Stir-fried tofu with fresh mushrooms in oyster sauce

I love the Chinese way with stir-fried food. It is very time saving and can be used for anything. Whenever I need to clean out of my fridge, I usually do a stir-fry because it is easy and will taste good. The best pan to use is a wok but you can also use a regular frying pan.

Hint for successful, stress-free stir-frying; put the food in the pan according to which ingredients take longest to cook. Hard ingredients such as root vegetables and cabbage, are to be cooked first, with the delicate fast-cooking ingredients such as snow peas and bean sprouts added last.

I decided to use tofu for my first stir-fry recipe blog because it is very healthy and easy to make. Don’t let word “tofu” scare you, it might sounds disgusting but it is full of protein, if you cook it right, it won’t taste bland. I hope you come to enjoy it as much as I do.

I used weight for this recipe but you can change to cup measure on this website: http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking.htm.

6 ounces white mushrooms (you can use any types of mushrooms)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed with the side of the knife and peeled
2 sliced unpeeled fresh ginger
1 ½ pounds firm tofu, drained and cut into ½ inch cubes
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons sesame oil

1.     Trim the mushroom stems and slice ¼ inch thick
2.     In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, wine, sugar, oyster sauce and 1 tablespoon water
3.     In a wok or stir-try pan, heat the oil over the high heat, add the garlic and ginger and stir until the aroma is released. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring until they turn a darker colour, about 2 minutes. Decrease heat to medium high, add tofu and soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring gently but constantly for about 3 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cook for about 30 seconds more. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened. Drizzle with sesame oil and mix well. Remove and discard the garlic and ginger. Serve immediately.
4.     Enjoy!

Chicken Lettuce Wrap

 I made this for my good friend Ann, she asked me to prepare a recipe that is similar to one she loves at her favourite restaurant P.F.Chang. It is also one of my favourite restaurants because they serve great Asian food.

I did some research and came up what I thought is close but not exactly the same. It still tastes good!

You use lettuce as the wrap, it is fun way to eat with a group. Through it can be messy, what is good food without a bit of mess. I used Boston lettuce in this wrap because it is shaped in a ball and has a nice curved shape. You can use any lettuce as long as it is big enough to wrap.

For the Chicken:

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced

For the Stir-Fry Sauce:

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch

For the Stir-Fry:

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon minced peeled ginger

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

4 scallions; 2 minced, 2 cut into 1-inch pieces

Salt

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced

3/4 cup diced water chestnuts

Small lettuce leaves, for serving

Soy sauce, chili paste, hoisin, and/or hot mustard for serving

Directions

Prepare the chicken: Whisk the egg white, cornstarch and rice wine in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Make the stir-fry sauce: Whisk water, the oyster, hoisin and soy sauces, the rice wine and sesame oil in a bowl, then whisk in the cornstarch until dissolved.

Make the stir-fry: Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, 2 to 3 minutes (make sure it is cooked). Remove to a plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet; when almost smoking, stir in the garlic, ginger, jalapeno and minced scallions, then add 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, chestnuts and scallion pieces and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add the stir-fry sauce and chicken and cook 1 minute.

Serve with two plates, one with chicken and the other lettuce. You can add any of the cooking sauce to the wrap to add taste.

Adapted recipe from the food network. 

Warm mushroom and Onion with goat cheese salad

My parents asked me to make them salad for dinner recently.  I was glad to do that, however, they didn’t have many interesting ingredients for me to use.  So I decided to be creative, I hunted for vegetables in their fridge. I found lettuce, mushrooms, sweet onion and goat cheese. I thought it would work for a warm onion and mushroom salad. The results were fantastic!! It was easy to prepare, needing just a bit of cooking time for the onion and mushroom.  This would go well with spinach or arugula as well.

Serve 3 to 4

2 cups mushrooms

1 sweet onion such as Vidalia

Lettuce (any kind)

2 tbsp goat cheese

3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1.5 tbsp ponzu sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1.    Thinly slice the onion and set aside.

2.    Take the stems off the mushrooms and thinly slice as well.

3.    Put oil in a large fry pan over the medium heat, when the oil is hot add onion and stir, then turn the heat to medium low.

4.    Stir onion often to keep it from becoming brown too fast. Meanwhile, wash lettuce and dry.

5.    Continue cooking onion until it becomes soft and slightly darker in colour -- about 10 minutes, add mushrooms and stir.

6.    The moment the mushroom become soft add rice vinegar and ponzu sauce. If you feel there isn’t enough sauce you can add more. Then turn the heat off.

7.    Break up the lettuce and put in the bowls then top with goat cheese however much you like. ( I usually put about 2 tbsp in the bowl and break up the goat cheese.)

Top with the onion and mushroom and serve immediately