Tofu Steak with Carrot Salad

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Tofu steak

Seasoned and grilled, tofu breaks out of its typical image of being bland and tasteless. Tofu is so versatile you can put any spice or sauce of your choice. Growing up in Korea, one of my favorite dishes was pan-fried tofu with soy sesame sauce. It is damn simple but so tasty.

For tofu steak, you need to pat dry a block of firm tofu, slice about 1cm thick, lightly coat with rice flour and spice, pan-fry with coconut oil for about 3-4 minutes each side until outside is brown and crispy. I like mine to be still firm texture, but for more crispy skin you can use egg and breadcrumbs. You can serve grilled tofu with salads like me or serve with rice and soy sauce for more Asian flavour. Some people marinate tofu for hours or even a day before cooking if you want tofu to soak up all the flavour. To make soy dressing, combine soy sauce or tamari, minced garlic and ginger, chopped spring onion, sake or cooking wine, sesame seeds and sesame oil. Drizzle over the steak and enjoy!

For the salads I mixed cooked French lentils, grated orange and purple carrots, red onion and green salads. It is raw, refreshing, crunch and colourful.

Tofu steak

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, Vegetarian

Mixed Bean Casserole

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Bean Casserole

I like bean casserole for Sunday brunch or light lunch. I made this for our lunch today. I forgot to soak beans this morning, so had to go down to the shops to get a canned bean 🙁 I try not to use canned foods but sometimes like today I have to. Boiling un-soaked beans can be a pain – taking way too long and not getting desired soft tender beans. Just make sure when you use canned beans, you need to drain and rinse thoroughly. Oh well.. I will be more prepared next time. My trick is to add cayenne pepper and preserved lemon in the casserole dishes, which gives nice kick and subtle lemony taste. It really makes a difference and gives much more flavour compared to when using just tomato based sauce. Runny egg right in the middle and melted brie cheese also adds creaminess to the dish as if I used butter to it. Delicious! Please don’t use a canned baked beans on toast for your breakfast, which is full of salt and preservatives. Make your own with your favorite ingredients!

1 can of mixed beans – Don’t be lazy like me. Soak your beans for a few hours or preferably over night. Any kinds of beans are good. Chick peas, broad beans, red kidney beans, black beans, etc
2 medium sized carrot
1/2 zucchini
1/3 green spring onion
1/2 preserved lemon, optional
basil
1 heap table spoon of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, optional
50g brie cheese
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Cook your veggies and sauce in a wok or pan until they are cooked. Transfer to casserole dish. Make a little well and crack egg into it. Put brie cheese and spring onions on top. Microwave or bake in the preheated oven (180) until eggs are done to your liking. Drizzle e.v.o.o before serve. There is not really a rule making this bean casserole dish. Use whatever you like or you have in the fridge.

Posted in: Baking, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes

Coconut Almond Biscotti

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Coconut biscotti

There are a few Italian treats I like. Crunchy biscotti with coffee, moist and sweet tiramisu, vanilla panna cotta and gelato. Especially having a cup of coffee and you feel like something with it.. biscotti is just perfect indulgence. You can even have for your breakfast. Nothing wrong with that! Have you tried with wine? Maybe you should! It’s super easy to make your own version at home. You can make gluten free, egg free and sugar free – it doesn’t mean you can have a whole jar of these yummy cookies though! I used coconut cream, dessicated coconut, rice flour, LSA, honey, a pinch of salt, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla extract, almonds and hazelnuts. I didn’t follow recipe or anything, so cannot remember exact amount of ingredients I put in there. When you make a healthier version of bread, muffins, cookies etc, you can use substitutes. Make your own spin on the basic recipe!

For example…
– coconut cream instead of heavy cream/ sour cream
– fruit puree (apple sauce, mashed banana), tofu, yogurt, cottage cheese instead of butter/ oil/ eggs
– stevia, honey, maple syrup, molasses, agave syrup instead of refined sugar
– almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk instead of cow’s milk
– corn flour, rice flour, rye flour, buckwheat flour, coconut flour, spelt flour instead of all purpose flour

Personally I use coconut products, fruit, tofu and maple syrup in my baking. I find it tastes better for me (maybe worse if you like overly sweet and rich buttery flavour). It doesn’t sacrifice yummy taste, but heaps better for your body.

Examples of flavour combinations…
– pistachio and cranberries
– vanilla and almond
– chocolate and almonds
– orange, cranberry and white chocolate
– cinnamon, ginger and almond
– fig and orange
mmm…list goes on…You can add a bit of liquor for adult’s version as well.

