Stir-Fried Grated Tofu with Spicy-Sweet Sauce

My friend Molly has been hosting semi-regular potlucks at her house. These communal meals are fun and warm and fill me with a much-needed sense of community and connection in these troubling times.

I made this dish a couple of weeks ago to bring to a dinner at her house as I figured that a tasty vegan main is always welcome.

It's adapted from Nisha Vora's I Can't Believe It's Not Chicken recipe in the New York Times. I've amped up the aromatics in the tofu and increased the amount of and flavorings in the sauce because the grated tofu has a ton of surface area and it really soaks the sauce up, making it even yummier.

I suggest serving this over coconut rice with stir-fried chinese broccoli (gai lan) or simple roasted broccoli. As my now-grown niece, Lila used to say, it's nummy!

Maybe you'd like to try hosting a potluck at your house this fall or find a group of friends to take turns hosting meals with? Let me know how this dish turns out for you.

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-- print recipe --

Stir-Fried Grated Tofu with Yummy Sauce
Recipe is adapted slightly from Nisha Vora's recipe in The New York Times

Ingredients

For the tofu

* 1 package super firm tofu, drained
* 1.5 Tbsps neutral oil (grapeseed, peanut, olive, etc.,)
* 1 jalapeño pepper*, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
* 4 cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped
* A knob of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
* 4 scallions, chopped, white parts (reserve the green tops, chopped for garnish)

* Feel free to use more peppers if you like things spicy; you can also use 1-2 Thai birds eye chilis instead of jalapeños if they're available in your neck of the woods.

For the sauce:

* 5 Tbsps soy sauce or tamari
* 2 Tbsps chinese black vinegar
* 2 Tbsps oyster sauce
* 1 Tbsp maple syrup or agave
* 1 Tbsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) or sub 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
* 2 Tbsps toasted sesame oil
* 2 tsps cornstarch

For the garnish

* 1Tbsp roasted sesame seeds
* Chopped scallion greens

Directions

1. Grate the tofu using the large holes on a box grater, if any pieces break off, just chop them up with a knife

2. In a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet, heat the olive over medium heat. When hot, add the garlic chilis, ginger and scallion whites and cook, stirring frequently until the scallios are softened and the garlic is golden.

3. Add the grated tofu to the pan and stir to coat in the oil, and leave it undisturbed for 2 minutes, then stir. Repeat, stirring every 2 minutes, until the tofu is golden brown in some spots, for about 10-12 minutes.

4. Make the sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, stirring well with a fork to blend the cornstarch in.

5. Once the tofu is golden brown in spots, add the sauce to the pan and stir well to coat all the tofu with it. Let it bubble a bit and cook until the sauce thickens slightly. The tofus should absorb most of the sauce.

6. Turn off the heat and remove the pan. Top with the sesame seeds and scallion greens and serve.

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You might also like:

Crispy Sheetpan Ramen with Glazed Tofu & Cabbage

Garlic Scape & Pork Fried Rice

Loaded Tahini Ginger Rice Bowls

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Mexican Street Corn Salad (Esquites) 2.0 - Quicker + Easier

This is a riff on the wonderful salad my friend Kali makes that's always a hit at her summer dinners. If you're new to the concept of esquites, think of it as a big beautiful bowlful of elote, the tasty Mexican grilled corn you see for sale on the street. 

I'm always in a rush so I've updated Kali's recipe (which was inspired by the esquites served at Colonia Verde in Fort Green, Brooklyn) to simplify it and shift the flavor profile a wee bit and it's now quicker and easier to prepare without losing any flavor. 

I apologize for the photos - I was in a rush and had to use my phone. Photo quality aside, this salad is hands-down one of the best ways to celebrate sweet corn season.

Grilling both the corn and the jalapeno peppers (YES, GRILL THE PEPPERS, TOO!) imparts a fantastic smokiness to the dish's addictive combination of flavors and textures - sweet, crunchy, creamy, zingy, herby, smokey, and salty. Folks always come back for seconds and, sometimes, even thirds.

The amounts below are for a double batch that serves eight people because it tends to be very popular and I know from personal experience that if don't make enough to have leftovers the next day, you will be sad. Feel free to cut the amounts in half if you're entertaining fewer folks, though.

A few notes before you get started: 

• To make this recipe vegan, substitute a vegan mayo and omit the cheese - still be delicious.
• If you or anyone in your life has the genetic variant that makes cilantro taste gross (like soap, apparently), leave the cilantro out. Conversely, if you love cilantro, feel free to include even more.
• You can include other herbs - like mint or parsley - if you like.
• You can make this salad ahead of time and store it, covered, in the fridge for a day or two.
• If you don't have Cotija cheese handy, you can substitute feta cheese.
• If you want your salad spicier, either increase the jalapenos, leave them raw and chop them up finely instead of grilling them, and/or add a big splash of sriracha or other hot sauce to your mayo mixture.

