Food, Feminism, & life

Tofu General Tso’s

Is it Tso’s or Tsao’s? I always wrote it Tsao’s but who knows. Tso what?

If you really need to, you can make this with chicken but you should really give it a try with tofu first. The tofu in this recipe is crunchy outside & soft inside & is really just perfect. This is how I like my tofu & if you’re serving tofu to non-plant eaters then you should cook it this way & knock their socks off.

I’m dedicating this recipe to my BFF because the two of us had the most amazing vegan general tso’s in Brooklyn last weekend & I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Love you, lady.

Tofu General Tso’s

Servings: 2 ● Points Plus: 9

Ingredients for the Tofu:

• 1/2 block extra firm tofu, drained for 20 minutes & cut into 1” squares
• 2 TB soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• Egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg white
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 TB canola oil for frying

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 1 TB canola oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 tsp grated ginger (I use the crushed in a jar kind. Smells like heaven)
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 2 TB soy sauce
• 1 TB cornstarch
• 1 tsp sweet chili sauce (Trader Joe’s makes an awesome one)
• 1/2 tsp Sriracha (or more if you like it hot hot hot)
• 2 TB agave nectar

Directions:

1) In a large mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for the tofu (egg replacer, corn starch, sesame oil, soy sauce). Mix it together until it forms a thick paste.

2) In another bowl whisk together all of the ingredients for the sauce & set aside. Make sure you whisk everything well so the cornstarch doesn’t clump. 

3) Add the tofu cubes to the paste. They will stick as if they were stuck in concrete. Don’t attempt to coat them using a spoon. Get your hands in there & get dirty & make sure they are covered on all sides with the paste. 

4) Heat the 2 TB canola oil in a pan & fry the tofu on all sides. Keep an eye on it because it will fry quick. Transfer tofu to a paper towel lined plate & dab off any excess oil.

4) Heat a wok or a large frying pan (I used a wok because they’re fun). Pour the sauce mixture into the pan & bring to a boil. It will start to thicken as soon as it begins boiling. Reduce to a simmer & stir until it’s slightly thick. Add the tofu to the sauce, toss to coat, and simmer a few minutes.

5) Before the sauce gets too thick, pour it with the tofu over rice & veggies & lick your plate clean.

Food Porn: Avocado & Tofu Salad from Suhi Ya

This is one of my favorite lunches when I’m at work. I get it from a sushi place called Sushi Ya. It’s ice cold & has crispy lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red cabbage, avocado, & silken tofu topped with carrot ginger dressing. So refreshing & filling. Now I want this for lunch again today.

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

Everyone has seen the recipe around the internet that uses ramen noodles in salads, but I’ve always been wary about it. I decided to finally make a version & it was much better than I imagined. I always assumed raw ramen noodles would be like eating raw pasta (which is gross). I was wrong. I made a huge batch of this last night to eat all week & was happy with the results. This salad is crunchy, cold, sweet & salty, and topped off with warm chicken. Definitely a perfect salad to me.

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

Servings: 4 Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:

• 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
• 2 TB teriyaki sauce (any brand you like)
• 2 TB sesame seeds
• 3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce (I shred it in a food processor)
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli slaw
• 1 cup shredded red cabbage
• 1/2 large cucumber, seeds removed, sliced into thin half moons
• 2 TB chopped cilantro
• 4 scallions, thin sliced
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 TB canola oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 TB agave nectar
• 1 package of instant ramen noodles, Oriental flavor
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions:

1) Crush up the ramen noodles & set aside the seasoning packet. Spray a pan with non-stick spray & toast the ramen a bit. When the noodles start to brown, toss them around & remove from heat immediately so that they don’t burn. Set aside in a bowl.

2) Slice the chicken into thin slices & cook in a hot pan. When chicken is cooked, add the teriyaki sauce & toss to coat. Remove from heat & set aside.

3) Layer the lettuce, cucumber, broccoli slaw, cabbage, sesame seeds & cilantro in a bowl. Top with the warm chicken.

