Salt and Pepper Tofu

From Cooking with Soy, Yoshiko Takeuchi, New Holland Publishers, 2013.

My partner had made a wonderfully creamy tofu. Some was left and needed to be used up so I decided on salt and pepper tofu.

The tofu was patted dry with a kitchen paper then cut into block shapes. I put a tablespoon of black pepper and a few shakings of white pepper into a mortar with some salt. They were pounded until well crushed. This was mixed with one tablespoon of plain flour and one tablespoon of cornflour. When it was fully combined the tofu blocks were dipped in it to completely cover them. They then went into hot oil to deep fry them until they were golden.

I do like salt and pepper tofu. They are crunchy on the outside and creamy inside and over all is the tang of the salt and the heat of the pepper. A dipping sauce was made of some sweet chilli sauce and lime juice.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Arame and Edamame Salad

From Cooking with Soy, Yoshiko Takeuchi, New Holland, 2013.

I’ve never taken overmuch to the taste of seaweed; it always seems to have a tang to it that reminds me of fish which I detest. Nevertheless I do try every so often to eat a little seaweed to see if I will eventually become accustomed to its taste.

For this recipe I took a quantity of arame and soaked it in water while I went on with the next stage. I heated olive oil in a pan and added to it a chopped garlic clove and a little grated ginger. I cooked this for a few minutes and then added the drained arame that had been soaking now for about 10 minutes. The arame was sautéed for a few minutes and a tablespoon of soy sauce was added with a little water. It was now cooked until the water had almost all gone. This was put aside in a bowl.

Now I took some edamames from the freezer, placed them in a small bowl and poured boiling water over them. They were then drained and added to the arame mix.

I took some green beans, topped and tailed them, and dropped them in a pot of boiling water to blanch them for about 30 seconds. They were drained and added to the bowl. I also sliced some red capsicum and added this to the bowl. A pinch of chilli powder was added to the bowl and the juice of half a lemon squeezed over. The ingredients were now tossed gently and served on a few leaves of lettuce.

This would be the first lot of seaweed that I have truly enjoyed. It was a colourful and tasty salad. Sweet, sour, salty and crunchy—worth making.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