Eating Dirt

Sesame Ginger Tofu with Greens

This is another old favorite from Deborah Madison that my husband and I have been making for years. We've tried many variations of the sauce, and often I'll make it without marinating the tofu ahead of time, simply because I don't get around to mixing it up before I need to cook dinner. Even then it is delicious. Often it serves as an end of the week produce clean up, just about any vegetable can go in, clearing out the fridge for our incoming Eatwell box. I've made it with pretty much every sort of green we've had - stir fry mix, spinach, chard, kale, mustard (one of my favorites, with a simplified marinade). It is good with turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, always snap peas if we have them and sometimes carrots, though I can usually find a better use for those.

Today it was a few snaggly stir fry greens I found hiding in the crisper, a bunch of chard, a bunch of spinach and one gigantic bokchoi. It never ceases to amaze me how much the greens shrink down when cooked - all that plus a brick of tofu and two cups of rice made dinner for four. Really more like two, since the kids only ate rice and a few pieces of tofu each.

The secret to this one is getting the tofu to carmelize a bit, then it is really good. Its sweet and gingery, with a touch of salty soy sauce to round things out. I can't figure out why our kids won't eat it, but I suspect they just have something against umami. Maybe that alleged fifth taste is really something one needs to grow into.

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Sesame Ginger Tofu with Greens (adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone): 

Greens - at least one, maybe two bunches, plus any other veggies you might like stir-fried. Carrots, turnips, snap peas, broccoli are all good.

firm tofu - 1 big block 

2 cups jasmine rice (or more if you'd like)

2 Tablespoons peanut or canola oil

3 large garlic cloves (or one small head green garlic), minced or put through a press

3 teaspoons finely chopped ginger

1/4 teaspoons red pepper flakes

2 Tablespoons dark sesame oil

4 Tablespoons sesame oil

8 teaspoons brown sugar

6 Tablespoons soy sauce

Early in the day, make the marinade by mixing together the garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, dark and regular sesame oils, brown sugar and soy sauce. Stir until all the sugar is mixed in, then cut the tofu into slices, put it in a bowl and pour the marinade over the top. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to cook dinner, and if you get a chance, rotate the tofu around once or twice during the day. If you can't manage to marinate the tofu ahead of time, just toss it in the sauce quickly before cooking.

Begin the cooking process by starting up your rice cooker. If you don't have one, just cook the rice however you like to do it.

Preheat the oven to 200°, so that you can keep the tofu warm while you cook the veggies.

Wash and spin dry the greens and any other vegetables you are using. 

Heat the peanut oil in the bottom of a wok over medium high heat. I have a cast iron one that I really love - it holds the heat nicely and is huge enough to fit two bunches of greens and various other things. It also comes with a lid that is handy for steaming and works well on my stove, which I'm told traditional woks don't always do. When the oil is hot (you can tell by tossing in a piece of garlic or onion and waiting for it to begin to sizzle), add the tofu to the wok piece by piece, letting the marinade drain back into the bowl. Reserve the marinade. Spread the tofu one piece deep, let it cook for a few minutes until you can flip a piece over and see that it has turned golden brown, then flip the tofu to another side and repeat the process. You can do this again, for a third browning, if you want.

When the tofu is browned to your liking, remove it from the pan onto a plate and put it in the oven to keep warm.  Toss in any vegetables you have that need to cook longer than the greens (broccoli, carrots, turnips, but not snap peas), stir them around with a spatula or wooden spoon. When they are close to done (broccoli will be bright green, anything else you can taste for doneness) add the greens and stir them around too. Cover the wok for just a minute or so if you want your greens more tender. When the greens are done to your liking, scoop them out of wok onto a plate or bowl and into the oven. 

Now turn the heat off and pour the reserved marinade into the wok. Give it a quick stir and let it sit there while you dump the tofu onto the greens plate and serve the rice. Pour the rest of the marinade on top of the greens and tofu, and serve right away

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Chana Dal and Spicy Shredded Turnips

 

Mmm... shopping in the bulk section!