¡Que aproveche la ensalada! (I hope you enjoy it.)

-Eve

Crème de Cassis - Black Currant Liqueur

I was introduced to the kir royale at an engagement party in Washington, DC nearly 25 years ago. As a liquor lightweight who favors sweet drinks—I'm one of the few people who actually enjoys the Manischewitz at Passover—it was love at first sip. Made with champagne and crème de cassis, it's bubbly, cold, just a little bit sweet and tart at the same time, and a gorgeous jewel-like color. Unlike Manischewitz, this drink is très chic—the kind of cocktail one enjoys while sitting and watching the gliteratti at a café on the French Riviera.

After that one intoxicating experience, I forgot all about crème de cassis until a few summers ago when faced with a black currant bush that was experiencing unexpected off-the-charts productivity. 

My dear green-thumbed friend, Jen, had given me a wee scion of her black currant bush at some point pre-COVID and I'd planted the little twig in an empty spot left by a red currant bush that had finally died after a few sickly years next to a small champagne currant bush that was growing sloooowly and rarely produced much in the way of berries. My expectations were low.

However, after just a few years of utter neglect, the little sprig had grown into a large shrub roughly 20 times its original size that was literally covered in small black fruits and muscling its way into the blueberry bushes' territory.

Black currants (ribes nigrum) are high in antioxidants and packed with vitamin C. They also contain something called anthocyanins which, combined with the antioxidants, apparently give your immune system a boost. And they're high in an omega-6 fatty acid called gamma-linoleic acid. This is all wonderful. But there is a catch...

If you've ever tried black currants off the bush, you already know this is not a fruit you necessarily want to eat raw—they're verrrry tart.

Since eating them out of hand was not an appealing option, and I had already made more currant jelly than we could eat in a lifetime, I turned to the internet for inspiration and was delighted to rediscover crème de cassis a.k.a. black currant liqueur. 

My husband and I set out with buckets to strip the bush of its little dark purple fruits.

It took a while as there were so many and I'd also not planned for the bush's rapid growth when I chose to plant it next to the fence, making it hard to reach the back of it. But after about half an hour, we had buckets full of glossy black currants.

They're very pretty but rather pungent. Their smell reminds me of cat piss—not something you'd want to dab behind your ears.

We plunked them down on the picnic table and separated the currants from the stems and bits of leaves and insects. 

Then I brought them inside and washed them in several changes of water to remove any dust, dirt, dead leaves, and bugs.

After that, I muddled them a little bit with the sugar using my potato masher. 

Then I scooped the mixture into the mason jar, added the vodka, closed the caps, shook them up well, rinsed the jar off, and set the jar in a shaded area of the pantry. 

Then I waited for several months, periodically shaking the jars to mix everything up again every couple of days or weeks (I forgot sometimes). Over time, all the currants dropped down to the bottoms of the jars and the sugar completely dissolved.

Come October, I scoured the interwebs to find nice glass jars with lids to decant the liqueur into. After falling down a research rabbit hole, I eventually ordered 12 of these 8.5 oz Bormiolo Rocco swing-top glass bottles because I liked their shape and they seemed about the right size. 

When the bottles arrived, I rinsed them out, dried them and prepared to decant the finished crème de cassis. The process was simple and rather sticky: I strained out the solids, then poured the gorgeous dark-purple liqueur into my pretty glass bottles, closed them up, gave the outsides a quick rinse to remove any sticky drips, dried them off, and set them on a shelf in the pantry to give as holiday gifts to family and friends.

Black Currant Liqueur - Crème de Cassis

Ingredients

• 2 cups black currants, rinsed, leaves and stems removed
• 3 cups vodka
• 1 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Place the black currants, vodka, and sugar into a large glass jar that seals (like a mason jar). Place the lid on the jar and close tightly. Shake well to combine all of the ingredients.
2. Store the jar(s) in a cool, dark place like a basement, lower cabinet, or shaded shelf in the pantry.
3. For 3 months, shake the jar every few days (or as you remember).
4. After 3 months, strain the solids out of the mixture and pour the gorgeous purple liquid into a clean sealable bottle. If you like, you can allow the liqueur to mature for 2 more months for optimal taste - perfect timing for holiday gifts to friends and family.

Kir and Kir Royale Recipe

Pour 1/2 ounce crème de cassis into a wine glass and top with 5-6 ounces of chilled white wine and stir gently to combine to make a kir. Use chilled champagne in place of white whine to make a kir royale. Adjust the amounts to taste. Serve immediately. Santé!