Cantonese Tofu and Vegetable Stir Fry

Another vegetarian dish? Have I gone off the meat? Well, maybe, but only because of too much all-you-can-eat barbecue, table cooking nonsense (Yakiniku" Korean barbecue, and "Jingis Khan," Mongolian barbecue are very big over here).

So, to mix it up a bit I cook vegetarian quite a bit at the moment.

Anyway, "Cantonese," I hear you think, "the bland glue sauce cuisine?" Yup, love that stuff. It takes me back to simple meals of Cashew Chicken, or Sweet and Sour Pork balls, Black Bean Beef, or Honey Chicken at the Chinese Restaurant in Huonville that was in the service station (which was later the subject of an arson attack that I went to school with the perpetrators). If you don't go too fry crazy or batter mad, this style of food isn't too bad for you, but fried food is all a little carcinogenic due to the high cooking temperatures , so don't eat it too often. Mix up your cooking styles - steamed, baked, raw, stewed, or in a soup, a little bit of everything is best. And please, don't forget to wash your vegetables for stir fries, nothing tastes worse than gritty bok choy.

Ingredients

2 thin leeks, chopped into 3 cm lengths, up to but not including the green bits at the top

2 sticks of celery, angle chopped into 0.5-1cm slices

1 medium carrot, peeled and angle chopped into 0.5-1cm slices

1 golf ball sized lump of fresh ginger, julienned into matchstick sized pieces

Clouds ear or maitake mushrooms, sliced

Deep fried tofu squares, either made yourself or supermarket bought (for instructions on how to deep fry tofu, please refer to my Pad Thai recipe)

8 or so baby corn spears, cut in half

Half a yellow capsicum, julienned

8 or so whole green Japanese shishito peppers with the stems cut off

3 baby bok choy, the base cut off and the leaves separated

Oil for frying (blended vegetable, canola, peanut oil, but not olive oil)

1 heaped tablespoon of potato starch or corn flour

1 teaspoon of ground white pepper

1/4 of a teaspoon of ground ginger

10g sachet of dashi no moto powder

1/2 cup of hot water

1 tablespoon of sherry or Chinese rice wine

Method

1. Put your rice on to cook.

2. Prepare vegetables, by cutting them as specified above. Put the slower cooking vegetables listed at the start of the ingredients together in one bowl and the faster cooking vegetables listed together at the end in another bowl.

3. Put starch, pepper, ginger and dashi in a bowl and combine them well. Heat your water (ie: boil kettle). Do not combine the water and dry ingredients yet.

4. When your rice is finished cooking, put the oil in a pan or wok and heat it until glistening. You don't want it full on, but you want it pretty damn hot. Watch the oil... if it's smoking, you'd be better off turning the heat down a little. Add the first bowl of slower cooking vegetables to the pan, and toss them about, coating them in the oil for about a minute.

5. Add the mushrooms and cook for about a minute, add the tofu and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir constantly.

6. Add the water and sherry to the starch and seasonings mix, and blend thoroughly. Add the fast cooking vegetables and the sauce simultaneously. Stir, coating the vegetables in the sauce.

7. Whilst your last vegetables are cooking, serve your rice in small bowls. Once your bok choy has wilted, slide your vegetable stir fry into a serving dish, and serve immediately, with soy sauce or oyster sauce to taste.

And hopefully, if you're lucky like me, your husband might say "this is delicious, it's just what I was craving."

- If you have no access to fancy mushrooms or Japanese vegetables, please substitute normal button mushrooms and half a green capsicum, julienned

Quesadilla

First post in a very long time. Did I mention that my Tom and I got married recently? Or that we are in Japan teaching English (again!) You might like to have a read of my other blog if you'd like to hear more about that kind of stuff.

The only way to propagate good habits is to do good things regularly. So, here we are! At the start of a new post for Em's Recipes. And a vegetarian one at that!

Mexican food is great. You should eat more of it.

Of course, most food that is served outside of Mexico isn't really faithful to it's Mexican ancestors. It's more the Tex-Mex variety that has become our global juggernaut. If you'd like to know how to discern Tex-Mex from Mex, it's quite simple. Cheese is terribly uncommon in Mexico. If it's full of cheese, it's Tex-Mex.

