Homemade eggplant mozzarella pizza

This was inspired by Laura Vitale's Pepperoni Pizza Bites Recipe:

Ingredients (enough to make 1 pizza)
Mozzarella (the dry chunks, not in liquid)
1/2 can of tomato sauce (used the one for making pasta)
1 tsp pizza seasoning
1/2 tsp dry basil leaves
1/2 jalepenos (diced)
3/4 eggplant (sliced)

Dough (enough to make 3 pizzas)--I used the extra dough to make mozarrella bites, see next post)
3.5 cups Flour (all purpose)
1.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/3 cups of Warm Water, 110 degrees
1 Envelope of Yeast

Visit Laura Vitale's site for detailed instructions on how to make the dough

Once you've made the dough, add the rest of the ingredients on top and bake at 350 degrees F until it is cooked (timing depends on how thin your pizza is)

Happy cooking!

Homemade burritos

Pad See-ew

Time 30 min

Servings 4

Ingredients
1 lb Wide noodles, cooked and drained
1 lb broccoli, boiled
8 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 lb firm tofu, diced into 1" cube
2 eggs
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red chili, finely minced

Sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Mix

Instructions
1. Heat oil in pan
2. Add garlic and chili, stir until light yellow
3. Add tofu, mix until golden
4. Add noodles
5. Add sauce and mix
6. Add broccoli
7. Serve with a side of bean sprout

Enjoy!

 

 

Packing lunch sandwich: grilled oyster mushroom, tofu, eggplant

My husband likes getting sandwiches for lunch. Lucky for us, vegetarian sandwiches are so easy to make!

Time: 15min
Servings: 1

Ingredients:
2 slices of fresh firm tofu. We get these fresh and made locally here at Binh Minh Tofu
Several of thinly sliced eggplants
1 oyster mushroom, thinly sliced
Fresh cilantro
Fresh spinach
Finely sliced white onion, several slices

Sauce:
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tsp of soy sauce
Tiny sprinkle of sugar
1/2 tsp corn starch
Mix all sauce ingredients in small bowl

Instructions:
1. Marinade tofu, eggplant, mushroom with sauce (I did this overnight)
2. Heat non stick pan
3. Add ingredients, flip once once side is cooked
4. Turn off heat
5. Assemble sandwich with the rest of the ingredients

We use a plastic reusable container instead of a sandwich bag to reduce waste.

Kimchi fried rice, alternative recipe

Servings: 5

Time: 30 min

Ingredients
2 cups brown rice, cook with 4 cups of water
Pickled radish, finely minced
8 cloves finely diced garlic
2 tbsp Korean hot pepper paste
1tsp soy sauce
2 oyster mushroom, finely diced
1 egg
1tbsp vegetable oil
.5 lb firm tofu, finely diced

Instructions
1. heat oil in non stick pan
2. Add garlic. Stir unbroken fragrant
3.  Cook the remaining ingredients

Garlic Breadsticks

Garlic Breadsticks

Last week, I made bread for the first time using Todd Wilbur's Olive Garden Breadsticks Copycat Recipe that was featured on Good Morning America.  The texture of the breadsticks were perfect, but the taste was bland for my preference.  I decided to make some slight adjustments to the recipe to intensify the garlic flavor.

 Recipe (yields 5-6 breadsticks):

 Ingredients

 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

 1/2 cup and 1/2 tablespoon warm water

 1/1/2 cups bread flour

 3/4 teaspoons salt

 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

 2 tablespoons softened butter

On top:
 1 tablespoon melted butter
 1 garlic clove

 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

 1/8 garlic powder

Directions:
1.  Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water.  Set aside for 5 minutes.
2.  Mix together the bread flour, salt, garlic salt, garlic powder, and butter into a bowl.
3. Pour yeast mixture into flour bowl.  Mix.
4.  Knead dough for 10 minutes.
5.  Cover and set aside for 2 hours.
6.  After 2 hours, separate dough into 5-6 equal pieces.  Roll each piece out to 7-9 inches long.
7.  Place dough onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper (unless it's nonstick).  Set aside for 2 hours.
8.  After 2 hours, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden.
9.  Remove breadsticks from oven and immediately rub bread with the garlic clove, then brush with melted butter.  Slightly dust breadsticks with garlic salt/ powder.

Laksa Mee alternate: Curry Tofu Noodles with Laksa leaves condiments

Recipe to be updated...