Ratings for yesterday's spinach and ricotta baked pasta are good - approval from the grown-ups and a not unrecoverable rejection from the pasta loving preschool set.  Because the spinachy part is salty and cheesey, I suspect that in time they will eat it on their own, instead of making me feed it forkful by forkful into their hungry mouths.  I forgot to mention yesterday that a salad might have been nice too, lettuce with pomelo or grapefruit and a vinaigrette.  Here's my recipe for that:  

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Salad with Pomelo and Vinaigrette:

In a small jar, mix two parts olive oil to one part champagne vinegar. For a two person salad, I usually use two teaspoons of oil, one of vinegar.  Add lots of salt.  If you're feeling fancy, finely mince a very small shallot and toss it in.  Screw on the top of the jar and shake it up.  Chop the lettuce into manageable bites, then wash and spin them dry and dump them into a very spacious bowl.  Peel the citrus and remove the membrane off a few sections, shred up the fruit part and put as much as looks good to you into the bowl with the lettuce.  Right before you eat, shake the dressing again and pour it over the top, grind some pepper over it, toss and serve.

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Tonight I'm cooking up one of my daughter's favorites - dal.  Inexplicably, she has always loved it.  My son will eat it too, which is quite unusual. Most of the time they are at odds over main courses. The turnips, however, are something else entirely, but worth a try.  Luckily Jason and I like to gobble down what the children won't.  I've also started a cup of basmati in the rice cooker, because my kids love it.  For two relatively normal adults who aren't running marathons, the dal and turnips are probably enough.

This recipe is basically mine, cobbled together over a number of years from different sources.  I've found that some indian cooks like to add asofotida, to aid with digestion (take the toot out of the magical fruit?). But the only asofotida I've ever purchased smelled too much like catbox for me to keep around, so I don't use it.  But you might give it a try, if you require aid.  Or, if you have trouble with gas and beans and things, you can introduce them into your diet in small but frequent quantities - definitely make some rice in this case.  Or take some acidophilus.  Or, better yet, if you're british like the fabulous Nigel Slater, just have some wind and cope with it.

And speaking of sources for recipes, I've sent off some letters to publishers of several of my favorite cookbooks asking for permission to reproduce a few recipes on my blog.  I'll let you know how that goes. The turnips are from our CSA newsletter, an adaptation of Neelam Batra's 1000 Indian Recipes, submitted by a CSA member.

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Chana Dal:

1 c Chana Dal (aka split chick peas)

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch or so ginger, minced

1 cinnamon stick

1 t cumin seeds

1 t red chile powder

1 t turmeric powder

1 T tomato paste (or 1 chopped tomato if in season) 

2 T vegetable oil

salt

Soak the split chick peas in some water for a while, 15 minutes to an hour.  Then add them and 2 1/2 cups of water to a partially covered pot.  Bring it to a boil and turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes or so.  While the chickpeas are simmering, heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat and briefly saute the ginger, garlic and cinnamon stick until they smell good.  Then add the cumin, chile, turmeric and tomato (paste).  Stir it all around for a couple minutes then remove it from heat. After the dal has simmered for 20 minutes, stir in the spice mixture.  Continue to simmer until the chick peas are really soft and some have fallen apart, add some salt to taste when its close to done.  If it starts to look too dry to you add more water.  At the table, you can garnish with chopped cilantro.  Or not, especially if you don't have any.

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Grated Turnips, Indian Style:

1 lb turnips, scrubbed, trimmed and grated

1 t vegetable oil

1 in ginger, minced

1 t cumin seeds

1/4 t ground turmeric

1/4 t hot red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 t sugar, or to taste

3/4 t salt, or to taste

1/4 t garam masala

cilantro for garnish

Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan over med-high heat.  Add the ginger and cook for thirty seconds to a minute until it turns golden. Add the cumin seeds; they should sizzle upon contact with the oil.  Add turmeric.  Add the grated turnips and red pepper flakes.  Cook for three to four minutes.  Add the sugar and cook for another two minutes.  Sprinkle on garam masala and garnish with cilantro and serve.  As in the chana dal recipe, these things are optional.

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