Fermented Tofu Stir-fry

Fermented Tofu or 豆腐儒 dou fu ru - is one of the stinkiest and strongest things you can possibly put into your mouth (with the exception of the "surströmming" - the traditional Swedish pickled (or rotten) herring).

"Stinky Tofu" or "Chinese Blue Cheese" is fairly popular in China or Vietnam, traditionally eaten with plain rice. This however is a combination that I find fairly hard to digest. Yes, I am aware of how healthy this fermented thingy is, but much rather have yoghurt please...

The one I own (above) comes in this gorgeous earthen jar, which I plan on keeping and using to ferment cabbage or make yoghurt. The tofu ru is of Zhejiang brand, which is supposingly the best :-)

So while I am still becoming friends with Tofu Ru on its own, let me introduce to you a simple actually quite tasty:

FERMENTED TOFU STIR-FRY
(豆腐儒炒菜)

• a few florets broccoli
• handful green beans
  
• handful mixed green leaves
• 1 fresh chilli pepper
  
• 1 tbsp fermented soybean curd
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• sesame seeds (optional)
  

Heat oil in a pan and fry the sliced garlic. Add the chopped chili, fermented tofu, soy sauce, a splash of water and heat quickly through. Add the green veggies and stir well. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with a nice dollop of rice.

Note: Above I substituted the green beans with sugar snaps. The sweetness of the peas really complemented the saltiness of the dish. Was yums :-)

Stir-fried Wood Ears with Cucumber

Cucumber stir-fries have always been my favorite, particularly in summer. The freshness and crispiness combined with cooling juiciness - yums. Touched with chilies and garlic, how can you resist. Now before I get too carried away with adjectives, let me introduce you one of my favorite summer side dishes.

Just a small note: In my kitchen Chinese food is often times unmeasurable. It is more of a splash of this and handful of that, rather than cups and grams. Feel free to adjust the quantities to your own taste.

STIR-FRIED WOOD EAR WITH CUCUMBER

• 1 cucumber
• oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 5 cm fresh ginger root
• handful of dried wood ear
• 3 dried chillies
• 3 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
  
• pinch of sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Slice the cucumber diagonally into thin slices. Cut the ginger into thin strips. Soak the wood ears in hot water for about 20 minutes or until soft. Drain well and squeeze all the remaining liquid.

Heat the oil in a wok and swirl it around. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies and stir-fry for a few seconds. Add the cucumber and the mushroom. Sautee for about two minutes. Add the sugar and all the liquid ingredients. Heat through and set off the fire. Stir through the sesame oil and serve immediately.

Greek Sautéed Fennel (or Onion)

Traditional health medicine and a gourmet side dish, this fragrant light green furry bulb is not one of those veggies you would like to miss in your diet. Packed with nutrition and a very low amount of calories - fennel is one of the fullest veggies that can easily substitute a main course.

I am still yet to discover all the wonderful fennel dishes out there, so if you know any, do tell. In the meantime, I would like to share this simple sauté with you:

GREEK SAUTÉED FENNEL:

• 1 lemon
• 100 ml water
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp white wine
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
  
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 big fennel bulbs*
• salt,
  
• 6 peppercorns
• 25 g fresh parsley

* Note: Substitute 500g pickled onions or shallots for the fennel.

Slice the lemon to 5 thin pieces, discard the seeds. Mix the water, oil, wine, lemon, garlic, coriander, peppercorns and the bay leaf in a cooking pot and bring to boil. Lower the heat, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, chop the fennel into 1 cm thick slices. Add to the broth and let simmer for about 15 minutes or until soft. With a slotted spoon, scoop out the fennel and set aside.

Let the liquid boil down to half and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the fennel and serve garnished with some chopped parsley.

Tastes great cold as well.

At last - here is a bunch of fennel leaves - I am not particularly mad about their liquorish taste, but people here in Denmark enjoy tossing a few strands into salads, yoghurt-based dips or in soups. Well, I guess I like more the way they look :-)

Strawberry Buttermilk Pie

So it was my birthday in the beginning of this month and it is an unspoken tradition at our work that the B-day girl/boy should bring in something sweet for everyone to enjoy. However having 400+ people in the offices, there are plenty of cakes around us. So when my 27th was approaching I wanted to bring in something salty for a change, but somehow people remarked that June was fairly slow in birthdays...

I got the message and felt obliged to make a pie. Summer in Copenhagen is fairly warm this year and strawberries are a big hit, so I thought I bake something light. Influenced by my childhood summer treat,I am proudly presenting my version of our traditional Slovakian:

STRAWBERRY BUTTERMILK PIE:
(Jahodova Bublanina)

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 100g salted butter
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 2 eggs
  
• lemon zest from 1 lemon
• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• coarsely ground almonds (to garnish)
  

Whisk the butter with the sugar until smooth. Gradually add the eggs. I used a food processor, so the job was done very fast. Add the buttermilk and flour that you mixed with the baking powder and soda. Add the remaining ingredients apart from the strawberries.
Pour the dough into a greased baking form.

