Meal 2 Summary (Sesame Tofu, Singapore Noodles)

Well, maybe we just love every kind of food, because I have a feeling we're going to rate these meals at the top of their class.

Sesame Tofu (Adam 4.5/5; Alex 4.5/5)

This was a lovely surprise. As authentic as it gets, this recipe held true to its promises! The sauce is a carbon copy of sesame sauce you would find in Chinese restaurants. While the flavour was untouchable, the tofu needs to be fried in a better manner- suggestions welcome!

Singapore Noodles (Adam 3.5/5; Alex 4/5)

What this recipe lacked in quality it made up in quantity... holy man. So many noodles. I am going to have trouble getting up after this serious amount of food. Fullness to a whole 'nother level. The flavour was unique, very gingery. Alex said it tasted like stuff he had in restaurants, but I've never had singapore noodles before, so I can't say. Chopping the veggies took awhile, but the cooking time itself was very short. Chickpeas were an unusual addition, but added some needed protein. All in all, a great cure for the mid-week blues. 

I would suggest cooking some steamed rice to serve over the sesame tofu. I just mixed it with the noodles, which was fine, but the noodles lost some of their own original flavour in the yumminess of the sesame sauce.

Singapore Noodles

Serves: 6-8
Cook/prep time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:


2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
4 mushrooms
1 package dry rice vermicelli
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
2 green onions, coarsely chopped
1/2 red pepper, diced
4 small carrots, diced
1/4 Package soft tofu, coarsely chopped
1 cup chickpeas, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp sesame oil

For sauce:

3tbsp Curry powder
1 tsp Thai Curry Paste (optional: can use any sort of curry paste or hot-sauce, but it will taste different depending on what you use)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil


1) Put the rice vermicelli in a large bowl and soak in boiling water. Drain noodles and set aside.
2) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat. Add curry powder, ginger, and garlic. Add water, soy sauce, sugar, and curry paste. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan over medium. Add remaining garlic and ginger, and fry for a couple minutes. Add celery, carrots, onions, pepper, sprouts, green onions, and mushrooms. Fry for 2 minutes. Add tofu and chickpeas and fry an additional 3 minutes until vegetables soften.
4) Mix vegetables, noodles, and sauce, adding chopped peanuts on top.

Based on this recipe

Sesame Tofu

Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4


1 package firm tofu, cubed

Marinade

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon cooking wine

3 drops sesame oil

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Sauce

½ cup water

1 cup broth

¹¼ cup white vinegar 

¼ cup cornstarch

1 cup sugar 

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon chili paste 

Prepare the marinade in a small bowl. Add the tofu, and let sit for 20 minutes, stirring once after about 10 minutes. 

Add all of the sauce incredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium for 5 minutes, and then turn the heat off, stirring frequently.

 Once the tofu has been marinated for 20 minutes, fry it in a large pan over medium in 3tbsp oil.

After the tofu is fried, add it to the sauce and serve over a bed of rice.

Recipe can be found here

Meal 1 Summary (Mandarin Seitan, Hot and Sour Soup)

Whoo wee... Yum yum yum. We started off with a bang. I hope you will still consider us credible if we give our first recipe such a high rating!

Mandarin Seitan (Adam 5/5 Alex 4.5/5)
A long time favourite Chinese dish, this vegan version did not let us down. Making the seitan was a lot faster than expected with great results. It has a high return on time invested! This recipe produces some powerfully nom-able mandarin seitan that must be watered down with lots of rice to ensure your taste buds can survive long enough to taste the hot and sour soup to follow. Also, we forgot to add the wheat gluten and nutritional yeast in the grocery bill because we already had it; they are fairly cheap ingredients, so please forgive our error!

Hot and Sour Soup (Adam 4.5/5 Alex 5/5)
Man, this recipe was a sitter! (excuse the poorly adapted British football expression) The two of us were running around, chopping the veggies and throwing the stuff in the pot! I would highly recommend the coconut milk, it was an amazing addition. Also, if your spicy level is not high, reduce cayenne from the posted amount. The soft tofu is supposed to be 'fake scrambled egg,' but the soup had lots of tofu, so don't worry if you just want to use one of the two tofus. The pot was full to the brim, super powerfully tasty and actually kind of reminiscent of restaurant hot and sour soup. I have been looking for such a recipe for a long time and this is it!

In conclusion, Chinese = best.

Hot and Sour Soup

Serves 4-6
Total cooking/prep time: 35 minutes


‎2 Tsp Sesame oil

3 large mushrooms, diced

4 cups water

1 cube bullion

2 stalks celery, diced

3 small carrots, diced

1/3 brick firm tofu, diced

1/2 medium apple, diced

2 teaspoons soya sauce

5tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp sugar

Dash of salt

2 stalks bock choy, coarsely chopped

2 stalks green onion, coarsely chopped

1/3 brick soft tofu

1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch

1 tsp cayenne

1/4 cup coconut milk

Dash of ground pepper

Fry sesame oil and mushrooms in a medium pot. Add 4 cups of water and the cube of bullion and bring to a boil. Add celery, carrots, firm tofu, and apple and boil for a few minutes. Mix together soya sauce, vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add to soup. Mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water and add to soup. Reduce heat to medium. Break apart (scramble) soft tofu with a fork and add to soup. Then add coconut milk and cayenne and let juices mix for a couple minutes. Add pepper and serve.

Loosely adapted from a recipe found here.

Mandarin Seitan

Mandarin Seitan 


Serves 4-6
Total cook/prep time: 40 minutes + prep/cooking time for seitan itself.

1. Double a recipe for seitan
2. 2tbs vegetable oil
3. 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
4. 1 teaspoon pepper
5. 1/2 cup orange marmalade
6. 1/2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
7. 1/4 cup soy sauce
8. 2 tablespoons honey
9. 2 garlic cloves, minced
10. 2 1/4 teaspoons ground mustard
11. 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

After the seitan is made, cut it into bite sized pieces. Fry these pieces in a large pan along with 2tbsp vegetable oil until crispy (10 mins). After this is done, remove from heat. 

Add all of the ingredients, save the seitan, in a loaf pan. Stir until well mixed and then add seitan. 

Bake at 350˚F for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to coat the seitan in the sauce.

Serve on a bed of plain rice.

This recipe is based off an existing recipe that can be found here. 

Week 1: "Chinese"/"What We Think Chinese Food Is"

Ingredients we needed to buy*:
Apples, wine vinegar, corn starch, marmalade, carrots, orange juice concentrate, bok choy, green onion, garlic, celery, tofu (one firm, one soft), bean sprouts, 3 bell peppers, mushrooms, cabbage.
Cost: $37.53

So, here's on the hit list for the week:
-Mandarin Seitan
-Hot and Sour Soup
-Sesame Tofu
-Singapore Noodles
-Steamed Buns
-Cabbage Salad
-Fried Rice


*This assumes you own basic ingredients such as salt, soy sauce, sugar, rice etc...