Have fun baking biscotti x

Posted in: Baking, Breakfast, My recipes, Snack

Chicken Green Curry

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Chicken Green Curry

I’m not a curry person. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve had a few bad dining experience in Indian restaurant or I don’t like too strong curry flavour. When I went to this Indian restaurant in Northbridge years ago, Goat curry was my very first curry I had ever tried – fail! way too strong. I could even chew raw garlic and ginger and goat meat was tough like jerky >.< Then I tried another curry house where I had tandoori chicken with naan bread – fail again! dry chicken and greasy naan. So that kind of put me off a little from Indian curry. I prefer more mild version of Korean or Japanese or Thai curry. Our Sunday lunch was Thai chicken green curry. I have to admit I took a short-cut using a packet of green curry paste from the shop, which was why I felt like something missing in the flavour. Maybe more lemongrass and green chilli would have been nice although chicken breast was cooked perfectly – juicy. I served with mixed red rice and daikon kimchi.

I always mix different types of rice when I cook one because plain white rice is quite bland and has poor nutrition in it (high GI and carbohydrates). Red rice has more of a nutty flavour, crunchy texture, dietary fibre, vitamins and iron – yes, sounds better than white rice! Whole grains stabilise blood sugar level and make you full longer. So when you go down to the markets next time, try to grab some wild rice, red rice or brown rice. All the pretty colourful ones! If it is too tough in your palate or hard to digest, mix it through white rice how much you want. You just need to soak in water before cooking or take a bit longer to cook them. To make green curry more green, I used green spring onions, zucchini and coriander. Very satisfying yummy lunch in no time 🙂

I made my very first vanilla sago pudding for dessert using the left over coconut milk. So much coconut in my tummy today. It is fact that coconut milk contains high saturated fat, but also contains high levels of minerals like iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and zinc. Saturated fat in coconut products has different structure (short and medium chain fatty acids), which means they provide good energy and nutrition to your body, but not stored as body fat. However, consuming too much of it obviously will lead to weight gain. Or if you already have high cholesterol level or a risk of cardiovascular disease, you need to limit your intake.

I like using coconut oil in stir-fries, baking and moisturiser for my skin, drinking coconut water for rehydration after exercise and coconut milk for delicious curry and dessert. So enjoy coconut in moderation for your health x

Chicken Green Curry

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes

Cinnamon Rolls

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Food blog24

Daniel and I went to learn fundamental barista skills at Australian Barista Academy this morning. I enjoy having a good quality black coffee and always wanted to learn more how to taste coffee and operate coffee machines. How interesting so many factors play a role in making good coffees!

1. First of all, you need to have fresh roasted coffee beans to make good coffee. So buy roasted beans from local coffee shops, not from supermarket. It reaches its peak flavour and aroma about 24 hours after resting, which allows excess CO2 trapped in coffee beans to dissipate. It also starts to lose a developed flavour and aroma after about 3 weeks. So knowing when your coffee beans are roasted should help when you need to use them by for best coffee.

2. Be aware how to store your beans – keep them in cupboard (dry, cool, away from sun). Grind coffee beans and use straight away since oxidation changes flavour.

3. Measure a good dosage every time for a quality control and consistency.

4. Nice even firm tamping pressure facilitates the extraction speed. Harder tamp = more resistance = slower flow rate

5. 4 stages during extraction: ristretto -> caramel colour -> blonding -> pale, less creamy stream. It should take about 28-32 seconds, not too fast nor slow.

6. Taste your coffee 🙂

It was fun making coffees and frothing milk, but definitely need more practice. It’s tempting to buy a coffee machine!

Food blog23

After the barista course we were starving, especially after all that coffee tasting on empty stomach. We had a quick lunch at home just to get something in our stomach. Then I made this beautiful cinnamon rolls for afternoon tea. It smelled wonderful around the house – that’s why I like baking.

To make 8 little cinnamon rolls

400g self-raising flour + extra for kneading
1 packet of dry yeast
a pinch of salt
200ml warm water
A heap table spoon of cinnamon powder and brown sugar for filling
extra cinnamon, sugar powder, rose water, vanilla extract for cinnamon glaze

Flour is different depending on what brand you use or even from packet to packet, so adjust the amount of water and flour accordingly. Mix half of the flour, yeast, salt and water in a large bowl and set aside. Yeast will do its own thing making bubbles on the surface. Then you need to add the rest of the flour into the mixture and start kneading gently for about 5-10 minutes. Let it rest again until dough is double sized. Roll out the dough, sprinkle filling all over and then roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 8 pieces and place in a round baking pan. Loosely cover the rolls and rest again until they are doubled in size. Bake in the preheated oven 180 degrees for 25 minutes. Once it comes out of the oven top your cinnamon rolls with glaze. I didn’t use butter or oil, but used a bit of brown sugar. If you want sugar free, use honey or maple syrup or agave syrup. To be honest though, brown sugar makes nice caramel flavour matching with cinnamon. I served with iced pomegranate drink – yum!

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Posted in: Baking, Breakfast, My recipes, Snack