Make crunchy tofu- dry tofu out, add salt , pepper, sesame seeds (or panko) and soy sauce. Bake at 400 for 15-20 min
Make the peanut sauce (from America’s text kitchen)
5 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp chili crisp or more, 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 tbsp crushed garlic and some hot water to make creamy paste (less than half cup)
Add to noddles with veggies (I did cabbage, scallions, herbs)
Start with one half cabbage, one half onion, few garlic cloves and 2 eggs
Add 2/3 c of flour of your choice – I used a fish fry mix – cornflour, besan anything will work. Add water as needed , now cook on either side
Serve with chimmichuri (parsley, tarragon, mint, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar) and some Arabic cheese
Press out water from firm tofu using pressure or microwave it for a minute and squeeze.
In a ziploc- add sliced tofu (I sliced into fingers), pickle juice and yellow mustard with some pepper and soy sauce. Marinate for an hour or so. Drain the tofu.
In another ziploc, add about half a cup or so of fish fry (cornmeal with seasoning – I used the zatarain brand). Add the tofu and shake it around.
Fry at 350 for 3 minutes till golden brown.
We ate these in Vietnamese spring rolls with pickled veggies, jalapeños, cucumber, rice noodles, herbs and a gochugang- peanut butter sauce. So good!
H Mart is a Korean grocery story that is a wonderland. So many ingredients! Black garlic is particularly wonderful but that’s a story for another day. Today – we will talk about Korean rice cakes or tteotbokki. YouTube tells me this is a common street food item. I got the ones with mozzarella inside from H mart along with all the other ingredients needed. My recipe is a modified version of Mangchi’s recipe. I’ve no idea if it’s accurate but it’s delicious
Step 1: add rice cakes to hot water to defrost for 30 min to an hour
Step 2: make poaching liquid- to 4 cups of vegetable stock (I used better than bouillon), add 2 tbsp of gochujang, 1 tbsp of doubanjang, 1 tbsp of gochugaru and 1 tbsp of sugar. Also add 2 spring onions (chopped into 2 inch pieces ) and 2 smashed cloves of garlic
Step 3: boil rice cakes for 20 min till the sauce is sticky. They will expand
Step 4: eat copious amounts
This recipe is inspired by many recipes from Nik Sharma – who uses Indian tadkas in all kinds of foods with delicious results. The essentials here are curry leaves (freely available at your friendly neighborhood Indian store), mustard seeds (small brown ones) and asafetida (one bottle will last you years)
First step is to make the tempering (tadka). To 1-2 tbsp of oil, add a tsp of mustard seeds. Wait till they sputter, add the tiniest sprinkling of asafetida (1/8 tsp), 1/2 tsp of turmeric , 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes and 8-10 curry leaves (chopped). After 30 sec, add the seitan, onions and jalapenos and cook on high heat till they get charred. This takes about 3-5 min.
Serve with lime crema (1/2 cup yogurt, 1 grated garlic clove, 1/4 cup Mayo, 1-2 tbsp lemon juice, salt), guacomale, any greens (I did simply dressed arugula ) and warmed tortillas.
Sunday brunch perfection !
It’s been a while- things have happened but I’m cooking again
This is such an easy brunch recipe for a crowd . Get ramekins- spray with some cooking oil (just so the eggs separate)
In a sauce pan- sauté mushrooms of your choice (chopped into chunks). I used criminis but shitakes are great too. Add garlic, salt and pepper and some red pepper flakes (gochugaru is fantastic in this) and butter and cook on high heat till the mushrooms get some color.
In the ramekins, add some mushrooms, butter, about 2 tbsps of cream, about 2 tbsp or so of your favorite cheese (I like Gouda with eggs)salt, pepper and one egg
When your guests arrive – steam eggs for 10 min. Serve with good bread and copious amounts of butter.
Pesto is a delicious and extremely quarantine friendly sauce – no basil? But you have that arugula from 2 weeks ago- half of it is just fine, oh here is some parsley too. No pine nuts? Well- I found a jar of cocktail peanuts. No pecorino? That pre-grated Parmesan will work. It’s the sharpness of the garlic with copious amounts of olive oil that is the main flavor of this sauce- anything green and anything nutty and anything cheesy will work
In a food processor – add 4 cups of greens (I added 3 cups arugula and 1 cup parsley), add 1/2-3/4 cup nuts (I used cocktail peanuts), 2-5 cloves of garlic (I like the spice of raw garlic) . Whiz till smooth. Add a cupful or so of grated Parmesan and a half cup or so of good olive oil and salt. Taste and use
I plan to toss this pesto with some pasta for dinner and roasted potatoes for crunch and perhaps some fried up veggie dogs for protein
Rajma is every North Indian’s favorite comfort food- so tinkering with the recipe is akin to sacrilege. This one is very good though and is probably worth the criticism from all the Indian nanis.
Rick Martinez’s pupusa recipe for BA (which is also on this blog) starts with charring onions till they are almost black and then purée-ing them with pinto beans. This rajma recipe starts the same way. It’s the butter and the charred onion together that gives this 10 minute rajma recipe it’s deep deep flavor. This is a no-recipe recipe.
You have to use pressure cooked (I use my Cuisinart) red kidney beans for this one. The liquid is essential. You also have to pre-soak the beans – you can get the beans soft without soaking in the pressure cooker but they don’t taste anywhere as good.
Heat 2 tbsp of butter- add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and 1 small diced onion on high heat with some salt and red pepper flakes. Stir frequently till onion is charred in places (takes about 5 minutes). Add 2-4 cloves of garlic(minced) and 1 tbsp of tomato paste. Stir for 30 sec or so. Add rajma with liquid. Add 1 tsp of cumin powder and 1 tsp of coriander powder. Boil for 2-3 minutes and taste for salt. Serve on rice!
This is one of my simplest weekday meals. Prep work consists of smashing 2-3 cloves of garlic. It is delicious every time – top it with cheese, sausage, veggies, fried egg – it’s a very comforting dinner when you’ve had an extremely annoying day at work.
Grits: I use Alton’s foolproof recipe. Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of whole milk. Add one cup of grits (stone ground is best) and 2-3 crushed whole garlic cloves while whisking continuously. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes while whisking every 4-5 minutes especially in the corners. Add salt and 4 tbsp of butter.
Blistered haricot beans and corn: heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil toll smoking. Add frozen beans and corn- cover for 5 minutes. Once blistered, add lots of pepper and 1 tbsp of butter.
Add veggies to beans and top with some gochugaru pepper or not 🙂
Rajma (kidney beans) rice bowl: My simplest rajma recipe. In your pressure cooker (electric or otherwise)- sizzle 3-5 cloves of garlic for a minute or two. Add one cup of soaked kidney beans and 3 cups of vegetable stock (I use better than bouillon) and 1 tsp of red pepper flakes. Cook for 15 min on high pressure. Corn: Add frozen corn in a skillet with some butter – cook covered for about 10 minutes till the corn is slightly charred. Top with salt, lots of pepper and 1 tbsp of butter. Make bowl: rice, rajma, corn and pickle. 
Delhi Girl Meets Food 