Madhu Knits and Cooks

Stir-Fried Tofu with Green Beans, Chiles and Scallions

I haven't been making as much tofu as I have in years past, but in an effort to get more protein into my diet, I've been looking into new ways to this vegetarian protein staple besides sauteing tofu cubes in a simple soy-chile sauce.  

In the course of those searches, I found a NY Times online series about weeknight stir-frys and saved a copy of the version that included green beans, chiles and scallions.  I finally made the ripe when I was able to purchase Shaoxing rice wine, the one ingredient that wasn't in my pantry and that I couldn't find at local grocery stores.  My husband was able to pick up a bottle in Chinatown, and so away I went with preparing the recipe!

The dish itself was very easy to construct, and definitely is the perfect amount of prep/cooking time for a weeknight meal, but there are a few tips I have for making it again.  First, I would use a nonstick pan or wok to cook the dish because when I used a cast-iron skillet, some of the tofu sides touching the pan stuck to the pan and weren't easily removable.  Second, I skipped the pre-cooking of the drained tofu slices, and I think next time, it would make sense to add that step in (perhaps while chopping the vegetables) because otherwise, even the drained and squeezed tofu slices added a lot of water to the sauce so the dish was more broth-y than I would like.  

Finally, I added some extra soy sauce and chile-garlic sauce to the final dish because it otherwise was slightly bland (think the ratio of ginger/garlic/herbs/sauce may be slightly low for the amount of main ingredients - also the water from the tofu probably also diluted the flavors).

Welcome back to my diet, tofu!

Blanket for Baby Falan - The Lattice Carriage Blanket

Belatedly rounding out my 2014 cooking and knitting projects, today's post features a completed baby blanket for baby Falan, who lives in cold Michigan and therefore is in tremendous need of a knit blanket!

For this blanket, I scoured the web and my knitting books until I found the Lattice Carriage Blanket pattern by Dori Kershner, which featured both a pretty motif and beautiful finishing in the form of a crocheted border.

The pattern was relatively easy to follow, and the only major modification I made is that I completed 5 rows of single crochet to get the border to lay flat before adding the decorative shell stitch border.  Given that there is still curling on some of the blanket edges despite the extra rows of single crochet, I am not sure how the original pattern could have kept flat edges with only row of single crochet!  Full pattern details are below.

Baby Blanket for Falan

Pattern:  Lattice Carriage Blanket by Dori Kershner, one size

Yarn:  Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino color 107 Sky, 2.5 skeins

Needles:  US 7 circular needle, and US 7 crochet needle for the border

Measurements:  27.5 inches wide by 30 inches wide, post-blocking.  The crocheted border added 1.5 inches to each side.

 

Chickpeas with Scallions and Cilantro - Healthy but not Flavorful

Given my obsession with making homemade hummus for parties, our kitchen has become flush with dried chickpeas.  To try something new beyond hummus and chole, I was attracted to a recently promoted New York Times recipe for Chickpeas with Mint, Scallions and Cilantro.  

I ended up not following the recipe to a T, but rather modified it to make enough for 2 - 3 servings.  Unfortunately, even though I probably used heavier seasonings than the original recipe, I found the dish to be pretty bland.  Basically, "chickpeas with scallions and cilantro" sums up the flavors.  Maybe the mint would have made the dish interesting enough to stand on its own, but I think this probably won't be a recipe repeat in the future.

Chickpeas with Scallions and Cilantro

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
• 1 medium yellow onion, halved with 2 cloves stuck into either end
• 1 bay leaf
• 1.5 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 scallions, chopped into 1/4 inch segments
• 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• pinch of saffron threads

Directions:

• Drain chickpeas, and place in a medium pot.  Cover the chickpeas in water, with water line going one inch above the chickpeas.  Add the halved onions, bay leaves, and 1/2 tsp. salt, and bring to a boil.
• Lower to a simmer, removing any foam that appears, and cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour, or until tender.
• Drain chickpeas, throw away spices, and and then add olive oil and saffron to the pot, coating chickpeas in the oil.  Add scallions, cilantro, and toss to combine.  Add salt as necessary and serve while warm.

Vegan Chinese Fried Rice - Recreating a Unique Restaurant Dish

At Little Pepper, one of our favorite Sichaun restaurants in NYC, we sampled one of the most unique fried rice dishes I have ever tried.  

(Little Pepper Vegetable Fried Rice)

The fried rice appeared to be egg-free, had a smoky flavor from apparent high-heat wok cooking, and had bok choy, an ingredient that I don't know if I have had in fried rice before.  While initially intended to be a plain dish to soak up our spicy entrees, it definitely stood out as a must-order dish in the future.

But...I didn't stop there.  I also wanted to try to make this dish at the first opportunity, so I wrote down on my phone the ingredients I could identify in the dish, including a slightly heavier amount of cooking oil, onions, scallions, carrots, and ginger.  

When I did finally make this dish at home, it wasn't quite up to Little Pepper standards, but it was actually pretty good.  The downsides were that I don't think I cooked the vegetables and rice at a high enough heat so didn't quite get that smoky flavor, and I should have partially cooked the carrots in particular so they wouldn't be as undercooked/raw as they were in the final dish.  In addition, the onions were more caramelized than charred, so that's another technique I want to work on in the future.

