, just what one wants on a cold winter's night when FD is late and you need to improvise dinner.

I give it more than 2 thumbs up.  You will need a blender to make the sauce get creamy, but other than that you don't need much more to make this, except tofu and noodles and bits and bobs that you probably have in your pantry.

The red sauce on top is the real star of the show.  I doubled the recipe as I knew it would be good given the list of ingredients!  It's spicy, but not too, luscious and a great foil for the creaminess of the noodles.  You can use any noodle here, spaghetti, ramen, make your own, etc.

I do agree with the comments that you need to watch the addition of water, too little and it's too thick, too much, and it's too thin... use your eyes to tell you when enough is enough!

Dateline: October 5, 2020 Spicy Sichuan Turkey and Tofu

I had taken out of the freezer a package of turkey tenderloins and was trying to figure out what to do with them when it occurred to me that I could grind the turkey and make Mapo Tofu using the turkey.

I cut up the still semi frozen turkey into smallish cubes and ground 3/4 of it twice through the fine die.  I added some of my mala powder, mixed sichuan and black pepper roasted and then ground, into the meat for the second grind.  I then ground the remain 1/4 through the fine dice just once, but added a peeled shallot into the grinder as well.

 I chopped up some fresh ginger into slivers, sliced up some garlic, and had some sichuan pepper chunks for my aromatics.  They got fried up in some canola oil.  After they were fragrant, I added the ground turkey and cooked that until it was opaque.  Next went in the pixian paste, a heaping tablespoon, along with a spoon of the Lao Gan Ma chili crisp.  This was all mushed together to coat all of the turkey with the spicy goodness before adding the mustard greens and the chicken stock.

I had some of this preserved mustard greens, which I decided to use this time in the mapo.  What I forgot to do was to rinse it.  It made the dish when coupled with the pixian paste, below, very salty.  I remedied that by adding more chicken stock and some agave syrup.  Having copious amounts of rice also helped greatly.  I also used a glug of rice vinegar to help tame the saltiness.  With rice it was quite tasty.  

I used this oxymoronic box of tofu.  Yes, the texture was that of silken tofu, but it was much firmer and it was the best choice for the job.  Good on me for picking it up somewhere!

This was my pint container of homemade chicken stock!

the finished dish and the rice.

Dateline: July 2, 2020 Enchiladas: M & T Mole with Turkey or Tofu

I have neglected making enchiladas.  I have never made them before, but thought I would give it a try.  I had the mole that I made in the freezer, some turkey tenderloins, and some roasted tofu from FreshDirect. 

The biggest surprise was the roasted tofu.  In an enchilada, it was absolutely delicious.  Will do this more often.

Grilled Turkey with Mole for Enchiladas

2 Turkey tenderloins, tendon removed

2 cups Mole sauce, preferably homemade

1.5 cups chicken stock, or stock of your preference

1 sweet onion, sliced thinly

3 anaheim peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

tortillas, I used small corn tortillas and larger flour ones both by Vista Hermosa*.

2 cups grated cheese, I used a mix 50/50 mozzarella and sharp cheddar

1 packet sazon seasoning

2 t adobo seasoning

2 T One-derful Rub, separated

avocado oil, or other high heat oil

Method

1.  Set up grill for direct grilling.  If no grill, use broiler or pan fry.

2.  Sprinkle tenderloins with oil , sazon, adobo, and 1 T One-derful Rub on all sides.  When fire is ready, grill turkey tenderloins until just cooked through, no pink, but still juicy.  Remove and set aside.  

3.  In a saucepan, put in mole and stock.  Bring to a simmer, taste to correct seasonings, if necessary.   

                                              

4.  Put tofu in one bowl and shredded turkey in another.  Add onions and peppers to the turkey, add enough mole to each bowl to moisten and coat all the ingredients.  To the tofu, add other 1 T of rub and mix well.                                                            

grilled turkey and anaheim peppers

Shredded turkey, onions and peppers

5.  Either on stove top, or on grill, warm tortillas to make them pliable and perhaps add some charred bits.  Using one tortilla at a time, dip one side into mole sauce and put mole side down into oiled casserole dish.  (I chose to use 2 small dishes, one with corn and tofu the other with turkey and flour tortillas.)  Add your turkey or tofu.  If you are using small corn tortillas, do not over fill!  Roll the tortilla around the filling, and place seam side down .  Move on to next one, and continue on until all the tortillas are rolled and nestled tightly in the casserole dish.  

tofu corn enchiladas

turkey flour enchiladas

6.  Take remaining mole sauce and spread over the top of the casseroled enchiladas.  Top with cheese, and cover with foil.

7.  Since the grill is lit, I took the casseroles out to the grill and let them bake outside until the cheese was melted and they were heated through.

tofu 

turkey

I have to say, for the first go out of the box, I did pretty darn well.  These tasted great, and the big surprise was the tofu ones!  They will go into the rotation when I made more mole, for sure!

The big issue was in serving, the flour ones tended to fall apart. 

There was enough kick to make me happy, the mole was so flavorful there could have been anything in the tortilla and it would have tasted great!

*My notes on the Vista Hermosa tortillas

The flour ones were spectacular!  The reason for that is they were well oiled.  They were much thinner than other brands I have tried, but the taste was phenomenal.  They were a bit thin for this application and probably should have been doubled, or, since that would be a calorie killer, used in a different setting.  Preferably, one where their taste would shine.

The corn ones are good as well.  I will be using these with more frequency as time goes on. 

Dateline: June 16, 2020 Mapo anything, but with tofu this time!

I have been hankering for spicy food lately, I think to off-set the heat.  So, I have some tofu, and some ground pork, so it will be mapo tofu.

I really liked the Lucas Sin recipe and will use that one again.  Here it is again, Mapo Tofu.