Wash and stem the strawberries and cut each in 4 - 6 pieces. Sprinkle these on top of the dough heavily, on top of each other, if necessary. Most of them will fall through, so no worries :-)

Bake in pre-heated oven at 200 Celsius for about 30 minutes or until done. The cake is done when a toothpick that has been pierced through comes out clean. Sprinkle with almonds and serve with coffee :-)

Yums.

This is my contribution to the Strawberry Feast hosted by Happy Cook over at My Kitchen Treasures.

T&T - I am hooked...

Hooked on Heat got me all hooked up recently. I have been eye balling the lovely recipes of Meena for months now, but never somehow got to try them. But now that Hooked on Heat is in the spotlight of this month´s Tried & Tasted event I can only be sorry that I havent cooked like this before. Meena´s recipes are a true drooling feast...

KC of Kitschow - this month´s hostess has more. What I can offer are only my humble re-creations of Meena´s wonderful recipes, but please - recipes only. No way I am even attempting to re-create her mind-blowing drool able pictures.

Here is how I witnessed my curry month :-)

1) Masala Lamb - absolutely deliscious spicy stew, a total hit at a party I went to last week. The girls were crazy for a re-fill. I used chopped lamb (ok, I havent cut them that tiny) together with the bones. It came out perfect. Since there was less meat (due to the bones), the overal dish came out quite fiery for some of my friends. So I took a bowl out and mixed in some Mango Chutney. It really toned it down well....

2) Baingan Ka Bharta - a perfect curry mash of roasted eggplants, tomatoes and spices. Meena suggests peeling off the eggplants, once roasted. I havent, as a) I was lazy and b) I thought it would come out a bit more eggplanty that way. I was right and noone had any objections. After all, the bowl was left clear, so it would have been late anyway.

3) Matar Pulao - lovely fragrant spiced rice boiled to perfection, garnished with fried onions and mixed with peas. A simple side dish that will make everyone go "oooooh" for more...

4) Ginger-Chilli Shrimps - Super spicy quick meal, fantastic with rice or bread. Ours came with pea pulao, which I thought complemented the spicyness really well. Glass of chilled white wine and shhhhh, let us enjoy the moment :-)


5) Spicy Lamb Burgers - I had some leftover lamb mince and thought of making simple burgers tonight. I thought, well maybe Meena has an idea. And whoopsie, there they were spicy Indian burgers. Yums. With baked beetroot and parsnip skordalia, this one was a winner :-)

6) Chocolate Dipped Strawberries - an absolute after-dinner delight. There is nothing sexier in the universe than these adorable mouth-fed strawberries drank with chilled champagne....

SO here was my little showcast of my cooking adventures for June and now I d love to see yours :-) there is still a week to go, so hurry up over to KitsChow and check out the event...

T&T - Hooked On Heat

Whoever is not yet familiar with Meena´s Hooked On Heat, please don´t even continue reading before you actually check it out.

Hooked On Heat is a truly special festive recipe collection embedded with little cute stories :-) Reading Meena´s posts has always been a great pleasure for me. The pictures she takes are absolutely drooling and so are her dishes.

I am extremely excited to start cooking from Meena´s Blog. This month - KC of Kitschow is the hostess. Check out her post to read about the rules.

Join me in cooking from Hooked on Heat :-)

T&T - Another 30-Day Vegan Challenge

Ok, this was a bit overdoing it. Unlike last time, I did not go completely vegan for the month of May, but hell I tried some super-delicious vegan dishes - all courtesy of Susan V - the mother of Fat Free Vegan - the most powerful vegan blog in the virtual cooking universe.

Susan´s fabulous blog has been nominated in my T&T event as Blog of the Month for May. Check out what I made - all highly recommended.

1) Okara Coconut Cookies - fantastic soft smelling wonderful cookies made of leftover soy beans. Susan, just like me makes her own tofu :-) and just like me, she ends up with tons of okara. Always ready for more recipes, this one was a complete keeper :-)

2) Panch Phoran Dal - advertised several times at my blog, this dish is simply unforgetable. Crunchy cauliflower coated in rich creamy sauce embedded with whole fried crispy spices. Aargh, ... oh, and it is spicy, too :-)

3) Brussel Sprouts with Basil and Garlic - I was quite impressed with the full-bodied taste this dish provided once ready. I have had a bag of sprouts in my freezer since early summer last year and coudnt just get rid of them. Now I wish there were some more as they were gone in a second :-)

4) Spicy Kasha Vegetable Salad - made with bulghur as I could not figure out what kasha was (and I still cannot). Being a true Slavic root, kasha literally means porridge, so that is where I got lost.. regardless, it was a great - My Tabbouleh-like salad, full of flavor, aroma and freshness :-)

5) Spicy Red Pepper Hummus - by far one of my most favorite. I am a hummus freak and whenever there is a hummus recipe featured in my T&T event, I am trying it. This one was so robust, flavored and with the addition of my own home-made Harissa paste, super spicy, too :-)

You still have 7 days left, so kschh-kschh into the kitchen ;-) Check out this month´s hostess Vaishali of Holy Cow! for more details.