4) In a bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, sesame oil, canola oil, agave nectar & 1 tsp of the Oriental seasoning that came with the ramen.

5) Immediately before serving, add the ramen noodles & the dressing & toss the salad. Top each serving with a wedge of lime.

*Note: If you plan on having leftovers of this salad then keep the noodles separate from the salad until you’re ready to eat a serving, otherwise they will get soggy. For lunch I pack the salad, noodles, dressing, and chicken in separate containers so that I can heat up the chicken. Then toss with the noodles & dressing right before you eat. This salad will keep in the fridge for 3 days.

Homemade Kani Salad

Kani (crab) salad is one thing I always have to order when I’m in a sushi restaurant, but I imagine that it’s very high in points because of the real mayo.I’ve been craving it a lot lately so I decided to make my own version at home. It came out almost exactly like the salad you get a sushi restaurant! I didn’t get my slices of cucumber & crab as thin because I opted not to make a mess of my food processor, but they were close enough. This is perfect for a light lunch, especially in the summer time.

Kani Salad

Servings: 2 ★ Points Plus: 5

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 120 g imitation crab (about 2 pouches)
• 4 TB light mayonnaise
• 1 TB sweet chili sauce (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
• 1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• Sesame seeds
• Soy sauce

Directions:

1) Peel cucumber & slice into matchsticks. Cut up the imitation crab into the same size matchsticks as the cucumber. Place in a large mixing bowl.

2) In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sriracha, & sweet chili sauce. Pour over cucumber & crab mixture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Toss all together & serve immediately with soy sauce on the side.

*If you want, serve this over a bed of lettuce.

It’s Grillin’ Time!

Frank & I didn’t have a barbecue last summer (our apartment complex didn’t allow them), but now that we’re in a house we have one, and I am in love with it. As much as I love cooking, I rarely venture out to the grill. This is going to change this summer. Our house gets freezing from our air conditioning, but I still don’t like using the oven too much during the summer months. Why heat up the house when I can be outside in the sunshine making dinner?

Frank started Bar review last week & was pretty much locked in our office all day & night last night. This meant I was on my own for making dinner. Normally he would do the grilling while I prepared everything else in the house. I am not gonna lie - I was semi afraid of turning on the barbecue. I don’t know why. He showed me how, and then I got busy. I didn’t do anything fancy. I grilled up some chicken with our favorite teriyaki sauce (Soy Vay!), but made the grill super hot so that the outside would get those awesome grill marks & caramelize quickly. The chicken was so good.

I made a quick brown fried rice to go with it. The recipe is below. How pretty does this chicken look? I’m excited to try all sorts of new things on the barbecue this summer. Grilled sweet potatoes are on the menu for this weekend.

What are your favorite things to throw on the grill?

Brown Fried Rice

Servings: 4 Points Plus: 7

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 2 TB sesame oil (I use dark)
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup diced carrots (I use frozen)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1) In a wok or pan, heat the sesame oil over medium heat & saute the chopped onion & carrots until soft. Add the ginger & garlic & saute a few minutes. When the vegetables are soft, push to the side, add the egg & scramble. Break up the egg & mix with the vegetables.

2) Add the rice & soy sauce. Stir fry until all of the ingredients are combined. Turn the heat up to high & let the bottom of the rice get slightly crispy. Toss, repeat once. This gives you a few crispy pieces throughout the rice. Serve immediately!

*Note: I like to add peas & diced baby corn to the fried rice also. This is standard for most recipes. I left them out of this recipe because Frank doesn’t eat them. Adding them adds 1 points plus to the serving.

Bangin’ Shrimp

Another recipe inspiration from Skinny Taste. Gina never fails!

I’ve never been to Bonefish Grill, but I’ve had Bang Bang Shrimp at a local restaurant near me & I loveeeee them. I don’t know if they got the idea from Bonefish Grill, but it doesn’t matter. At this restaurant they have a bit more of a slight buffalo taste & come with blue cheese on the side. The recipe I made is much creamier & I used large shrimp. Lightly frying them in a wok gave the shrimp a slight smoky flavor that was perfect with this spicy & sweet sauce. Serve these over rice with some of the extra sauce & a handful of shredded lettuce on top. The crispy cold lettuce goes really well with the hot shrimp.

