tofu and eggplant in a gingery tomato sauce

There are two types of cooks, those who worship recipes in the same way that scientists reproduce experiments or some like me (and maybe you) who can almost taste a dish by reading the recipe and use the imagined experience to bounce off.

I’ve learnt not to be deterred by missing members of the supporting cast ingredients-wise. Sometimes substitutions don’t work as an exact replica but create something else entirely that is equally delightful to dine on. With last night’s experiment, having never tasted the original version, I can’t say how authentic it is but I do know, it sure tasted great.

Just reading the title of Sophie’s dish “Tofu in a moriesh tomato and ginger sauce” and her excellent introduction in what the balance of flavours was aiming for, I could taste the tang of the ginger in the slightly acidic sauce. But with no fresh lemongrass for the citrus element or molasses for the depth of flavour, it was a challenge. Fortunately the stash of Kaffir lime leaves I keep in the freezer meant the first ingredient could be substituted but the “umami-driven moreishnes” from the “dark and sticky” molasses, I wasn’t so confident about but figured kecap manis would tick the box. It did, though I had to add more than the equivalent of molasses and play a little with the tamari to balance it.

I’ve also jiggled the quantities, not just for the recipe to serve two versus four, but adding a bit more zing and extending the cooking time. The eggplant was in need of using and melted nicely into the sauce.


Tofu and eggplant in tomato and ginger sauce
(serves 2 or more as a side dish)

1 block (250g) firm tofu, cut into bite sized pieced
vegetable oil for frying (I used raw sesame but any light flavoured oil will do)
1 medium sized onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 – 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped (depending on your heat tolerance)
3 Kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
1 (400g) can, chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon kecap manis (sweet soy) OR 1 tsp molasses
2 tsp tamari
small knob fresh ginger
1 small – medium sized eggplant (variety of your choice), sliced into half moons
Lime wedge – to garnish
Handful of fresh coriander leaves – to garnish

Drain the block of tofu, wrap in a clean tea towel and place between two plates with a weight (e.g. a can of beans) on top.

In a heavy based fry pan, heat about a tablespoon of vegetable oil and sauté the onion on a medium heat. When transparent add the garlic, chilli and half of the Kaffir lime leaves. Stir through the onions and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the crushed tomatoes.

Give the tomato/spice mixture a few minutes to get acquainted then add the kecap manis and tamari. Stir and taste for a balance between sweet and salty. Now get out your fine grater or ginger grater. You need at least a generous teaspoon of the grated pulp and juice, or if you have a fancy ginger grater that collects the juice aim for a teaspoon of the juice. In my usual slapdash manner I just grated the peeled knob over the pan, stirred, tasted and added more til the ginger was noticeable but not overwhelming.

Simmer covered with a lid, on low for 15-30 minutes to let the flavours develop. You may need to add a little water so the sauce doesn’t dry out. Stir frequently.

Don’t walk away. Once the sauce has begun cooking, get another fry pan, cover the base with oil to shallow fry and heat on high. Get the pressed tofu, cut into pieces and fry on both sides. Set aside to drain on paper towels or an old clean tea towel. Now add the eggplant cut in bite-sized slices to cook in the pan in batches, add more oil as needed. Set aside.

After cooking the sauce for the initial 15 minutes add the eggplant. I gave it another 5 minutes before adding the tofu and the rest of the shredded Kaffir lime leaves. Stir and allow the tofu to heat through, about another 5 minutes.

Serve on basmati rice, with a wedge of lime to sprinkle and a generous handful of coriander leaves.

* I reckon fried tempeh and green beans, instead of tofu and eggplant, would make another great variation of this dish.

quickie - real food

Not AWOL just busy. Fingers required to type words, lots of them. I have been cooking. Simple things. Delightful things. Here’s part of the week or two that was, in food.

1. Soup under Lucy’s guidance. How nice when a friend says “I can’t come for dinner tonight but I can help you cook instead”. The SE and I have been having this informal winter thing. Friends that are in the neighbourhood on certain chilly evenings have been assured a glass of wine or some warming chai, dips, nibbles and a hearty bowl of soup. If they stay long enough the SE mother’s solstice cake comes out. Friends, wine and food. A random assortment each time. What could be better?

Lucy’s soup involved onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, little green (puy) lentils, and ribbons of cavolo nero. Finished of with fresh coriander and a squeeze of lemon – it was a winner.