Vegan Chinese Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup dried basmati rice (rice I had on hand), cooked and cooked
• 1 large carrot, diced and ideally partially steamed
• 2 baby bok choy, roughly chopped
• 3 tsp. garlic, minced
• 3/4 tsp. ginger, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. olive oil 
• salt/pepper, to taste

Directions:

• In a heavy bottomed pan or wok, heat oil, garlic and ginger until hot.
• When hot, add onion and saute for 45 seconds to one minute or until fragrant.
• Then stir in carrots for 3 - 4 minutes (skip this step if carrots are partially cooked), then add bok choy for 3 - 4 minutes.  Stir throughout, particularly if using a wok.
• Add in cooked rice, breaking up any chunks with spatula.  When hot, add salt/pepper to taste.
• (in initial attempt, I covered the rice and vegetable mixture to steam the contents to get the carrots more cooked in particular - led to both the caramelized onions and lack of char taste I believe)

More Vacation Time = More Food Experiments. Homemade Pasta Success!

My stream of holiday-time posts continues with another successful first - homemade pasta.  

I initially learned how to make pasta at a class with my friend Michael years ago at 1789, a fine dining restaurant in Washington, D.C.  Despite feeling like I had truly mastered how to make fresh pasta, including flat thin pasta like linguini and stuffed ravioli, at the 2010 class, I didn't actually made my own pasta until the recent 2014 winter holidays.  

The pasta I eventually made rested on a combination of the Alice Waters' Art of Simple Food and Cook's Illustrated recipes.  The Cook's Illustrated recipe notably uses far more egg yolks than the Alice Waters version (6 compared to 2) and also uses olive oil for more fat and liquid.  

(flour well - step 1)

(flour well with lightly beaten eggs - step 2)

(slowly mixing the eggs into the flour well - step 3)

I initially started using the Alice Waters recipe, but because the dough wasn't fully coming together with the amount of liquid from the eggs I initially used, I added in the CI recommended olive oil.  The CI recipe was also incredibly helpful because of their clearly detailed recipe techniques.

(dough ball)

The steps were particularly important when I got to shaping the pasta.

(dough ball base that I cut into sections for rolling and shaping the pasta)

Per CI, I cut the dough ball into portions and rolled each portion into thin, transparent rectangles.  The CI recipe called for shaping each dough section into 6 by 12-inch sheets, which were then supposed to be further rolled into 6 by 20-inch sheets, but the most I could get it to was approx. 5 by 10-inch sheets.  I also didn't ensure that my dough sections were perfectly square when I started, so the sheets were not exact rectangles.

(rolled section drying before cutting into strips)

(pasta being cut into fettucine strips)

Although the rolling of the sheets was the most intensive part of the pasta exercise (getting the sheets to transparency took some elbow grease for sure!), thankfully the cutting and drying the strips in flour was quite fun to really see the pasta take literal shape.

(cut pasta resting on wax paper)

After being fully cut, cooking the pasta took nearly no time - approximately 4 minutes before it was slightly more cooked than al dente.

I served the pasta with a simple homemade tomato sauce I made while the water came to a boil and the pasta cooked (full recipe below).  

While the fresh pasta and sauce turned out very well, and definitely will be a repeat combination in the future, I think that I may try a cream or cheese-based sauce for the next go-around given the how velvety the noodles were.

All in all, fresh pasta was FAR easier than I imagined but the dough resting and rolling times make it just onerous enough that I imagine this is more of a special weekend meal than a regular weeknight rotation.

Madhu's Improvised Homemade Pasta (adapted from Art of Simple Food and Cook's Illustrated)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 - 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 - 2 tsp. water mixed with eggs into well

Directions (for more detailed directions, use Cook's Illustrated recipe):

• Made flour well in large bowl.
• In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs and water together with a work, and then place the mixture into center of flour well.
• With the same fork, slowly mix the flour surrounding the egg/water mixture into the mixture - start with the inner ring of flour, and slowly incorporate flour from the outer ring into the egg mixture.
• Add olive oil as needed to bring the dough fully together.
• Form the dough into a ball, and wrap the dough in plastic.  Let sit for 1 - 4 hours.
• After dough has rested, roll into a log and cut pieces into 6 equal slices.  Form each piece into a square and regularly flouring the sheet, roll into at least a 6 by 12-inch sheet ideally (or until transparent - e.g., a hand placed under the sheet should be visible on top of the dough).
• Flour each sheet when rolled and let sit for 15 - 20 minutes.  Then lightly roll dough into tube, and cut into thin strips (to your preference).  
• Place cut strips on wax paper and dust with flour to keep strips dry and from sticking to each other.
• Boil water in large stovetop, and salt water before adding in pasta.
• Cook for approx. 4 minutes or until al dente.  Add appropriate sauce or garnish and serve immediately.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 14-oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• salt and pepper, to taste
• red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in small pot on medium heat.  When hot, add garlic and quickly saute until fragrant (approx. 30 seconds).
• Add can of tomatoes (with juice) and sugar, and cook on medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes.  
• Add salt, pepper and red chili flakes to taste.
• Puree cooked tomatoes to your preferred consistency and toss with pasta.