Steamed Stuffed Tofu

This is one of the many earlier dishes I wanted to share last year.



Its really easy and fast to prepare. Theres an alternative which I will be sharing too. This is one of the dishes I had consider making for Chinese New Year but it is one of the dishes that my MIL refused to even taste when she was staying with us. Haiz. I didnt want to put her in a difficult position so I didnt ask her why she didnt try it when she said, 很好吃 (tasty). Haiz.



Cooking for adults are so much more difficult that cooking for children. Especially, when the person used to cook really well.



Heres my recipe if you are interested to try out.



Ingredients:

• 100g Minced Pork or Chicken


• 100g Minced Prawn


• 2 tubes Egg Tofu


• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce


• 1 teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine


• 1/3 teaspoon Sugar


• A dash of Sesame Seed Oil


• Tobiko (optional)

Sauce to mix well:

• 2 tablespoon Water or Chicken Stock


• 1/3 tablespoon Oyster Sauce


• 2 teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine

How to do it:

1. Slice tofu into 6 pieces.


2. Gently scoop some tofu out from the center.


3. Mix the scooped out tofu, minced pork and prawn together.


4. Add in 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine each into the meat and mix well.


5. Top tofu with a heap of minced meat.


6. Sprinkle on some tobiko if you like. Use finely chopped  carrot if tobiko is not available.
   
   


7. Steam for 7 minutes.


8. Remove and carefully drain away the liquid.


9. Pour over the sauce and continue steaming for another 5 minutes or till meat is cooked.


10. Drizzle on some sesame seed oil and immediately.
    
    

Alternative:

• Replace minced prawn with whole prawn sliced on the backed. Use half a prawn if its too big.
  
  


• After adding the minced pork or chicken to the tofu, place the prawn on top of the meat. Remember to cut down the seasoning for the meat since you are using only minced meat without prawn.
  
  


• You can thicken the sauce with cornflour and pour it over the the dish instead of using it to re-steam the dish.


• Replace Step 7 onwards with the followings steps.


• Steam till meat is completely cooked.


• Drain away 2/3 of the liquid from the dish.
  
  


• While steaming the dish, combine 5 tablespoon of Stock or Water, 1 tablespoon of Oyster Sauce and 1/3 tablespoon of Chinese Cooking Wine and bring to a simmer.


• Thicken with Cornflour Mixture.


• Pour sauce over the dish and drizzle on sesame seed oil.


• Serve immediately.

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Nutella Stuffed Brioche French Toast

I look forward to a stale brioche as much as a fresh-from-the-oven loaf. In fact, I specifically set aside a portion of my last brioche and eagerly waited for it to dry out. Why? Because stale brioche makes the absolute best French toast and bread pudding. The day had finally arrived, and I was gathering ingredients for French toast when I spotted the jar of Nutella sitting innocently on the pantry shelf. “Eureka!” I knew I wouldnt be making any French toast but Nutella stuffed French toast! A luscious layer of Nutella is sandwiched between two slices of brioche, then the whole thing was to be dipped in French toast batter, fried in butter, and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar. It sounded so divine the prospect of making it led me to hum and prance excitedly around the kitchen. And the taste? Well, brioche and Nutella were made for each other. It made my heart flutter with happiness (or was that my heart struggling to pump after all that artery clogging goodness?), it was no doubt the best French toast I have ever had with a crisp exterior and a soft, custard like interior.

This will be my entry for Leftover Tuesdays hosted by Foodie Project



Notes:
- The batter recipe will also work for regular French toast, just cut the brioche slices 3/4-in thick instead of 3/8in thick.
- I kept the flavorings to a minimum because the brioche was already scented with lavender but if youre using a plain brioche, you can try variations such as adding cinnamon, nutmeg, or swap the vanilla extract with almond extract

Nutella Stuffed Brioche French Toast
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

1 egg
3/4 C milk
3 Tbsp AP flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (and more for frying)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Half loaf of brioche; cut into 8 3/8-in slices
Nutella, a few tablespoons
Powdered sugar for serving

Whisk the egg, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla together until a smooth, thin batter is formed.

Spread some Nutella on half of the brioche slices and then top with a second slice of brioche, forming 4 Nutella brioche sandwiches about 3/4-in thick.

Add a tablespoon of butter to a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

To ensure even soaking of the bread, pour only half of the batter into a flat dish and soak both sides of 2 brioche pieces. You may not use up all of the batter but this way you don’t oversoak the first two bread pieces, leaving you with not enough batter for the second two pieces.