2. Baked vegetables. Not rocket science, just comforting, especially when they go all crispy. Potatoes are mandatory; I like them cut quite small so there is maximum crunchiness. Depending on what is in the house there has been some sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts – all roasted after a toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. A little fresh rosemary if its not raining (because as nice as the herb is, even a short dash to the garden in the cold and wet is no fun).

3. Pasta of the month (or two) is onion, garlic and masses of cavolo nero, we just can’t get enough of this wintry green. Often with tuna, sometimes preserved lemon and olives. Stirred through gluten-free pasta and we’ve happy campers indeed.

4. More marinated tofu and salad (yes the SE been eating meat again).

5. Vegetable tagine/tajine in the real thing – the vessel itself soaked for 24 hours, dried for another hour, oiled then in a very slow oven. A slow bake. Onion, leek, fennel and Japanese eggplants are my favourite base, flavoured with lashings of homemade harissa. Pumpkin and chickpeas replaced the fish from my earlier endeavours. The drizzle of tahini when serving makes all the difference.

6. Brown rice. With tagines and curries. The latter made from Sri Lankan spice powder, added garam marsala, extra chillies and garlic. Lots of tamarind water for tang. Vegetables – something green and leafy, potato and chickpeas.

No photos, no recipes, just food. Hope this inspires a vegetarian twist in your menu this week.

marinade and tofu love

I like tofu. You might as well click on something else right now if you don’t because there will be a little tofu love going on in this post.

The Significant Eater has been a bit antsy lately, wanting to add meat to the menu and that is just is not my thing. The barbecue is a great vehicle of compromise. A steak can be cooked in minutes and domestic life can return to an even keel.

With a little sunshine on the weekend I was summonsed to throw something for myself to eat, onto the grill for lunch. Having only had breakfast a couple of hours earlier, I really couldn’t be fussed. Tofu is mercifully light and versatile. I often stir fry it plain, without marinating but on the barbie I like to add some flavour to meet the robustness of the smoky flame. The following is one of the simplest marinades for tofu, it doesn’t take long and it also works well with mushrooms.

Barbecued tofu open sandwich

For the marinade
Tamari – I used Lucy’s lovely syrupy mandarin tamari that gave it a little extra depth but regular is fine
Mirin – the sweetness is the key, saki will do at a pinch
Chilli, garlic and or root ginger

I use about 2 parts tamari to 1 part mirin. You are aiming for that moment when salty and sweet flavours meet in the middle. Just mix, taste and adjust as necessary. It’s not rocket science. Finely microplane or chop your herbs. Garlic and ginger is my favourite combination but with the abundance of chillies at the moment a little hot chilli on its own worked just fine.

Use firm tofu (not silken), drain, wrap in a clean tea towel and gently press. Or leave wrapped, on a plate with another plate and a weight on top to remove excess water. Pat dry. Cut into desired shapes eg: slices for a burger, cubes for kebabs. Place tofu in the marinade, turning occasionally for 20-30 minutes.

Shake of any excess fluid and barbecue or pan fry.



This made an excellent open sandwich on lightly toasted shallot bread, a dab of mayo and crowned with the SE’s excellent salad. We grilled some corn in their husks, my favourite way of cooking it, which occupied the empty spot on the plate.

a laksa of sorts

Something very odd has happened in Melbourne this week. We’ve stopped moaning. Instead, little satisfied coos can be heard as some semblance sun returns.

While not bathed in lashings of sunshine, today was the first in months warm enough to eat lunch outside. But what dish to celebrate such a shift in the seasons? Moving away from cool weather stodge I wanted something quick and herby. Though I’m still not sufficiently thawed to embrace salads just yet.

This pumpkin and tofu laksa caught my eye. I had the two key ingredients but would have to improvise with spices.

What emerged twenty minutes later was pumpkin and fried tofu in a fragrant coconut broth. There were rice noodles for comfort and the much desired herbage.

I don’t care what you call it but it made my tastebuds sing.

Improvised pumpkin and tofu laksa*

First make a quick spice paste:
Blend together some garlic, ginger, red chillies, coriander roots, kaffir lime leaves and a dash of vegetable oil. There was no lemongrass in the house alas.

Fry off the spice paste in some vegetable oil. Stir frequently. You’ll know it is time to add the stock because the smell of the gently frying herbs tickles your nose. Add some stock (I used fish because I had some in the freezer but veggie stock would make this suitably vegan). Throw in a handful of pumpkin cut into small wedges.

While the stock comes back to a simmer, cover some rice noodles with boiling water and cut some fried tofu into triangles.

I had time to nip to the garden (it is only a few paces away from the stove) and grab spring onion and fresh mint.

