David and I hosted my mom for a visit last weekend. Saturday night, we invited a friend to dinner for some Thai tofu and Five Crowns.
This was one of those "kitchen sink" dinners where I just kept popping stuff in.
Put together a stir fry of your favorites. Some advice about the best way to do this is here.
For the green curry sauce, I combined the following in a saucepan over low/medium heat, stirring until it was well mixed. I let it simmer for a while and then took it off the heat until it was time to pour it over the stir-fry.
1 can coconut milk
roughly 2T green curry paste (use more if you like spice, less if you don't)
the juice of two limes
roughly 2 T fish sauce
a heaping teaspoon of the following - gilgal (it's a root much like ginger, which you can buy preserved), kaffir lime leaves, cilantro, chopped lemongrass.
about 1/2 T brown sugar
We served the dish over a crispy rice cake.
Alas, there are no pictures.
Showing posts with label rice noodles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rice noodles. Show all posts
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Pepper Monkey on a Rice Noodle Cake
Life has felt very busy since David and I returned from Houston. Several nights, we've simply eaten at the bottom of the hill at our favorite Milan eatery, The Village Deli and General Store.
However, since I [almost] always snap a pick of what I cook these days, I have evidence that I cooked more than I thought I did!
This meal is comprised of two different recipes. David said it was his favorite meal since the end of Lent.
The Pepper Monkey from V Cuisine: The Art of Vegan Cooking by Angeline Lindardis (Whitecap, 2007)
You could call this Tofu au Poivre, it is in fact a pepper monkey.
14 oz tofu
2 T olive oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
4 T dark soy sauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground sage
freshly cracked pepper
1 c dry red wine
1 large onion cut into quarters
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 c parsley
2 c crimini mushrooms, halved
1 red pepper, cut into rings
1 green pepper, cut into rings
coarse sea salt
olive oil
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.
2. Oil a 13x9 casserole dish.
3. Slice to tofu into rectangles about 1/2 inch thick. Set them into the oiled pan, keeping them all flat if possible.
4. Mix together olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and sage. Pour over tofu, cover with plastic wrap, let sit for 20 minutes.
5. Uncover tofu. Coat each side with a layer of freshly ground pepper, return to pan.
6. Pour wine into pan. Add veggies, beginning with onion.
7. Cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and vegetables.
8. Put broiler on high, leave pan in middle of oven. Cook on one side 4-5 minutes, then flip.
Some notes:
I didn't read the recipe super carefully, and so I set the tofu aside after coating with pepper, put in all the veggies and topped them with tofu. This caused me to climate the broiling step. We thought it was perfect as prepared.
Also, we had no parsley and no peppers of any kind and the whole thing tasted great.
The pan sauce was terrific atop the noodle cake!
The timing is just about right to cook the noodle cake while the tofu bakes. You might give the tofu a five minute head start.
Crisp-Fried Noodle Cake - another great recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman (Wiley, 2007)
noodles (the recipe suggests 12 oz of fresh Chinese egg noodles or 8 oz of any dry long noodles or pasta - we used 14 oz of rice noodles)
1 T soy sauce
1 t dark sesame oil
1/2 c chopped scallions or chives
1/4 neutral oil (I used canola)
1. Prep the noodles as the package suggests. Drain and rinse. Set aside. If you wait any length of time, leave the noodles soaking in cold water, otherwise they get sticky (says the voice of experience!).
2. Just before cooking drain (if you haven't already) and then toss the noodles with the sesame oil, soy sauce, and scallions.
3. Put 3 T of oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the noodles. Let cook undisturbed until brown and crisp on the bottom. This takes about 15 minutes. Resist looking as much as you can!
4. Use a large spatula to flip the noodles, first adding remaining oil to pan. Brown on the other side. Slide onto a plate. Sprinkle with a bit of additional sesame oil (you might skip this step, we found it plenty oily enough!) and soy sauce. Cut into pieces and serve.
Some notes:
1. This does not re-heat well. So serve when you have company or are very hungry. Our next-day leftovers were kind of chewy and blah.
2. The flipping is a bit dangerous. We actually did this twice and the second time put a pizza stone onto the fry pan, flipped that over, then re-oiled the pan and slid the cake from the pizza stone.
3. Flipping the noodle cake takes a bit of getting used to - be prepared for bits of noodle all over your stove! :)
However, since I [almost] always snap a pick of what I cook these days, I have evidence that I cooked more than I thought I did!
This meal is comprised of two different recipes. David said it was his favorite meal since the end of Lent.
The Pepper Monkey from V Cuisine: The Art of Vegan Cooking by Angeline Lindardis (Whitecap, 2007)
You could call this Tofu au Poivre, it is in fact a pepper monkey.
14 oz tofu
2 T olive oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
4 T dark soy sauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground sage
freshly cracked pepper
1 c dry red wine
1 large onion cut into quarters
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 c parsley
2 c crimini mushrooms, halved
1 red pepper, cut into rings
1 green pepper, cut into rings
coarse sea salt
olive oil
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.
2. Oil a 13x9 casserole dish.
3. Slice to tofu into rectangles about 1/2 inch thick. Set them into the oiled pan, keeping them all flat if possible.
4. Mix together olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and sage. Pour over tofu, cover with plastic wrap, let sit for 20 minutes.
