Teriyaki Tofu and Peanut Noodles

Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 1 block of tofu
• 1/3 cup + 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1/4 cup + 1 TBSP white sugar
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 TBSP vegetable oil
• 8 oz pasta
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp chili paste
• 1/3 cup reserved pasta water
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 pepper, thinly sliced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1) Place the tofu between layers of paper towels on a plate and place a heavy pan or brick on top for 30 minutes.
2) Mix the 1/3 soy sauce, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp grated ginger and garlic together.
3) Slice the tofu into cubes and put it in a shallow bowl.








4) Pour the sauce over and let sit for 1 hour.
5) Flip the tofu and let sit for another hour.
6) Put the vegetable oil in a pan and heat.






7) Add the tofu and cook for 5 minutes on each side, until it starts to change color.
8) Cook the pasta.







9) Mix the peanut butter, chili paste, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1TBSP white sugar and 1 tsp grated ginger.
10) Add the pasta to the peanut butter mixture and add the reserved pasta water as necessary to achieve the desired consistency.




11) Add the carrots, pepper and green onions.

Braised Eggplant

I was trying to find a new way to cook eggplant without grilling or baking (because I can't do either of those right now) AND without having to go out and buy something I don't have or don't want to eat (many recipes called for beef, pork or beef broth). So, I took a few notes that were prevalent in what I was looking at and used the sauce from braised tofu, making a few changes given that eggplant does not take to flavor as fast as tofu. Came out great!

Ingredients:

• 2 Asian/Japanese/Chinese eggplants (the long thin ones, but I suppose you can use globe/Italian), sliced into 1/2 in thick slices. It is optional to take the skin off, it will be more chewy with the skin
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 slice of ginger, chopped fine
• 4 TBSP + 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 TBSP chili paste (or hot sauce if you want to make it less Asian)
• 3 green onions (again, I count three from the base where they were attached, not the top where they are separate)

Directions:

1) Heat 2 TBSP vegetable oil in a pan.
2) Make the sauce with 1 tsp vegetable oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, chili paste and green onions.







3) Add the onion, garlic and ginger and let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion starts to become seethrough.







4) Add the eggplant and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often so the eggplant cooks on all sides.
5) At some point with the eggplant (depending on how wet or dry yours is), you will need to add the rest (2 TBSP) of the vegetable oil, as the onion and eggplant will have sucked it all up, which will lead to burning if you do not add more.



6) Once the eggplant is brown on both sides, add the sauce.
7) Cook until the sauce is reduced.
8) Serve with rice.

Braised Tofu

Recipe taken from here and it's probably the best recipe for just tofu that I've ever seen.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cube of firm tofu, cut in half (short ways/hamburger) and then cut into 1/2 in thick slices
• 2 TBSP + 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp chili paste (or hot sauce if you want to make it less Asian)
• 1 garlic clove, mashed
• 3 green onions (I counted 3 from the base where they were attached, not the top where they are separate)

Directions:

1) Pat tofu try so it is not so wet.
2) Heat 2 TBSP vegetable oil in a pan.








3) Combine the 1 tsp vegetable oil with the seasame seeds, chili paste, garlic and green onion.








4) Place the tofu in the pan. Let cook for about 3 minutes, until it is starting to brown.








5) Turn the tofu over and let cook for another minute.








6) Add the sauce and let cook until it is reduced by half.
7) You may want to check on the tofu and be sure that one side is not burning. If it is, it is okay to turn it again (burnt tofu is okay, burnt green onion is not--its nasty!)
8) Serve with rice.