Put a splash of coconut milk and a dash of fish sauce in the soup and have a taste. Of course there are many vegan substitutes such as tamari, soy or sea salt. The pumpkin should be just about cooked.

Now it is time to put it all together. I threw in my wedges of tofu to let them heat through. The soaked rice noodles suitably softened went into the bowl, next the soup and lastly I garnished it with mint, coriander leaves and spring onions.




* more memoir than recipe, go to the BBC site if you want something with nicely set out quantities and method – however just once in your life, wouldn’t it be nice to improvise?

Sunday roast

The Significant Eater had been dropping the word "roast" into conversations with persistent monotony, so with suitable prompting I crafted a roast of sorts last night. While his colleague was coming home to pork with crackling, his was more of the vegetarian variety. Life’s tough sometimes!

Using the basic nut roast template I soaked some dried shitake mushrooms, mashed a medium sized block of tofu, ground a cup of cashew nuts and set to work. This was to be lighter, with more tofu and no rice, than the earlier version. I also threw in a grated carrot, a generous handful of parsley straight from the garden and finely sliced shitakes (reserving the soaking water for the “gravy”) as well as some sautéed onion and garlic. Because I discovered the remains of a bunch of coriander in the fridge I also tossed in the finely chopped roots of a couple of pieces. This is the nice thing about a loaf - tofu having such a neutral flavour it blends with vegetables and herbs so well and is an adaptable base to a meal. For a little extra oomph I mixed in 2 teaspoons each of roasted sesame oil and tamari. Finally all the ingredients were bound with 2 beaten eggs. Simple – bung it into a medium oven and depending on how big your loaf pan is it will take about 30 minutes. Nervous types should start checking the loaf from about 25.

One roasting pan of potatoes, pumpkin and parsnip was already on the go, with a smaller dish of Brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil ready to be put in the oven for the last 15-20 minutes, there was only the gravy to make. This one is just too easy. I don’t usually have mushroom water on hand but it provided a subtle addition to the flavours.

Vegan “gravy”

1 – 3 tablespoons miso paste (light or dark depending on what you’d prefer)
1 – 3 tablespoons tahini
Warm water or shitake mushroom soaking water

Quantities depend on how much gravy you want to make. For the two of us, 1 tablespoon of tahini and another of miso is enough. Add a little warm water to start to work the two ingredients together, then keep adding more til you get the desired consistency, which is thick or thin depending on how you like your gravy. It can also be whisked together in a small pan on low heat. Miso is a wonderful ‘living’ fermented product and should never be boiled.

All in all a great roast to welcome the first day of winter. The leftover loaf is also a protein packed hit to pop in your lunchbox. While the SE has been promised a bit of crackling today from his studio mate, my roast is a lot kinder on the arteries.

nut loaf that some would call a roast

It’s been years since I made a nut roast but I will never forget my first experience of one. Living in London in my early 20’s, I was fortunate enough to have two Christmases. The first was at my boyfriend’s house before everyone took off to their families for the big day. It involved a roast turkey (which being vego I avoided), paper hats, lots of alcohol and a fair few waifs and strays, mostly of the melancholic Welsh variety. On the 25th I hopped on the tube to South London with the friend who I’d been staying with, for an all girl, mostly lesbian, vegetarian Christmas. There was paper hats, lots of alcohol, a rousing game of Trivial Pursuits – and nut roast. How quaint, I remember thinking.

Living in London through the next year I quickly discovered a nut roast is the way that the British vegetarians mark a celebration. Or at least they did in that part of the twentieth century. I bought the tradition back to Melbourne to some of the vegetarian shared houses I lived in. But folks, it’s been a while and although I embraced this culinary challenge (spurred on by Lucy) it has involved a lot of digging in my memory banks to dredge up a recipe. I know there have been many variations. I have used the same recipes to even make more labour intensive nut or tofu balls, rather than the roast which is essentially a loaf. On that point, I don’t believe the dish has in any way represented faux meat, rather it is a “roast” in the sense that it is a hearty baked dish for a cold climate, one that is shared with friends and family, often in celebration. But technically speaking it is a savoury loaf of the vegetarian variety.



My nut roasts have tended to include ground almonds and other nuts and cooked brown rice or tofu. Using only nuts tends to make a very rich loaf. Adding rice can cut that richness but sometime makes it heavier and more crunchy. Tofu reduces both the richness and weight. For this venture I decided to combine all three. For flavour I have always used sautéed onion and garlic and a generous splash of tamari (a less harshly flavoured, Japanese version of soy). A dash of roasted sesame oil is a great way of adding the essence of the seeds without the bulk. Lucy’s version, though cheesy, appealed to me by including mushrooms – so since I was heading back to the drawing board on this recipe, I added some fresh shitake mushrooms for the first time and they were a definite winner.



