In today’s hectic lifestyle, one-dish meals have become a popular choice amongst busy mothers and career women. Today I would like to share with you a simple, healthy and practical one-dish meal that I recently cooked for both my son and myself. I selected my son’s favorite ingredients to be included in this meal (mushrooms, meat, beancurd and edamames) to wet his appetite. I also used my own concoction of “teriyaki” sauce (a combination of light soya sauce, mirin and sugar). With one bowl of rice, we slurped up everything on the plate. This means less washing up too!

The ingredients chosen in this dish, whilst being my son’s favourite, are also packed with nutrients suitable and crucial for a growing child. Of interest would be the edamame, which is packed with dietary fiber, iron, protein, phosphorus, thiamin and copper, and a very good source of folate, Vitamin K and manganese. You might also want to know that edamames have very low sodium content.

Hope you’ll enjoy savouring as well as preparing them. To all Chefs, let’s start wokking now.

Ingredients

• Assorted fresh mushrooms (shitake, button, enoki, portobello etc) – wash over running water and chopped (I used 3 white button mushrooms+1 large portobello mushroom approx 100g)
• 60g minced meat (or chicken)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• Handful of frozen/ fresh Japanese soy beans (edamames)
• 150g beancurd for steaming (½ block)

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin (Japanese sweet cooking sauce/ wine)
• 1 tablespoon teaspoon Chinese Shaoxing cooking rice wine
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Dash of pepper (to taste)
• Cornstarch (mix with water) for thickening

Seasoning (for marinating meat)

• 1/2 teaspoon light soya sauce
• Pinch of sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

Method

Marinated minced meat with seasonings for at least ½ hour. Add 1 tbsp water if necessary.

Steam beancurd for 10-15 mins, drain water and cut into slices. Set aside.

Blanch frozen edamame over boiling water for 1-2 mins. For fresh ones, blanch using salted water. Do not overcook as you will lose the nutrients and colour with prolonged cooking.

Heat up wok with 1 tbsp oil. Sautee minced garlic until fragrant.

Add in minced meat. Do not stir fry immediately. Let it cook for a while until it is slightly caramelized. Turn it over and break it slightly. Let it cook for a while until caramelized. This will increase the aroma of the minced meat. Reduce the heat to low and start breaking up the meat. (I learnt the tip here)

Add in mushrooms. Stir-fry for a while. Add in seasonings. Let it simmer for a while until the sauce is thicken.

Add in cornstarch solution. Stir-fry until well combined. Dish up and pour over the steamed beancurd. Garnish with cooked edamames.

This recipe is brought to you by our Guest Chef Food For Tots. Food For Tots is a stay-at-home “multi-tasker” who loves to prepare simple, healthy and practical meals for the family. Her blog also share ideas on how to introduce healthy food to toddlers.

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One-Dish Meal

At certain markets in Malaysia, you can get yellow-coloured tofu (firm type) which I believe has been given a boost with kunyit powder thus making it aromatic and flavourful. This type of tofu can be fried and eaten on its own but one great way of cooking it is to pair it with leek and minced pork. The combination of sweet tasting leek, slightly salted minced pork and aromatic tofu makes this dish a favourite for many.

Cooking is also pretty simple and does not require a lot of work. Prepare the 3 main ingredients and you are ready to cook. Give this dish a try if you can get yourself to the ingredients.

This is the recipe for Leek with Fragrant Tofu

Ingredients

• 2 pieces yellow-coloured firm tofu
• 1 stalk leek (cut into small pieces)
• 50 grammes or more minced pork
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 250 ml warm water
• Corn starch (mix 1 teaspoon corn flour with 50 ml water)
• 3 tablespoons palm / peanut oil

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry tofu till lightly browned. Remove and set aside to cool. Cut tofu into smaller pieces.

Allow approximately 1 or 2 teaspoons of cooking oil to remain in the wok whilst removing the rest. Saute garlic and minced pork together. Once garlic starts to brown, add leek and tofu and stir fry for about 1 minute before adding water and seasoning.

Cover with lid and allow water to reduce. Stir in a little bit of cornstarch before dishing up.

* The colour for the photo above is poor as it was taken under bad lighting. By the way, in case you’ve missed the post, get involved in the Delicious Asian Food Fest. Just click on the banner immediately below.

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Leek with Fragrant Tofu

This was a quick dish which I whipped up last Thursday. I had gotten home slightly early and decided to cook something simple based on what I have in my fridge. I still had 1 more tube of Japanese Tofu in the fridge and a small piece of pork tenderloin which would be easy to defrost. With a little bit of mushrooms and carrots, this is what I cooked. A simple, yet delicious dish of tofu.

I decided to place a piece of tofu each on soup spoons just for the thrill of it. It’s quite handy as you can just pop them into your mouth. Otherwise, just arrange the tofu onto a suitable plate for steaming. My daughter was going ooh! and ahh! and was delighted by the “cuteness” of this dish. Perhaps you might want to try this to impress your little ones as well.

