Friday, November 26, 2010

Tofu Balls and Chinese Vegetables with Ginger Sauce



Ingredients:

One pack fried tofu balls
one hand full of dried mixed Chinese mushrooms
2 small bok choy
1 large carrot
1 tbsp vegetable oil
one can of baby corn
1 tsp corn flour
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
half tsp freshly grated ginger

Serves 4



I like fried tofu balls, I get them form the Chinese shop and they are very versatile. If you find them too greasy (usually they are not) you can rinse them under water and then pat them dry with kitchen paper.


Place the dried Chinese mushrooms in a bowl and soak with water for 1 hour.


Drain and keep the water aside to make the sauce later.


Wash well two small bok choy and one large carrot. Slice the carrot into stick, and cut the bock choy, putting the green leaves aside. Remember that you want to cook the vegetables very quickly, so that they stay crispy and colourful.


I don't have a wok, so I used my favourite pot, it gets very hot. Heat a tbsp of vegetable oil, add the mushrooms (be careful, they have a lot of water and they will pop in the hot oil), stir for a few minutes, then add the carrots and the white part of the bok choy. Stir and cook for two minutes.


Add the tofu balls and stir.


Add the content of the can of baby corn (including water) then add the bok choy leaves and cover for a couple of minutes. The leaves will steam nicely!


In the meantime make a thickening sauce. Add one tsp of cornflour to the water of mushrooms, a tbsp of say sauce, salt and pepper to taste, and half a tsp of freshly grated ginger. Personally I don't like to have to much sauce, if you do just add more water and cornflour.


Pour the sauce in the pot and stir until the sauce thickens. Serve immediately, with rice or noodles.

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

8 comments:

  1. I like this kind of dish, quick, packed with flavours and healthy.
    I should try again to cook tofu as my last attempt was not that convincing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is the kind os dish I can eat tons!! I love eastern food!

    mmmmm.....

    nice work! very interesting. I don't find tofu here (maybe in Paris) but I can do it with the rest of ingredients.
    bye bye, see you soon!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. che fame mi hai messo!Anche perchè so che farei una fatica immane a trovare molti ingredienti!

    ReplyDelete
  4. While I haven't seen the tofu balls, it will do no harm to ask at the Asian market here in town. I love the vegetable components of your dish, so I suspect I'd love it with the tofu addition as well. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you all for your comments.

    @ Vanille, generally the fried tofu balls are liked even by those who don't like tofu. Also they are easier to cook as they don't break or crumble.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alessandra, where did you get those black Chinese mushrooms? Indonesian term is called 'jamur kuping', literally translated into 'ears mushrooms'. They are commonly used in fish soup, Palembangese (South Sumatran) traditional cooking I usually make, but always omit those mushrooms as I cannot see it here. I wonder what they are called in English term?

    I love vegetable soup with tofu balls, we call it tofu puff or in Indonesian is 'tahu pong'. Love them as an addition to meatball soup.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ciao Arfi, all the mushrooms came from the same packet, it was a mixture, I got them at the Chinese shop in Henderson.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I may want to have a look at Wah Lee, see if they have it. Thanks, Alessandra.

    ReplyDelete

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