Japanese Cucumber

Too vinegary on toast for me, but good with pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• vinegar
• soy sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 1 TBSP sesame seeds
• 3 slices of ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed once with a knife (unnecessary to cut into pieces)
• pasta, noodles, toast, rice

Directions:

1) Cut the cucumber into chunks.
2) Place into a container you can keep it in overnight or for a few days.
3) Add 2 parts soy sauce for every 3 parts vinegar (I estimated with my eyes).
4) Add the sesame oil, sesame seeds, ginger and garlic.
5) Serve with pasta, noodles, toast or rice.

3-types-of-cooking stir fry

I had left over vegetables so what else to do other than make a stir fry. For this I braised the tofu just like here, fried eggplant and cooked the rest of the veggies in a pan.

Ingredients:

• braised tofu
• vegetable oil
• 1 eggplant, sliced thin
• salt and pepper
• paper towels
• 1 carrot, sliced thin
• 1 cucumber, sliced thin
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• rice

1) Cook the tofu as directed.









2) Heat vegetable oil in a pan, with enough oil to cover the bottom and go up about 1 cm.
3) Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the eggplant. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this 2 or 3 times as you do not want to crowed the pan.





4) Flip the eggplant when it is brown on one side.
5) Remove the eggplant when it is brown on both sides and place on a paper towel.
6) Remove from the paper towel and add salt and pepper





7) Heat 3 TBSP oil in a pan.
8) Add the carrot for about 3-5 minutes.
9) Add the cucumber for 2-3 minutes.
10) Add the jalapeno and red onion for 2-3 minutes.
11) Add the tomatoes for 1-5 minutes, depending on how you like them cooked.
12) Serve the tofu and vegetables on top of rice with the eggplant on top to add crunch.

Cold Sesame Noodles

These are the simplest and best noodles I've made so far! Why did I not make them before?? You need to have the stocked Asian kitchen though...Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 10 oz noodles
• 2 TBSP rice vinegar
• 2 TBSP sesame oil
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• handful of green onions
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper

Directions:

1) Cook the noodles.
2) Let cool.
3) Mix the rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, salt, green onions and red pepper together.







4) Combine the noodles and sauce.
5) Serve with sesame seeds, spring onions and crushed red pepper on top.

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.