In The US, Mexican food's dirt cheap and readily available from numerous Mexican eateries. Not so in Australia! Even though it is still made with cheap cuts of meat, beans, rice, spices and flour, Mexican restaurants in Australia are usually terribly expensive - and for no good reason, usually, (unless you go to Blue Corn in St Kilda, which is a delightful eatery that I recommend heartily, that does tend to use more deluxe ingredients in its version of Mexican.)

A lot of Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes are just permutations on the idea of sloppy sandwiches, chips and sloppy dips, and slop on rice. As my lovely American friends Glenn and Krista have reminded me on occasion - "it's Mexican food, it's not meant to be pretty!"

Just briefly, for those of you not well acquainted with Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes:

Tortillas - Mexican flat breads made from either corn or wheat flour. A very simple, unleavened bread - ostensibly flour and water - pressed into flat round shapes, and then cooked on a flat hot-plate until not sloppy. Used to hold slop.

Salsa - a red tomato sauce made with onion and spices. Sometimes salsas are made with fruit or other ingredients. Tomatoes are not essential.

Salsa verde - a green sauce, often made with green tomatoes or tomatillos.

Burritos - Large flour tortillas wrapped around beans, salsa, and/or whatnot.

Yukatan Burritos - Large flour tortillas, rolled up into a cigar shape with beans, salsa and/or whatnot on the inside, then lined up next to each other, smothered in salsa, grated cheese over the top, stuck in an oven and baked.

Enchiladas - Corn tortillas rolled into a cigar shape with salsa, beans and/or whatnot on the inside, then lined up next to each other, topped with salsa and cheese.

Enfrijoladas - Corn tortillas, folded in half, sandwiching some beans, salsa, and/or whatnot, that are then fried until crunchy on the outside.

Chimichanga - Burritos, folded in a square shape around some meat and then deep fried - the meat is usually stewed until it is very tender and flaky before being used in a Chimichanga. Originally from New Mexico, as I understand.

Chilaquiles - Corn tortilla pieces marinated in chile, layered with a filling, sauce and cheese, and baked in a casserole - kind of like Mexican lasagna!

Tostadas - Tortillas, fried flat, topped with beans, salsa, and/or whatnot. Cut up and made into corn chips in Tex-Mex to make Nachos.

Tacos - Corn tortillas, baked in a "C" shape, used to make a big mess when you're a kid.

Soft tacos - Soft tortillas, rolled up around some kind of beans, salsa and/or whatnot.

Quesadilla - Two tortillas, lying flat to make a sandwich. Usually the sandwich has cheese in it, though you might like to put beans, salsa and/or whatnot in it. It is then fried or grilled to melt the cheese. A Mexican cheese toasty!

However you wish to procure your corn or flour tortilla for this recipe is up to you - frozen, fresh, or home-made - but tortillas will be required. Of course, frozen is the least desirable option, and home-made is the best, but really, don't chose not to make this recipe because you don't have time to make your own tortillas. It's yummy no matter what!

Ingredients

12 flour tortillas
Refried beans
Grated Cheese
Fresh lime
Fresh coriander leaves
Chili sauce

Method

1. Grab yourself a tortilla and a butter knife. Use the butter knife to spread some of your refried beans on to the surface, leaving a little bit around the edge so it doesn't get to messy when you heat it in the pan. Sprinkle on some of your grated cheese. Tasty will do, though if your fancy, you might like to try something else, like gouda, or philadelphia, or whatever. Pop another tortilla on top and press down a little. Repeat these steps until you've made yourself 6 delicious little sandwiches.

2. Heat a heavy fry pan, cast iron if available, to a low, melting, not burning heat. Add a tiny, little, bit of oil to the pan to prevent sticking. Pop one of your tortilla sandwich type things in the pan, and pop a lid over it. When the first side is browned nicely, flip it over. I find it takes about 1-2 minutes a side.

3. Cut into four equal segments, pie chart style. Serve with coriander leaves sprinkled over the top, and a lime wedge to squeeze over it and some chili sauce to add to taste. Serve immediately whilst the cheese is still lovely and melty.

*You don't necessarily have to use refried beans. You can use whatnot... for instance, tonight I made spinach and cheese quesadillas. Whatever you think might work...

And you know, I never stopped being busy...

...but nor did I stop cooking!