Bangin’ Shrimp

Servings: 4 ● Points Plus: 7

Ingredients:

• 1 lb shelled & de-veined large shrimp
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 2 TB canola oil

Ingredients for sauce:

• 5 TB light mayonnaise
• 3 TB sweet chili sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce

Directions:

1) Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a bowl, whisk together & set aside.

2) Remove tails from shrimp, rinse, & set aside in a large bowl.

3) Combine the panko, cornstarch, salt, & pepper in a bowl. Toss with the shrimp, making sure each shrimp is coated. Some panko won’t stick to the shrimp, but that’s ok. Don’t worry if not all of the cornstarch & panko mixture is used.

4) Heat a wok over high heat. Add the canola oil & toss in the shrimp once hot. Toss the shrimp a few times until coated with the oil. Let cook 2-3 minutes, flip shrimp & cook another 2-3 minutes.

5) When shrimp are cooked, remove from wok & place in large bowl. Pour sauce over the shrimp & toss to coat. Serve immediately!

Wonton Soup

Out of all the things I’ve made, I think this might be my favorite so far. I had a horrible stomach ache all night & when I finally got my appetite back I wanted a hot bowl of wonton soup. I immediately thought to make my own version. After some Googling & recipe reading, I came up with this recipe. The wontons are a bit tedious, but the flavor & final product of this soup is so worth it. The only thing I would do differently is cut down a bit on the ginger next time. I brought my mom a quart of this & then froze the leftover wontons. They’re a great thing to keep in the freezer! You just have to boil them in some chicken broth when you’re ready to eat them.

You have to try this! Filling the wontons took over an hour, but it was relaxing & perfect for a breezy spring afternoon. I put some music on & enjoyed the entire process. This recipe makes about 12 servings. Each serving is for 4 wontons, 1.5 cups of broth, and 1 tsp of sesame oil. If you use 5 wontons in your soup then the points go up to 7 per serving.

Wonton Soup

Servings: 12 ● Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1/4 cup minced ginger root
• 1/2 cup minced bamboo shoots
• 7 shitake mushrooms, minced
• 3 TB soy sauce
• 2 TB sesame oil
• 2 TB cornstarch

Other Ingredients:

• Wonton wrappers (I like Nasoya brand - any brand of about 48 wrappers will do)
• Small bowl of water
• 18-20 cups chicken stock
• Scallions for garnish
• Sesame oil (1 tsp per bowl of soup)
• Pot of water

Directions:

1) Boil a large pot of water. Add 1 TB sesame oil & salt to water when it begins to boil.

2) Make the filling:

• You can either mince the onion, ginger, bamboo shoots, & mushrooms on your own, or you can place them one ingredient at a time in a food processor. I used the small bowl of my food processor for this. I honestly don’t know what people did before these things.
• In a large bowl, combine the minced ingredients with the pork, sesame oil, cornstarch, & soy sauce. Mix together until all ingredients are combined.

3) When water is beginning to boil, start making your wontons:

• Using either a cookie scoop or small spoon, scoop a little more than a tsp of filling into the center of a wonton wrapper.
• 
• Wet the edges of the wrapper & fold into a triangle. Pinch all of the edges together & try to get out any air bubbles as you do this.
• Wet the two points & fold them so that they cross at the corners.

(don’t they look like tough little warriors?)

4) When the water is boiling, add a few wontons at a time (I did about 6-7 per batch), and keep making other wontons as you go. By the time I made 6 more, the 6 I put in the water were ready to come out. You will know your wontons are cooked because they will float & bounce around in the water. They will sink when you first put them in.

This is what they look like when they’re cooked:

5) Keep making wontons & boiling them in batches. Make sure not to overcrowd your boiling water and keep the batches to about 6-8 wontons at a time.

