It’s Saturday night and I planned our next week of meals today.  Knowing that we’d have this tofu dish, I bought tofu at the grocery store in the afternoon and let it sit out drying for the rest of the afternoon.  Over time, I’ve grown to like tofu dishes more and more.  However, I’ve found that my preference for tofu increasingly moves towards the firm and chewy than smooth and creamy.  Any dish where the tofu is fried up/baked to a crispy exterior with a chewy inside and you can count me in.  This dish does this perfectly.

Cook your pasta a little shy of al dente.  The pasta will continue to cook a bit with it’s own heat and will absorb more liquid if a little under-cooked.  I love a dish with sesame oil.  There is something about sesame oil that intrigues me.  Maybe it’s the umami flavor in my life.  Or as one of my idols Sara Moulton says, it brings a “je ne sais quoi” to the dish.  This was a hit for Dale as well.  Contrary to the usual “this is good” or “it’s not bad,” I got a “I’d say yes if you wanted to make this again.”  Since I’m all about new recipes as we could live our lives with not making the same recipe twice, this was quite the compliment for the recipe. 

Technorati Tags: Asian, Lo Mein, Tofu

Dan Dan Noodles

Cooking Light Magazine, November 2009 Issue

• 1 pound frozen fresh Chinese egg noodles, thawed
• 2 T canola oil
• 1/2 c dry roasted peanuts
• 3 T low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 T sambal oelek
• 1 t sugar
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 (1/2-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled
• 8 oz lean ground pork
• 1/8 t salt
• 3 T fresh lime juice
• 3/4 c thinly diagonally sliced green onions
• 1 1/4 c chopped seeded peeled cucumber
• 1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1. Cook noodles in 6 quarts boiling water for 3 minutes.  Drain in a colander and reserve 3/4 c cooking liquid.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add peanuts to pan; saute 2 minutes or until fragrant.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.  Combine the peanut mixture and the above ingredients (soy sauce through ginger) in a mini chopper and process until finely ground.
3. Cook the pork with salt in skillet over medium-high for 8 minutes or until browned.  Add peanut mixture and reserved pasta liquid.  Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute stirring frequently.  Add pork mixture, juice, and onions to the noodles tossing well. 
4. Serve topped with cucumbers

Now for my variations.  First, I forgot to buy peanuts.  Thankfully, I had chunky peanut butter at home.  I used this and cut down a bit on the oil.  I still needed a bit of oil to let my mini chopper get through everything.  Second, I didn't buy Chinese egg noodles.  I had some udon noodles from World Market at home.  I chose to use them and it turned out wonderful.  A great dish and I highly recommend it.  Good leftovers too!

Technorati Tags: Asian

The last time I made something with tamarind paste, I had quite a tart, sour, puckering (I could continue but I think you have the gist) sauce.  It was an attempt to make pad thai with more true ingredients than soy sauce and ketchup.  Though it was highly flavorful, I had missed the balance of the four flavors of Thai.  Therefore, I’ve toned down the use of tamarind tonight, but wanted to use tamarind as the sour taste in my pan-fried udon noodles.

Preparation

Honey, soy sauce, fish sauce, dark sesame oil, tamarind.   Interesting flavor mix.  Nice balance of sweet, salty, sour, and hot.  (Hot will come with sriracha sauce later.  Dale can’t handle that kind of heat.)  Mixed with some fried onions and shrimp, I can’t wait.    Before I post, I’ll have eaten and provide comments below.

Okay, I have to admit that this flavor combination is a bit odd.  It will sound even odder when I disclose that the only honey I had was a jar of Italian chestnut tree honey I picked up when in London.  As far as the meal goes, what a great test!  The flavors actually did go well together.  The honey did stand out a bit more with some stronger floral notes.  However, it wasn’t over-powering and mixed well with the otherwise Asian blend.  Maybe I can cook with tamarind.  We’ll have to try pad thai again sometime soon!

Technorati Tags: Asian, Udon Noodles