This is my recipe for Steamed Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients

• 1 tube Japanese Tofu (cut into 15 cm thickness)
• 50 grammes of minced pork
• 1 piece of shiitake mushroom (chopped finely)
• 3 slices of carrot (chopped finely)

Marinade

• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• a pinch of msg (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon corn flour

Method

Mix minced pork with carrots and mushrooms. Add marinade and allow it to stand for at least 15 minutes.

Place cut tofu on plate or spoons. Add a portion of meat onto the top of the tofu (the meat will shrink when it is cooked).

Bring water to boil in steamer before placing tofu into steamer. Steam for about 10 minutes or until meat is cooked. Serve hot.

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Steamed Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork

One of my favourite dishes at Chinese restaurants is the Sizzling Tofu. Tofu is first pre-fried before being laid on a hot plate. As the minced pork gravy is poured over it, the hot plate sizzles and hence, its name. Over at home, we don’t have a hot plate. So, sizzling tofu is out of the picture. But we can always do something similar in taste, can’t we?

I use Japanese Tofu in this recipe. They come in tubes and I have chosen the tofu which has eggs as part of its ingredient as it is more flavourful and has a nice yellow colour to it (though I wonder whether it is colouring or natural colour from the egg yolk). Anyway, you can always buy them from the supermarkets and are readily available. The other ingredient is minced pork. Extras include chinese dried mushrooms / shiitake mushrooms and carrots – both to boost up the flavours and colour. I have omitted eggs in this dish (usually sizzling tofu would have an egg broken over the tofu as it sizzles on the hot plate).

This is my recipe for Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 tubes of Japanese Tofu (see cooking method below)
• 50 – 100 grammes minced pork
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• Sliced carrots (amount up to you)
• 3 to 5 pieces of chinese dried mushrooms (pre-soaked and cut into small pieces)
• Corn starch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 5 tablespoons water)
• 2 tablespoons of Corn flour
• 100 ml warm water
• Sufficient oil for deep frying (palm oil preferred)

Marinade (for minced pork)

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• a few dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon or more of dark soya sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon of oyster sauce
• Salt and white pepper powder to taste

Method

To prepare tofu, cut across the tofu tube. Gently push the tofu out of the tube from the closed end. Cut tofu across at not more than 2 cm thick. Dust the tofu lightly with corn flour.

Heat oil in wok. Deep fry the tofu till golden brown, remove and set aside on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Place fried tofu on a serving plate.

Remove oil from wok leaving about 2 tablespoons in it. Add mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute or longer till aromatic. Add minced pork and stir well. When minced pork is half-cooked, add carrots. Continue to stir fry till minced pork cooked / seared on the outside. Add seasoning followed by warm water and allow to boil for 1 minute.

Thicken gravy to your liking using a teaspoon of corn starch at a time. Pour gravy over the tofu and serve hot with steamed white rice.

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Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork

Homemade tofu is pretty simple to make if you have soyabean milk (unsweetened), egg white, salt and full cream evaporated milk (Ideal Milk). Just mix the ingredients together (according to the recipe, of course) and you will get silken tofu after steaming the same. In fact, the silken tofu can be as smooth and silky as those sold commercially.

Once you have made the tofu, the topping is pretty much up to your creativity. My wife stirred up four ingredients together and I decided to name them Mini Treasures just to add a little glamour to an otherwise simple home cooked meal.

This is my wife’s recipe for Homemade Tofu with Mini Treasures

Ingredients (Tofu)

• 400 ml soyabean milk (preferably unsweetened)
• 6 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 150 ml full cream evaporated milk (we used Ideal Milk)

Ingredients (Mini Treasures)

• 10 pieces prawns (shelled and cut into small pieces)
• 2 pieces shiitake mushrooms (cut into small pieces)
• 1 piece black fungus (pre-soaked and cut into thin strips)
• 3 pieces of crabstick (cut into small pieces)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 1 tablespoon palm oil

Seasoning (Mini Treasures)

• ½ tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• white pepper powder to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine
• warm water
• Potato starch (to thicken)

Method

Mix tofu ingredients together and whisk slowly and gently and try not to create too much froth. Strain the mixture with a fine strainer to remove bubbles. Pour mixture onto a suitable plate / bowl for steaming.

Meanwhile, heat oil in wok and sauté the garlic till aromatic. Add mushrooms, prawns and black fungus and stir well for at least 1 minute. Add oyster sauce, light soya sauce, white pepper powder and salt and a little water to keep the mixture moist. Cook for another 2 minutes or so, add chinese cooking wine whilst stirring and finally add potato starch to thicken the gravy. Remove and set aside.

Steam tofu mixture for 2 minutes on moderate heat. Open lid and spread crabstick pieces over the tofu (the upper part should begin to harden by now). Close lid and continue steaming for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove tofu from steamer and spread Mini Treasures over the top. Serve hot.