Ok quantities, don’t laugh – I actually did some weighing and measuring for this one but I’m going to throw my notes out. After all, every loaf tin or container I have cooked this in over the years has varied in size – so I am going with a radical suggestion regarding the amounts needed of three of the main ingredients – to do them by eye!

Nut Loaf with Shitake Mushrooms

Approx 300g, raw nuts, I used almonds and cashews, ground in a food processor. (Pulse the nuts til you get a coarse, breadcrumb like consistency. If you over do it you will end up with nut paste)
1/2 – 1 block, firm tofu, squeeze out the excess water, crumbled
1/2 – 1 cup, cooked brown rice
1 – 2 tabs, vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
100 – 150 g, fresh shitake mushrooms, diced
2 (possibly more) eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon, tamari
Roasted sesame oil or raw sesame seed

Cook the brown rice in advance using the absorption method. Leftover rice is fine.

Heat your oven to 180c. If you want to eat some roast vegetables with the loaf, it is a good idea to prepare them first and get them underway. I roasted a lovely acorn squash and some parsnip, which was perfect.

Sauté the onion and garlic slowly in the vegetable oil and allow to cool. Do the same with the mushrooms.

Now here comes the radical bit – get your loaf tin and half fill it with nuts before grinding them. This give you a base amount of nuts and the other dry ingredients to use. Use about half the amount each of tofu and cooked brown rice. If you want a less rich loaf, only 1/3 fill the tin with nuts and try equal quantities of rice and tofu.

Mix the ground nuts, rice, and crumbled tofu in a large bowl. Add the cooked onion, garlic and shitake mushrooms. In a separate bowl, beat your eggs with the tamari. Slowly mix the eggs into the other ingredients – you want the mixture to hold together without being too eggy. Try rolling it into a ball and see how smooth it looks.

Press the mixture into your loaf tin lined with baking paper and either sprinkle sesame seeds or splash the top with a little sesame oil.

Depending on the size of your tin and the wetness of the ingredients it will take about 40 minutes. Start checking from 30 minutes.

Serve with a sauce or gravy of your choosing. In the past I often put together a very speedy and simple mixture of miso paste and tahini, whipped together with warm water until it was the consistency of gravy. This time I went whole hog and made a slow cooked tomato sauce, with finely chopped onion, lots of garlic, wine, salt and pepper. It really gave the loaf a bit of a lift.




This post has risen to Johanna’s challenge ”a neb at nut roast". Entries close April 18.

smoked tofu and rice noodle salad

It’s 32c outside. Inside I revel in the guilty pleasure of the air conditioner doing its stuff. Such weather calls for cool food, cuisine from the tropics. Little or no cooking is also mandatory as who’d want to hang over boiling pots in this kind of heat, let alone turn on the oven. Energetically tofu is considered ‘cooling’ so it is a great excuse to create a salad around it. While this dish can be made with plain tofu, the smoked variety has more flavour. This version is similar to a salad that appeared in the early hours of the first day of 2006 – a night 10c warmer than this one! Assemble it and dress before throwing in the fridge, then linger over an icy beverage til you are ready to eat.


Smoked tofu and rice noodle salad

1 packet of rice vermicelli noodles
1 large carrot, grated
1 small Lebanese cucumber, diced
1 handful of green beans, blanched
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 handful of raw cashew nuts, roughly chopped
1 packet of smoked tofu, diced
1 large handful mint/Vietnamese mint/coriander (depending on availability)

Dressing
fish sauce
lime juice
palm or caster sugar to taste
a dash of roasted sesame oil (optional)


Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for a couple of minutes til softened, then drain and refresh in ice water. Once chilled, drain well and add the remaining ingredients.

The dressing is made by taste – a balance of the saltiness of the fish sauce, a little tang of lime juice and sugar to cut the harshness. Add a little water if it is too strong for your palate. A dash of dark sesame oil can give it a nutty edge if desired. Mix well.

Add the dressing to the salad and toss well.

Eat chilled.

a great stir fry

I'm back on the horse, as they say, in the kitchen at least! Number one fall back food for me is a stiry fry. It lends itself to a variety of vegetables, proteins and flavours. This means it is versatile and can adapt to whatever is in the fridge and cupboards. It also has the bonus of being a great workout for your arm muscles.

