Sweet and Sour chinese vegetables and Chickpea flour tofu

 Today we made Sweet and Sour Chinese vegetables from the 2nd cook book

We also made the Chickpea flour tofu also called Burmese Tofu and had it on a bed of rice.

Home made chickpea flour Tofu - a big hit

30/130 This week we made Chickpea flour tofu with both groups.  Not only was it very easy it was very quick and tasty too. So tasty in fact that most of use who hated tofu before we started cooking, are now convinced to make their own in future.


On Monday we used dried shop bought egg noodles, but after trying making them for my own family yesterday, we spent this morning making Chinese egg noodles from scratch. Fun, easy and tasty!



They went really well with my new Bami recipe. In the past I used the Conimex kruiden mix from Holland, but now I have found the spices combination, we made it with the spices from the kitchen and it tasted even nicer. We had this Bami with the pickled courgettes we made in the summer, some fried bananas and a fried egg.

Very filling but perfect for a day like today

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Chard and Peanut Soba noodle bowls

Today we used the chard from the allotment and the home made peanut butter to make this lovely Chard and noodle dish

Lesley making the noodle dough

We first made the noodles, Lesley made the dough, and whilst it was resting, we made the peanut butter and the sauce.

Kim, June and Hiroe making the noodles

Look what we made

   
Kim made the peanut butter for use later in the sauce and for the week's peanut butter and jelly



This recipe called for a cucumber pickle. As we have no cucumbers at this time of the year, I used a jar I made in autumn

The smoked  Chickpea tofu was lovely with it too. Crunchy on the outside, and soft in the inside.


      

New to us all, this is a keeper. Instead of cumin or garam masala we used smoked paprika and a table spoon of liquid smoke (because I have it)

It was a very tasty, quick and healthy meal, and most of the recipes will end up in the next cookery book. 

Tofu

Ingredients

1 cup chickpea flour  

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

• ¼ teaspoon turmeric 

• ¼ teaspoon cumin or garam masala optional

• 1 ¾ cup water

Ingredients

1 cup chickpea flour  

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

• ¼ teaspoon turmeric 

• ¼ teaspoon cumin or garam masala optional

• 1 ¾ cup water

Method

1. Grease a bread tin and keep ready. 
2. In a saucepan add all dry ingredients and water (*) and whisk with a hand blender until there are no lumps and you obtain a  smooth batter.
3. Cook over a medium heat. Stir continuously. The mixture will start to get lumpy as the pan heats up and then thicken evenly and considerably. About 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Once the mixture is evenly thick and stiff, keep cooking for another 2 minutes so the chickpea flour gets cooked through..
5. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Let it cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour to set.
6. Remove the set slab from the tin. Slice into cubes.  It is now ready to fry.

Use it as a substitute for soy tofu. It does well in curries, tossed in dressing, breaded tofu, in wraps, salads, etc.

(*) This tofu does not absorb marinades well, so flavour the tofu itself while making it.  Mix in herbs, spices and flavours into the batter before cooking it. 

Add garam masala and cayenne when using in curries. Soy sauce and lemon for an asian fusion, and Italian herb blend for other uses like a mashed up marinated tofu salad.