Griddled tofu and Samphire stir fry

Quick Lunch for 2

 

The ingredients

Ingredients:

·         200g pressed tofu

·         ½ yellow, red, & green sweet peppers

·         1 small onion

·         half a red  scotch bonnet (chilli)

·         2 garlic cloves

·         4 sundried tomatoes slices in oil

·         Salt & black pepper

·         90g samphire

·         100g aubergine

·         4 tablespoons of oil from the sundried tomato jar

·         1 Maggi cube crushed

The marinade

Prep:

The marinade for the tofu: 3 tablespoons of flavoured oil, 1 tablespoon water, pressed garlic, very finely cut sundried tomatoes (slightly mashed), very finely cut scotch bonnet. Mix well, add the crushed stock cube, salt & black pepper. Set aside.

Cut the tofu in 2 to reduce the thickness, then cut again from corner to corner. You should obtain 8 pieces. Dip the pieces in the marinade and set aside for about 10 minutes.

Cut the aubergine in the same size (1cm thick) as the tofu, quarter the half peppers and onion, lie them on a plate and throw on it the rest of marinade. Leave to the side.

Now remove the samphire from the package and rinse.

Method:

You will need a griddle pan and a frying pan.

Heat the griddle pan and line up the slices of tofu and aubergine on it. Fry each side until brown and cooked through for 1 minute and half. The aubergine might need 30s more on each side than the tofu.

All lined up in the griddle pan

In a very hot frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the flavoured oil. Throw in the multi-coloured peppers, and onions with salt and pepper. Stir fry for 3 minutes. By this time the contents of the pan should be slightly soft and brown, but crunchy. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Now add the samphire and continuously stir from side to side and top to bottom to bring the heat to the surface.

The samphire softens very quickly. So, 1 minute or one minute and half should suffice while the peppers and onions should remain crunchy.

the rest in the frying pan



 Plate up and serve as suggested.

This is a very light lunch with a little kick to it. With the peppers still crunchy, their sweetness still comes through. Nothing else is needed but, if you must, potato wedges will do.

Bon appetit!

 

Tuck in! Griddled tofu and Samphire stir fry

 

Beetroots & coriander soup

Serves 3

 Ingredients:

·         4 small precooked beetroots

·         1 big red sweet pepper

·         A big hand full of fresh coriander

·         1 small red onion

·         1 tea spoon wholegrain mustard

·         Salt

·         Mustard oil

Method:

Peel the outer layer of the beetroots, rinse and roughly chop. Do the same for the onion, cut the sweet pepper and the coriander. Rinse all and place in a deep pan with 1L water or stock. I did mine just with water and salt to keep it simple.

Add 2 tablespoons of mustard oil and 1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. Cover and place on the hob to simmer for 20 minutes. This will allow the vegetables to soften. If your pot is too small and spitting out. Leave it ajar…

To gauge that the soup is ready, taste the hardest to cook vegetable in the pot. Here it would have been the beet if they were not precooked. So, I tasted the onion quarters and sweet pepper.

Adjust the seasoning, take the pot away from the hob and using a hand blender. Liquidise the soup to your liking. Serve

I like my soup with bits in it and others prefer theirs smooth.

Serve with croutons or… potato wedges on a skewer.

Enjoy. x

 

Fried Tofu salad

Fried Tofu salad

Serves 2 as mains or 4 as a starter 

• 70g wild rocket - washed
• 150g beansprouts – blanched & drained
• 200g tofu - fried in caramelised sugar
• 2 fresh tomatoes - Cut and de-seeded
• 1 Teaspoon of Sesame seeds

For the vinaigrette

• 3 tablespoons mustard oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 generous pinch of ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon of caster sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• ½ small red chilli - very finely chopped
• Garlic granules

Prep:

The tofu is sold as a block that will need to be cut and fried. Use the DragonFly pressed tofu as they are much tastier and absorb flavours.

Just cut as in the picture. Dust with salt and ground ginger. In a hot pan, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Leave the sugar to brown slightly. Then add the tofu stick and swirl to allow the sugar to coat the sticks. Allow 1 minute for each side to crisp before turning them from side to side.

Once that is done, set aside and prepare the other components of the salad.

The vinaigrette. In a small jar with a lid, add: mustard oil, soy sauce, ground ginger, caster sugar, salt, garlic granules, and chilli. Shake well to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Now into a large bowl, add: rocket, sprouts, tomatoes and toss. Add the tofu sticks, sesames seeds drizzle the vinaigrette, serve as suggested & enjoy!

 

No comment!

 

Homemade strawberry jam

 

For a jar of 400 - 500g jam, use:

• 350g fresh strawberries
• 350g sugar
• 350ml water
• 35g fresh ginger

Method:

Peel, chop and blend the ginger in 50ml of water. Sieve thru a tissue paper to remove all the remains of the roots and collate just the pure essence.

Do not throw away that waste as it could be dried and used for tea or even as seasoning.

Now remove the green bit of the individual strawberries, cut them in half and rinse.

 

From this...

In a deep sauce pan, place the strawberries, sugar, water and ginger essence. Stew at medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Don’t forget to stir from time to time until the mix starts to become slightly sticky on the spatula.
 

To this... this was my test

I like my jam with bits in it. If is not the case for you, try to mash to strawberries as you stir them.

To make sure that your jam is ready, just make some drops on a clean plate and if the jam drops (like water drops) stand, that means your jam is ready and that a lot of the water has evaporated.

 
If the drops are runny during the test, leave the pot on heat and keep stirring until you get the right consistency.



To yummmmm! no unknown ingredients.

Once you have mastered the strawberry jam, you can make any type of jam. Don’t be afraid, just go for it. I have spiced mine with a bit of ginger as I love ginger. If you like spiced desserts, try and make your jams with you preferred spice. How about chillies? That could work?!

Just have fun and do let me know what you think.

Bon appetite!