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Homemade Tofu with Mini Treasures

Chilli Garlic Tofu Snack is just a name I use to describe this dish because I am unaware whether there is an original name to this dish. Just like the Ikan Bilis Snack, this is another one of those easy to cook yet delicious food. And extremely affordable too.

The garlic gives this dish an aromatic flavour whilst the use of chilli and white pepper powder gives this dish a slight spiciness to it. If you intend to serve this dish to kids, just omit the use of chillis and white pepper powder. It tastes just as great. Try it will ya?

This is my recipe for Chilli Garlic Tofu Snack

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of firm tofu (cut into small slices)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 to 2 pieces red chilli (remove seeds and chopped finely)
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• At least one heaped teaspoon of sugar (or to taste)
• At least one teaspoon of dark soya sauce (or to taste)
• A pinch of salt
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder

Method

Heat oil and fry tofu till golden brown and crisp using high heat. Remove fried tofu and discard oil.

The wok should still be coated with oil at this moment. Add garlic and chilli and saute till aromatic. Return fried tofu to the wok, add seasoning and stir well to coat evenly prior to serving.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Food, Tofu, Chilli, Beancurd, Snacks, Malaysia

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Chilli Garlic Tofu Snack

This was an experimental dish recently and I was quite pleased with the outcome. What I had in my fridge that day were 2 pieces of firm tofu (beancurd), about 200 grammes of lean pork, some oyster mushrooms and other vegetables. This time, rather than cooking another “usual” tofu dish, I decided to make patties out of it, not unlike burgers.

After steaming

The main ingredients here are tofu and pork whilst the rests adds to the colour and gives its distinctive taste. The end result is a tofu meat patty which is crispy on the outside and yet, juicy and semi-firm on the inside. My daughter liked it very much. It is tasty eaten with rice and also great for tea time snack or parties. I think it will taste even better if it is dipped into some freshly pounded red chilli and garlic with a squeeze of lime. I intend to continue modifying this recipe and will add them in this blog in due course. Nevertheless, I hope you will try this recipe as I loved it!

This is my recipe for Deep Fried Tofu Meat Patties

Ingredients

• 2 pieces firm tofu
• 200 grammes of lean pork mince
• 1/4 piece of carrot (diced as finely as possible)
• An equivalent amount of spring onions (chopped finely)
• An equivalent amount of oyster mushroom or any other type of mushrooms (chopped finely)
• An equivalent amount of dried prawns (chopped / pounded finely)
• 1 large egg
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
• 3 tablespoons of corn flour
• Oil for deep frying

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper powder

Method

In a mixing bowl, combine and mash up the tofu, pork, carrot, spring onions, mushrooms, dried prawns, garlic, corn flour and seasoning and mix well in one circular motion. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Place mixture in a stainless steel bowl or deep plate and steam it for 10 minutes. The mixture, especially the meat, should be at least 70% cooked after steaming. Remove from steam and place bowl over cold water (to cool it rapidly).

When mixture has sufficiently cooled down, break the egg onto mixture and stir it in one circular motion till egg is evenly distributed. Add some corn flour if mixture is runny.

Heat oil in wok for deep frying. To fry, scoop one heaped tablespoon of mixture and using another spoon held on another hand, push / slide the mixture into the oil. Fry till patty becomes golden brown. Place fried patties on absorbent kitchen napkins to absorb excess oil prior to serving.

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Deep Fried Tofu Meat Patties

This is a healthy dish to eat and fairly simple to cook. The ingredients are kept to a minimum for simple cooking and it is delicious eaten with plain white rice or porridge. As I have mentioned before, tofu (beancurd) comes in many textures and for this recipe, I use the firm white tofu which comes in a size of 6cm x 6cm x 2 cm (W x L x H) blocks.

You can whip up this dish in 30 minutes wherein the majority of the time spent is actually towards marinating the minced pork. You can substitute the pork with chicken. I have not tried minced beef or minced lamb though. If you wish to spice up the dish a bit, you can add a little (perhaps 1 teaspoon) of chilli oil when you start frying the minced pork for that added kick.

This is my recipe for Tofu with Minced Pork

Ingredients

• 3 pieces firm tofu (quartered)
• 100 to 150 grammes of minced pork
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• Spring onions (cut to 6cm lengths or thereabouts for garnishing)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (palm oil preferred)
• 50 ml water or more
• Cornstarch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 4 tablespoons water)

Marinade for minced pork

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• salt to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder

Method

Marinade minced pork for about 30 minutes.

Heat oil in wok and stir-fry garlic till beginning to brown. Add minced pork and stir-fry till cooked. Add tofu, water and seasoning and lightly stir to mix well. Close lid and let it cook for another 2 minutes (add more water if gravy drying out).

Before serving, and sprinkle spring onions evenly and add cornstarch bit by bit if gravy too runny for your liking.

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Tofu with Minced Pork