The trick to making a great stir fry is a hot wok (this usually means on a big, strong gas burner), doing all your food preparation in advance, lots of arm action with the wok shovel and on a domestic burner, it is best to limit the dish to just 1-2 people otherwise the wok gets over loaded and everything steams rather than fries.

Here’s one I put together last night that was particularly delicious and nutritious, inspired by a tray of fresh, mixed Chinese mushrooms (oyster, enoki, shitake and a very large thick brown capped one) I found at the market.

1 onion – finely sliced
a generous knob of ginger, peeled and grated
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
a handful (beware it triples in size, so a little goes a long way) arame (seaweed) – soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes
1 large carrot, julienned
a generous amount of Asian mushrooms, including fresh shitake, sliced or quartered
1 bunch pak choy, bok choy or other Chinese greens, wash well and separate leaves
1 packet smoked tofu, cubed (organic, natural wood smoke)

vegetable oil for cooking (I use raw sesame oil)

roasted sesame oil, to flavour
tamari, to flavour

With all your vegetables cut to size, fire up the wok and add your vegetable oil. Start with cooking the onion, stirring frequently, til translucent. Add ginger and garlic and the drained arame. Reserve the water. Keep stirring. Throw in the carrot and toss for a few minutes. Add a splash of the arame water just a teaspoon or 2 at a time, if the wok is drying out and you don’t want to use more oil. Lastly add the mushrooms, smoked tofu and greens, with a dash of toasted sesame oil. If you are living with salt sensitive individuals, leave the tamari (or soy sauce) on the side to flavour individually.

Serve with rice or noodles. To up the nutrient value I made brown rice, which complemented the tastes and texture of the stir fry.

(Sorry no picture, it did look pretty but we were really hungry!)

McKeith’s balls

The day had arrived. It had been an age since I first said “I must make those smoked tofu and kidney bean burgers!”. I checked off the ingredients – all present and correct.

Doing my best to follow a real recipe I reached for the “You are what you eat cookbook” and flicked to an earmarked page. Did I follow Dr McKeith’s recipe to the letter? This is a close representation but as always I made a few twists and turns to put my stamp on it. A food processor is an essential piece of kitchen gadgetry for this one, don’t even think about using a mortar and pestle!

Smoked tofu burgers

Heat the oven to 200c.

1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic
2/3 – 1 cup of your favourite nuts and/or seeds (I used almond and pistachio)
1 carrot, grated
1 can organic kidney beans, well rinsed
200 gm smoked tofu, roughly cubed
1 “small bunch” of parsley (I used half a large bunch), chopped
2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder (the wonderful imported Marigold, if you can’t get extremely good, not too salty vegetable stock powder, maybe use a dash of tamari instead)
2-3 tsp roasted sesame oil

Start at the top of the list by giving the onions a blast in the food processor, then add garlic and nuts. Throw in the carrot and give it 1-2 pulses, then the beans - enough to break them down a bit without turning them into mush. Now add the tofu, parsley and bouillon powder. Whiz it about til the ingredients have blended without being totally smooth. (McKeiths way is to throw all ingredients in at once and process for 7-8 minutes – that seemed excessive to me, especially as the tofu I was using already had a creamy consistency.)

Now taste the mixture. At this point I added a touch of sesame oii. Does it need anything else? The mixture should hold together well, so you can form balls easily.

Cover a tray with baking paper. Now form your burgers (or balls if you’d prefer little bite sized cocktail numbers). I made 11 medium sized burgers but its up to you what size and thickness you make. These took about 20 minutes at 200c to turn a nut brown colour, larger versions might take longer.

Once cooked the burgers were on the soft side but held together ok. They were neither crispy or chewy. If you want a more robust burger add cooked brown rice or substitute it for the kidney beans. I had flash backs to making tofu balls in my shared house days!



For nostalgia’s sake – heres a basic template for making tofu balls

Tofu balls

I always made these by hand, which is a very sensual process, but a short whiz in the food processor would speed it up if you prefer.

Equal quantaties plain tofu and cooked brown rice (brown has a nuttiness and a texture that white doesn’t have so don’t substitute). The vegetables as above (carrot, onion, parsley) are optional. A slurp of tamari (soy sauce) and a little sesame oil. Roll into balls, up to the size of a tennis ball (this will take longer to bake) and roll in sesame seeds. Bake in a moderate oven.

These go well with peanut sauce!


If you liked these recipes: try my nut roast.