Papaya basil salad

Recipe to be updated

Korean Chapchae

We felt like making our old time favorite Japchae using Maangchi's recipe. To make it vegetarian, we substituted beef with tofu.

Watch her video tutorial here:

Vegetarian: Homemade sandwich and soup

vegetarian sandwich, grilled eggplant with peanut sauce and canh chua (pineapple tomato soup)

Sandwich:

bread

avocado

pickled daikon, carrots

lettuce

eggs

tofu

peanut sauce

Eggplant:

Chinese eggplants

garlic

Peanut sauce

Cut eggplants, add garlic and sauce, put in oven @ 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

Peanut sauce:

2 1/2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 cup of hot water

1 tsp chili

1/2 tsp garlic

Mix and cook on stove for 2-3 minutes

Soup:  

recipe to be updated

Vegan: Bun Bo Hue Chay at Dong Phuong Tofu

vegan Bun Bo Hue chay @Dong Phuong tofu

If you're vegan looking for some authentic Vietnamese noodles, try the bun bo hue at Dong Phuong Tofu. It is so so so good! For $6-7, you get a large bowl of noodles and a side plate of salad.

Eggplant with basil and garlic

Ingredients:

2-3 Chinese eggplants, cut longitudinally

2 cups of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup of fresh holy basil

Sauce:

1 tsp of black soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp corn starch

2 tbsp water

Dissolve solutes in the water/soy sauces

Procedure:

1. Heat non-stick pan,add garlic, stir until fragrant

2. add eggplants

3. Add sauce mixture

4. Stir until eggplant is cooked (do not overcook)

5. Add basil, stir until fragrant

6. Turn off heat (do not overcook the basil)

7. Serve with white or if you're in a health-promoting mood, brown rice

freshly chopped garlic

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Christine Ho 

Egg Foo Young

Time: 15-20 minutes
Very easy & quick recipe

vegetarian egg foo young

cut cabbage

beat eggs with onion, black pepper

use firm tofu instead. I ran out of firm tofu so had to resort to silken tofu

cooking egg foo young

cooking sauce over low-medium heat

Ingredients:

sesame oil, 1 tsp

chopped onion, 1/2 cup

1/3 cup chopped green onion

1/3 cup chopped carrots

1/4 cup green peas

1/2 cup tofu (use firm tofu but if you do not have, silken is fine)

1 cup chopped cabbage

5 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Sauce/gravy:

1 tsp cornstarch

1-2 tbsp soy sauce, depending on how salty you want it to be

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup of hot water

Garnish:

cilantro

white pepper

1. Beat eggs in a large bowl with green onion, salt, black pepper
2. Add carrots, salt,cabbage to the bowl. Mix
3. Heat pan, reduce to medium heat, add oil, fry in onion
4. Add egg mixture to pan (1 cup at a time)
5. In a separate small pot, container of sauce ingredients. Turn on low-medium heat until it becomes a thick consistency
6.  Once egg is cooked, add sauce on top
7. Garnish with cilantro & white pepper
8. serve with rice

Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!

[Recipe adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/egg-foo-young/]

Taiwanese Noodles with Tofu Sauce

Taiwanese cabbage

simmering tofu

green onion to garnish

add olive oil to cooked noodles

sharing is caring :D

Servings: 2

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound noodles (1/2 a bag) 

1/2 cup vegetarian broth

2 tbsp dark soy sauce (or oyster sauce)

2 teaspoon light (regular) soy sauce

1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar (or young balsamic vinegar)

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tbsp olive oil (add to cooked noodles to prevent clumping)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 pound tofu, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

One 8-ounce can bamboo shoots, drained and diced

4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, diced

2 stalk green onion, chopped

Side vegetables:
Boil water in a separate pan, add Taiwanese cabbage, turn heat off, stir and drain.

Procedure:

1. Cook the noodles or rice according to package instructions. Drain. Add olive oil to the cooked noodles.
2. In a small bowl, combine the vegetarian broth, dark soy sauce, regular soy sauce, vinegar, five spice powder and brown sugar. Set aside.
3. Heat a non-stick pan over high heat. When the pan becomes hot, add onion & garlic and cook until light brown/fragrant.
4. Add tofu and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add in  bamboo shoots &mushroom
6. Mix
7. Add broth & soy sauce mixture and allow it to simmer for several minutes under medium or low heat.
6. To serve, add the tofu mixture over the noodles.
7. Garnish with green onions

Enjoy!

[Recipe adapted from steamykitchen.com]

Fresh, healthy noodles