I originally followed what he did in the video cast on YouTube.  I downloaded the recipe and realized that it did not match exactly what he did on video.  

Mapo Tofu/Mabo Dofu by Lucas Sin, altered by Clarissa Coffey

12 oz tofu, cut into cubes (soft tofu preferred, but firm is fine too)
1/2 pound pork, beef, or mushrooms minced*
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ginger, minced*
2 scallions or 1/2 medium onion
2 tablespoon doubanjiang or miso, or a combination
2 tablespoon chili oil*
1 tablespoon fermented black beans, washed and soaked*
1/2 cup stock or bone broth
1 tablespoon each mirin and Shaoxing wine.
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
neutral oil
salt
sugar
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn or sansho, ground*
3 scallions or Chinese chives, sliced fine*

*optional ingredients

Directions

Boil tofu in salted water for 10 min. Carefully drain in a colander and set aside.

Over high heat, heat oil in a hot pan and scallions or onions. Stir-fry until fragrant. Add minced meat. Fry until brown and add garlic, fermented black beans, ginger, and doubanjiang and stir-fry until fragrant. Deglaze with wine and mirin.

Turn down to medium heat and add stock or bone broth. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Make a slurry with cornstarch and water. Add boiled tofu to mix and mix until combined. Thicken sauce with the cornstarch slurry to desired consistency.

Taste and adjust seasoning.  Add a pinch of sugar if the spice level is too high for you.

Add scallions or chives and Sichuan peppercorn or sansho to garnish. Serve immediately with warm rice.

I was very happy with tonight's version.  It was super tasty, had the right amount of spice and was immensely satisfying when served with quinoa.  Along with a glass of nice riesling to temper the heat.  When I was browning the meat, I threw in a handful of green beans.  An inspired touch, I might add.  

Provided some color and vegetal interest as well.  I didn't have soft tofu, I had silken.....worked out ok, tasted delicious, but left a little something to be desired on the plate.  A bit baby-food-esque.

browning meat

boiled and draining silken tofu

I keep saying I will try it with beef, but just can't make myself do that!  Maybe some day.

Dateline: May 27, 2020. Cooking with Lucas Sin

My friend, Servet, sent me a link to a YouTube video live cooking demo presented by the Asian Society featuring Lucas Sin and Matt Gross.  I have watched this video at least 3 times and enjoyed it each time.

According to Chef Sin, you can MaPo anything, so I made MaPo Dried Tofu Skin, as I had no soft tofu in the house.

The recipe is at the end of the video and it is a very interesting change up from my normal MaPo 

recipe and had tried another MaPo recipe about 2-3 weeks ago. 

I will say, that Chef Sin's is a really delicious version.

My suggestion when using tofu skin is a) break up the dried sticks in at least 1/2 size, b) soak in cold water for at least 1 hour, c) boil in salted water a la the soft tofu, d) cut into bite sized pieces before adding to the pan.

Before the peas

The pork was cooked separately.  He strongly suggested that unless you have the jet engine providing the heat to your wok, cook in a regular saute pan on the stove top.  

Once the pork or beef is crisped and thoroughly browned up, remove from the pan and hold to the side.  In this same pan the aromatics (chopped garlic, chopped ginger, sliced scallions, soaked and chopped fermented black beans), were then cooked in the rendered pork fat and when softened, add in doubanjiang, chicken stock, shaoxing, mirin, and dark soy.  Taste, if too salty, add a bit of sugar, mine tasted just right, salty, spicy, and full of umami. Next add in the boiled tofu skins cut into bite sized pieces and let them simmer in the sauce for a bit.  Add the fried ground pork and mix carefully.

I followed his direction to apply the cornstarch slurry in 3 additions.  As the sauce slowly tightened up, I then added some chopped chives and raw English peas, and stirred around some more.  I served over rice and got ready to really enjoy dinner.

Final dish

This was an extremely satisfying MaPo Tofu Skins.  I was completely sorry that I only used 1/2 lb ground pork.  I wish that I had doubled the recipe and used the entire pound.  Next time I will know that this is delicious and needs to be doubled up.  Damn, it was really good.  So sorry I had just made enough for 2 people.  Coupled with the margarita, it was a delightful dinner over Zoom with Servet.

It was spicy, but not blow your head off spicy.  It was salty, as most Chinese food is, but it was  balanced in a good way.  I would love to try this with soft tofu.  This version was excellent and will remain the rotation.  A big shout out to Chef Lucas Sin for sharing his recipe.

Dateline: May 9, 2020 MAPO TOFU! Oh, yeah baby, it's on!

Mapo Tofu is my Chinese restaurant test dish.  If they make a good one, then nothing else will be horrid.  If they make a bad one, then the place gets scratched off my list and I move on to another one in the future.  Cold?  You bet, but I can't waste time with bad Chinese food.

I'm going to try a new recipe for a trusted source.  Mapo Tofu this recipe is straight forward, no fancy ingredients, well, doubanjiang and sichuan peppercorns are necessities and aren't easily subbed for.  Shaoxing can be subbed with dry sherry or a light dry vermouth.  My strong suggestion is to order some from Amazon.  I really like Pixian doubanjiang because it has the right amount of zip and salt without too much of each.  I bought one of the big jars, and then refill it with the bagged versions.  Pixian has the 3 diamonds on its label.

This is the pork, wine, ginger and soy  

tofu and scallions,  chopped and ready

wine, soy, doubanjiang,  and chili oil

Here is the almost finished product.  It just has to cook for a bit so that the tofu soaks up all that spicy goodness.  Final garnish of toasted sichuan pepper corns and scallion greens.  Delicious

Note:  This was a very different version than I usually make, I really liked it.  It has no garlic in it!  Shock of shocks!  I am going a day without garlic?