Absolute shit

Fresh ingredients are always the key.

Steamed prawns with ginger could have would have should have, BUT the nice seafood man in Turramurra sold me OFF prawns and the result?????????? BLAH, acidic, texturally sluggish. I almost convinced Pat that the prawn man must have squashed together lots of off- cuts, squished them into a prawn shape and drawn orange lines on them. Disaster, massive fail.

Mongolian Beef

I went terribly wrong with this one- no flavour!
It's a whole lot of trouble for no gain.
Buy it from the Chinese shop.

Fire Up - Beef Oyster

 Okay so the photo is quite poor.
Enjoyable it is cooking Kylie Kwong,  but generally a rushed experience of trying to:

• minimise washing up 
• gorge food 
• flake on my pillow.

With this dish, marinate the meat for 30 minutes with dry sherry and salt.
Pre-cook meat for 30 seconds in  hot wok.
 Add oil to wok, stir in some onions, cook till brown and add meat. Then splash in the sauce:
dry sherry, oyster sauce, malt vinegar, sugar, soy and sesame oil. Use a ratio of about 1-1 for all splashings except for the vinegar and sesame. Just a small splash of those.
Chuck in some spring onions and done.

Eat, flake and do the washing tomorrow.

Chilled Silken Tofu with Vegetables

 PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME IN WINTER.

I prepared half and then decided to go out for dinner because it is cold, and I don't want to eat cold tofu.. the shaved carrot held up well and the dish now complete.

 Half way through gulping it down because I had to ( the weather never got warmer, just wetter) the dish was microwaved and then gulped. 

After microwaving.....

The dish is easy AND IN Summer I'm sure delicious;
1. Shave some cucumber and carrot. Take out tofu, cut it into slices and top with the cucumber and carrot.  

2. Pour over sauce;

2 tbsp light soy, 2 tbsp water, 1/2tbs ginger sliced, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp malt vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp peanut oil (pre-heated to release flavours). 

3. Garnish with red chilli, spring onion, sichuan pepper and salt and mint.

Tofu and Celery Salad

Impro works wonders here. 

Throw in a heap of thinly sliced vegetables with some finely sliced 5-spice pressed tofu.  

 I found a Thai flavoured tofu and sprinkled it with 5 spice powder.

Pour over dressing, mix with hands.  Done!

The dressing:

• light soy 2 tbsp
• white sugar 2tsp
• malt vinegar 2 tsp
• sesame oil 1/2 tsp
• 3 garlic cloves
• peanut oil 1 tbsp (heat before adding to the dressing)

Steamed Silken tofu with Ginger and Spring Onions

This one is perfect for a banquet or starter. It melts well with a bowl of hot, clear soup. Miso anyone?

The tofu is covered with dry sherry, water, soy, sugar and ginger and  steamed for 6 minutes. Once cooked through transfer to a serving dish and top with spring onion and ginger. Peanut oil is heated till hot and drizzled over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Braised Silken Tofu with Pork and Chilli

Braised Tofu with Shitake Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Peas

Stir-Fried Tofu with Vegetables

Reminding one of India - The sauce is worth a try for your next stir-fry.  A satayish flavour combined with creamy tofu and vegetable freshness is a nice combo.

The sauce:

1/4 cup dry sherry
2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp light soy
2 tsp malt vinegar
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil

And yes it is teaspoon NOT tablespoon

Steamed Silken Tofu with Stir-Fried Spinach

At last, a tofu success!
This dish is very yummy.
It has something to do with steaming, the tofu is creamier,  much like a creme caramel. Cook some rice and drench it in the pan juices or, I made an instant miso soup and added the leftovers!

1 bunch spinach (I used a bag of baby spinach)

300g ( 1 packet) silken tofu

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup water

2 tsp light soy ( I used dark - all it means is a darker colour)

1 tsp white sugar

1/4 tsp sesame oil

pinch ground white pepper (I used black)

 Trim ends from spinach, then cut bunch crossways into 5 pieces, wash and set aside.

Remove tofu from packet and invert into a shallow heatproof bowl that will fit inside a steamer basket.  Carefully cut tofu widthways into 8 equal slices. Place bowl inside steamer, position over a deep saucepan of boiling water and steam, covered for about 6 minutes. Remove bowl, drain excess liquid. Transfer to serving bowl.

Meanwhile, heat oil in wok till surface shimmers slightly. Add salt and stir-fry for ten seconds. Toss in garlic and spinach and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add water, soy and sugar and stir-fry for a further minute or until leaves are wilted. Lastly, stir through sesame oil. Remove from heat.

Arrange spinach over hot tofu and drizzle with pan juices. Sprinkle with pepper.

 Kylie Kwong

Steamed Silken Tofu with Stir-Fried Spinach

Deep-Fried Tofu with Black Bean and Chilli Sauce

This tofu dish turned out quite well, I was happy with the texture but the taste is quite strong, needs some rice to soak up the flavours. As I'm not accustomed to deep frying tofu it has become a pain in the .  I will buy this from the restaurant next time........

Kylie

Deep Fried Tofu with Sichuan Pepper and Salt and Lemon

                                                                        Exhibit A

                                                                            Exhibit B

The beginning of Kylie-Kylie.

Salt and pepper tofu is a piece of deception. After coating in flour make sure the oil is hot, hot, hot!
If not, the taste will be OILY; Tofu soaked in OIL.
Exhibit A is what I ate for dinner. I managed to save 2 pieces (Exhibit B). I ate them as well.

Signing off for the first time.
Kylie