Once you have soaked the first two slices, remove and start frying them. Pour the remaining half of the batter into the dish and soak the next two pieces of bread.

Fry the French toasts until crisp and brown, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the first side, flip then fry the second side until crisp and brown also, another minute or so.

Serve with powdered sugar.

~~~

Brioche French Toast

1 egg
3/4 C milk
3 Tbsp AP flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (and more for frying)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Half loaf of brioche; cut into 4 3/4-in slices

Variations: Add cinnamon, nutmeg, or swap almond extract for vanilla extract


Whisk the egg, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla together until a smooth, thin batter is formed.

Add a tablespoon of butter to a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

To ensure even soaking of the bread, pour only half of the batter into a flat dish and soak both sides of 2 brioche pieces. You may not use up all of the batter but this way you don’t oversoak the first two bread pieces, leaving you with not enough batter for the second two pieces.

Once you have soaked the first two slices, remove and start frying them. Pour the remaining half of the batter into the dish and soak the next two pieces of bread.

Fry the French toasts until crisp and brown, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the first side, flip then fry the second side until crisp and brown also, another minute or so.

Serve with powdered sugar.

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Cheese Stuffed Pork Cutlet 芝士炸猪扒

This is the second dish that I prepared last Friday that I will be sharing the recipe.



In fact this, like the Pork and Vegetable Stew, is my old recipe which Im trying to improve. Now the pork tasted better and you can fry it on its own without cheese stuffed in it.

Ingredients:

• 250g Lean Pork, about 6 slices


• 3 slices Cheese, 1 for each Cutlet


• 1 Egg, beaten


• Plain Flour for dusting


• Breadcrumbs for coating


• Oil for deep frying

Seasonings:

• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder


• 2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce


• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin


• 1/2 tablespoon Sake or Chinese Cooking Wine


• 1/2 teaspoon Ginger Juice


• a dash of Ground Black Pepper

How to do it:

1. Pat meat dry with paper towel.


2. Tenderise and flatten the meat on both side with a meat mallet till the meat expand and thin.


3. Marinate the meat with seasonings for at least half an hour.


4. Cut cheese into half or to size to fit inside the meat. Keep the cheese away from the
   side as it will melt and sip through the meat when you fry.


5. Cover with another piece of meat.


6. Dust with flour.


7. Dip in beaten egg.


8. Coat well with breadcrumbs.


9. Deep fry till it turn golden brown.


10. Serve immediately, here with BBQ sauce.

Note:

• If you prefer more cheese, you can add another half a slice. I use 1 1/2 slices for my cutlet.


• Although we want to get the meat thin, try to be careful not to over do it till its too thin as it may tear during frying causing the cheese to oozes out.


• If you would like to make plain pork cutlet without the cheese, just skip steps 4 and 5.

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Recipe for Mozzarella Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are a handy supper dish, but many of the traditional versions (i.e. filled with minced meat and rice) are too heavy for me. Recently Ive tried couple of lighter versions, and this one was well received at a recent dinner with friends. The recipe is adapted from an old issue of British Tesco Recipe Magazine (March 2003, I believe). The dish contains very few ingredients, but had surprisingly plenty of flavour, so Ill definitely try this again.

PS Sorry for the small hiatus - I was participating at a workshop in Finland, spending most of the last week in Tampere and Helsinki. It wasnt all work, however, as my dear K. joined me for the weekend of special shopping and delicious eating in Helsinki.

Mozzarella-stuffed Peppers
(Mozzarellaga täidetud paprikad)
Serves 3 as a main course or 6 as a starter



3 bell peppers (a red, yellow and orange one, perhaps?)
1 Tbsp olive oil
150 g fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
8-12 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
half of a red onion, thinly sliced
a generous handful of fresh basil leaves
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Halve the peppers, remove the seeds. Brush the pepper halves with oil, both inside and out, and place snugly next to each other in an oven dish.
Divide mozzarella cubes, halved or quartered cherry tomatoes, onion slices and half of the basil leaves between the pepper halves.
Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in the middle of a 180 C/350 F for 30-40 minutes, until mozzarella has melted.
Sprinkle the rest of basil leaves on top, drizzle with some more olive oil and serve with a crusty bread.

Other stuffed peppers recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Red peppers with cumin-scented halloumi cubes
Pointed red peppers stuffed with spinach & mushrooms

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