6) Remove wontons from water & set aside. When ready to serve your soup, heat up the chicken broth & chop some scallions for garnish. Place 4 wontons in each bowl, top with 1.5 cups of chicken broth & 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Garnish with scallions & serve with soy sauce on the side. Enjoy!

*Note: These are very gingery. If you aren’t a huge fan of ginger then I would only use 1/8th of a cup.

Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs

This is another recipe adapted from Gina’s Site. After I made these once I made them over & over. Gina uses drumsticks, but I only had chicken thighs in the house the first time I made these, so that’s what I used. I also remove my chicken from the pan while the sauce reduces because I like a very thick glaze. The results were so good that I never attempted this with drumsticks. These thighs go really great with brown rice & vegetables.

Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs

Servings: 4 ● Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:

• 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 TB sriracha chili sauce
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 4 tsp agave nectar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 TB chives
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Brown chicken in a heavy large saucepan until browned on both sides. About 3-4 minutes.  

2. Add water, balsamic, soy sauce, agave, garlic, ginger, hot sauce and cook on high until liquid comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes.

3. Remove chicken & set aside. Bring heat to high and allow sauce to boil & reduce down for about 8-10 minutes. It should start becoming a thick glaze.

4. Once the sauce begins to reduce and thicken (about 5 minutes in) add chicken back to pan. Continue to cook until the sauce coats the chicken. Once finished, transfer chicken to a platter and pour glaze on top. Top with chives and sesame seeds and serve. 

Asian Peanut Noodles with Chicken

This recipe is adapted from Gina’s Skinny Taste. I am in love with her recipes, but I always tend to change them up a bit. I can’t seem to follow a recipe step-by-step for the life of me. I always end up adding things or completely changing something. For this recipe, I used less rice noodles so that it would yield larger portions per serving. I also didn’t have scallions or bean sprouts in my cabinet, so they were left out.

Peanut noodles are one of my favorite things from Chinese restaurants but I stopped ordering them years ago for a few reasons: 1) I can’t have white pasta. 2) I can’t have sugar (and they’re loaded with sugar from restaurants). 3) Holy fattening.

I used pre-shredded carrots & broccoli slaw for shortcuts with this recipe. You can use the leftover shredded vegetables for other great recipes during the week. I’ll try to post a few ideas later.

Asian Peanut Noodles with Chicken:

Servings: 4 ● Points Plus: 8 per serving.

Peanut Sauce:

• 1 cup reduced sodium/fat free chicken broth
• 3 TBSP natural peanut butter
• 1 TB creamy peanut butter
• 1 TB sriracha chili sauce
• 2 TB agave nectar
• 1 TB fresh grated ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Chicken:

• 13 oz chicken breast, cut into strips
• kosher salt & pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 TB sriracha chili sauce
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 TB fresh grated ginger
• 1 TB low sodium soy sauce
• 1 TB sesame oil

Salad:

• 4 oz cooked rice noodles (about 2 oz uncooked)
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 2 cups shredded broccoli slaw
• 1 lime, sliced into wedges
• 3 TB crushed peanuts

Directions:

1. For the sauce: Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan & simmer on low until everything blends together & becomes slightly smooth & creamy, about 5 minutes. If you do not end up with smooth & creamy results it is okay. It’s probably from the natural peanut butter. Turn off the heat once everything is blended & set aside.

2. Boil water & cook rice noodles according to package instructions. Set aside when done cooking.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine all of the chicken ingredients & toss to coat the chicken. In a large non-stick skillet cook the chicken. Once cooked, set chicken aside.

4. In the same skillet, add the broccoli slaw & carrots & saute for a few minutes until they are slightly tender. Add the rice noodles & toss to combine.

5. Add the chicken & peanut sauce to the skillet & toss to combine.

6. Divide onto four dishes & top each with a lime wedge & 1 TB chopped peanuts. Serve warm.

*This recipe is great served cold as leftovers. Especially for lunch!