5. Uncover tofu. Coat each side with a layer of freshly ground pepper, return to pan.
6. Pour wine into pan. Add veggies, beginning with onion.
7. Cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and vegetables.
8. Put broiler on high, leave pan in middle of oven. Cook on one side 4-5 minutes, then flip.
Some notes:
I didn't read the recipe super carefully, and so I set the tofu aside after coating with pepper, put in all the veggies and topped them with tofu. This caused me to climate the broiling step. We thought it was perfect as prepared.
Also, we had no parsley and no peppers of any kind and the whole thing tasted great.
The pan sauce was terrific atop the noodle cake!
The timing is just about right to cook the noodle cake while the tofu bakes. You might give the tofu a five minute head start.
Crisp-Fried Noodle Cake - another great recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman (Wiley, 2007)
noodles (the recipe suggests 12 oz of fresh Chinese egg noodles or 8 oz of any dry long noodles or pasta - we used 14 oz of rice noodles)
1 T soy sauce
1 t dark sesame oil
1/2 c chopped scallions or chives
1/4 neutral oil (I used canola)
1. Prep the noodles as the package suggests. Drain and rinse. Set aside. If you wait any length of time, leave the noodles soaking in cold water, otherwise they get sticky (says the voice of experience!).
2. Just before cooking drain (if you haven't already) and then toss the noodles with the sesame oil, soy sauce, and scallions.
3. Put 3 T of oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the noodles. Let cook undisturbed until brown and crisp on the bottom. This takes about 15 minutes. Resist looking as much as you can!
4. Use a large spatula to flip the noodles, first adding remaining oil to pan. Brown on the other side. Slide onto a plate. Sprinkle with a bit of additional sesame oil (you might skip this step, we found it plenty oily enough!) and soy sauce. Cut into pieces and serve.
Some notes:
1. This does not re-heat well. So serve when you have company or are very hungry. Our next-day leftovers were kind of chewy and blah.
2. The flipping is a bit dangerous. We actually did this twice and the second time put a pizza stone onto the fry pan, flipped that over, then re-oiled the pan and slid the cake from the pizza stone.
3. Flipping the noodle cake takes a bit of getting used to - be prepared for bits of noodle all over your stove! :)
Friday, April 13, 2012
April 1, 2012: Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Quick-Braised Vegetables, Thai Style
This keeper is adapted from a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, John Wiley & Sons, 2007. He gives some great suggestions for vegetables to use, but I just used what we had on hand. Prepping all the veggies takes a bit of time, but the whole thing comes together quickly after that.
1/3 package rice noodles, prepared according to package directions, rinsed in cold water, and drained
3 T oil (I always use olive)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 chile, chopped (or you could use 2 dried chiles, or 1 t chile paste, or eliminate the chiles all together if you aren't a spice fan)
lime leaves or lime zest (we didn't have any, so I skipped this - it would have deepened the flavor, for sure)
a quantity of fresh vegetables, chopped into bite-sized pieces (we used mushrooms, broccoli, and snap peas - and we pressed 1/3 of a package of tofu and added it in with the mushrooms)
1 can coconut milk
3 T fish sauce - this is a place where I go ahead and use the real thing, not a vegan alternative. You can sub soy sauce or fish-less fish sauce if you prefer.
salt and pepper
lime wedges for serving
1. Put the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Sauté the garlic and onions for about 5 minutes until soft.
2. Stir in chiles and lime leaves.
3. Add vegetables - put in the longest cooking first, followed by the shorter cooking ones. Sauté, stirring frequently. Depending on the veggies you use, this could take 5-15 minutes.
4. When the veggies are nearly done, add the rice noodles and sauté very briefly, to heat through.
5. Stir in the coconut milk and simmer until thickened, then add fish sauce, salt and pepper.
6. Serve hot with lime wedges.
Taste this before you serve it. You may want to adjust spices with more fish sauce, or chile sauce, or by adding a bit of sugar. Trust your own palate and what you like as you finish this up.
1/3 package rice noodles, prepared according to package directions, rinsed in cold water, and drained
3 T oil (I always use olive)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 chile, chopped (or you could use 2 dried chiles, or 1 t chile paste, or eliminate the chiles all together if you aren't a spice fan)
lime leaves or lime zest (we didn't have any, so I skipped this - it would have deepened the flavor, for sure)
a quantity of fresh vegetables, chopped into bite-sized pieces (we used mushrooms, broccoli, and snap peas - and we pressed 1/3 of a package of tofu and added it in with the mushrooms)
1 can coconut milk
3 T fish sauce - this is a place where I go ahead and use the real thing, not a vegan alternative. You can sub soy sauce or fish-less fish sauce if you prefer.
salt and pepper
lime wedges for serving
1. Put the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Sauté the garlic and onions for about 5 minutes until soft.
2. Stir in chiles and lime leaves.
3. Add vegetables - put in the longest cooking first, followed by the shorter cooking ones. Sauté, stirring frequently. Depending on the veggies you use, this could take 5-15 minutes.
4. When the veggies are nearly done, add the rice noodles and sauté very briefly, to heat through.
5. Stir in the coconut milk and simmer until thickened, then add fish sauce, salt and pepper.
6. Serve hot with lime wedges.
Taste this before you serve it. You may want to adjust spices with more fish sauce, or chile sauce, or by adding a bit of sugar. Trust your own palate and what you like as you finish this up.
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