Monday, September 14, 2009

Sesame & Panko Crusted Tofu with Toasted Coconut & Pineapple Rice

This dinner idea came to me in bits and pieces. I had all the ingredients but wasn't quite sure how I wanted to put them together. The tofu I bought several days ago. It was calling to me to please do something with it or throw it out. This is what I came up with.... And I should start by saying, please give tofu a try! It's soy, it's good for you, it's high in protein, it's low in cholesterol, low in carbs, economical, a great alternative to meat,  it goes well with everything, just like that neutral shade of lipstick you have. (I'm talkin' to the girls now....)

THE MARINADE:
1 pkg. extra firm tofu, drained and blotted dry. I wrap the whole block of tofu in paper towels and press it until most of the packaging liquid is removed from it.
2 green onions, finely chopped
Fresh ginger, 1 inch finely chopped (use powdered if you don't have fresh, to taste, probably 1/4 tsp.)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Sesame oil, 2 Tbs.
1 8 oz. can pineapple chunks. Open the can, drain into a cup, and use half the juice for this marinade. The other half of the juice you will use for cooking the rice (below). The pineapple chunks you'll use in the rice also.
1 tsp. salt
Ground black pepper

Cut the tofu into five slices. Cut each slice in half the long way, then cut it into 4 pieces. You should wind up with about 40 pieces of tofu. (In other words, you should get 8 chunks from one slice of tofu.) Throw those into a large zip-lock bag and add the above marinade ingredients. Refrigerate.

THE CRUST MIXTURE:
Using three bowls, place a couple handfuls of flour in one, 1 egg plus a little water in another bowl, and in the third bowl place 1 cup of Panko breadcrumbs, 2 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds, salt and pepper to taste. I buy the sesame seeds and toast them myself in a dry pan for a few minutes until browned.

Get some canola or another light oil hot in a pan, not olive oil. Place half the tofu chunks into the flour, stir to coat, shake off the excess flour. Then place the pieces into the egg/water mixture and stir to coat, then drop them into the third bowl of Panko/sesame seeds/salt and pepper. Fry on medium to medium-high heat, turning until nicely browned. Remove to paper towels to drain.  Repeat the process with the other half of the tofu, adding a little more oil to the pan if necessary. They turn out crispy on the outside, soft in the middle and just downright excellent.

THE RICE: 
Brown or white rice, you'll need 1 cup of raw, whichever you choose
1/4 cup or more of coconut, toasted in your toaster oven for a few minutes until nicely browned.
Pineapple chunks (from the can that you opened for the juice in the marinade)

I used brown rice. I made 2 cups of it, using mostly water and the rest of the pineapple juice to measure 2 cups of liquid for 1 cup of uncooked rice, and I added a few drops of sesame oil. Cook according to the package directions.

When the rice is done, remove it from the heat and stir in the pineapple chunks and the toasted coconut, reserving a sprinkle to garnish the entire plate. I chopped the chunks of pineapple smaller too.

You are ready to plate!  I am serving this with a simple saute of the three vegetables that I had on hand, but it certainly was a good choice; red pepper, yellow pepper, zucchini, a clove of garlic, salt and pepper. The combination of those vegetables was delicious, but you can use whatever you like or have on hand.

Listen kids, I know this sounds like a lot of work. It was. Nothing that a cocktail won't smooth out :-) The whole process was really NOT that serious. And the end result was well worth a bit of effort. If you just can't handle the thought of tofu, then there'll be no convincing you otherwise. For the rest of you, please try the recipe and then let me know what you think. If nothing else,  just leave me a note and let me know you stopped by.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Yummy Pictures From The Book "Singingirl Cooks"

I've been experimenting today. I wanted to see if I could put into one post a collection of pictures of some of the dishes from my cookbook, "Singingirl Cooks". I think I succeeded. This is so exciting. I'm mildly technically challenged with the computer. But this is as close as I've come to doing something amazing.... well, besides cooking all these amazing looking dishes. So many of you already have the book. Wait, did I hear you say you don't have a copy yet? Doesn't this stuff look great, like something you could make, like something you want to make? Leave me a comment and let me know if you're interested, and I'll tell you more about it and how you can have a copy for yourself.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Cardamom and Orange Butter Cookies

Would my Aunt Rose be upset about me changing her recipe for Orange Butter Cookies ever so slightly? I hope not. I've been thinking of ways to use that jar of cardamom ever since I spent a fortune on it last week. I decided I was going to make something Indian inspired last weekend, got my grocery list together for Melon Curry and Coconut Chicken Fingers, both of which you can see at my gal-pal's site, www.raisin-toast.com. I nearly croaked when I saw the price of that jar of Spice Islands cardamom. Damn, it was expensive! I bought it anyway. Now I understand it would have been better to buy the pods and grind it myself. Oh well, live and learn. I have a feeling, anyway, that if I put that in my recipe, you know, the pods and the grinding and all that, my friends and family would ask me if I've gone totally mad to think they would consider cracking pods open and grinding the contents by hand.

So, okay. I've got the ground cardamom, and I have added it to my dear Aunt Rose's old, very old, cookie recipe. They turned out awesome. Here's the recipe. Enjoy.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Juice of 1 large orange (approximately 2 ounces)
3 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Heaping 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange juice and mix well. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Add gradually to the butter mixture until everything is incorporated.

Refrigerate for at least an hour. You could make it at night and bake the next morning if you wanted to.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Just dust the baking sheet with flour. Roll big heaping teaspoons of cookie dough into a ball and place on the cookie sheet, 9 or 10 cookies at a time, don't crowd. Dust the bottom of a glass with flour and give the cookies a tap to slightly flatten. They'll turn out beautiful that way. You can just drop them from the spoon too if you don't want to roll them in a ball and flatten them. They'll be more irregularly shaped,  the picture shows the cookies both ways. You decide how you like them. Bake on the middle shelf for approximately 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. They will still be light on top. Remove to a rack to cool. Makes about 3 dozen.


When cooled completely, make a mixture of a few spoonfuls of apricot preserves thinned with a few drops or so of orange juice. Brush this over the cooled cookies as a glaze. You can top this with finely crushed walnuts also. Or, make a simple chocolate glaze with confectioners sugar, cocoa and milk until drizzling consistency. These cookies can be frozen and decorated at the time you are going to serve them. They are equally delicious plain, and now even more exciting with the addition of cardamom!! (Of course, the original recipe did not call for cardamom, so if you just don't want to spring for the jar, make them without. Aunt Rose did.

One final thought about cardamom.... In an attempt to find ways to use my expensive spice, I'm putting a few good size dashes in my coffee grounds in the morning for coffee that tastes awesome. It's like chai coffee!! And I will use it again, I will. I will....

This recipe, along with over 120 pages of recipes, pictures and stories is part of my cookbook, "Singingirl Cooks!" available for purchase. Ask me about it.  Thanks!