Koyadofu tteokbokki, cooking Korean street’s sticks of fire.

Today, I’ve made tteokbokki that I call tokkpokki because that’s how I hear it and remember when I have no spell-checker. Yes, that’s hot !

Here are the ingredients :
-the ttoek are Korean mochi or blocks of rice paste. For this dish the cylinder shape is common.
-veggies (carrot, onion, garlic)
-sauce
-a protein, here tofu (that could be strings of meat, slices of fishcake or boiled egg)

The spicy Korean miso, gochujang. I’ve added paprika powder for more redness, and 2 dried hot chilis for spiciness. That way you can choose the level of hotness you wish.

Koyadofu is freeze-dried tofu. The hard blocks can be re-hydrated in water in a few minutes.

They become like sponges. I had one big block that I cut in slices.

I add the different ingredients, the sauce, water, then the ttoek and let simmer half an hour. Salt, sugar, hot chili can be added to taste.

That’s ready.

Sanchu, Korean salad. That’s not what Koreans do but I like it as a side here.

A glass of makkoli rice drink.

The meal was complete with kimchi, and green jeon pancakes.

For more : Korean Compil’

Espresso ! Quickie dessert.

Two minutes for a yummy dessert and your caffeine fix !

Use soft tofu…or whip a lot. And my hand-mixer is dead, so my wrist is sore now. There is a Murphy’s law that says that whatever the recipe you want to make, you never had the ideal type of tofu in stock.
Decorate with raisins, toasted sesame seeds and 2 chips of 100% cocoa.

Black vinegar bell peppers on polenta, and garlic tofu dices

The sourness and crispiness of the veggies contrasts with the soft heaviness and sweetness of the polenta…

Yellow and red paprika peppers, and green sweet long chili. With a young onion, I made a stir-fry, flavored with garlic and olive oil.

Soft polenta (microwaved).

I cooked the tofu with the veggies before making the sauce, it’s nicely flavored with garlic. Added dry chili pepper (fried together with the tofu), black pepper, paprika powder and salt on top.

The sauce is soy sauce, black rice vinegar, a pinch of sugar and a little potato starch. Sweet and sour.

Polenta + veggies.

+ tofu.
= a happy stomach.

Romanesco and cauliflower green quiche

Get the green burgeoning quiche out of the oven…

Take a generous wedge ! That’s another fancy plant based meal.

Two cousins : romanesco and classic white cauliflower.

Dough : 1/2 cup flour + 1 ts of matcha green tea + a pinch of salt + 1 ts olive oil + hot water
Batter : 1 cup pasted cauliflower, 1/2 block of tofu, 1tbs potato starch, 1 ts miso, 1 tbs sakekasu (sake lees), marjoram, salt, pepper, nutmeg
Garnishing : young onion, cauliflower, romanesco, fresh marjoram

I pre-baked the crust together with the onion, before garnishing, then drizzle olive oil on top and rebake till the top gets sunburns…

Yum yum…

Sesame sweet and sour tofu

Tasty tofu. Good tofu is tasty. A tasty tofu dish.
I don’t like when people say “it’s a recipe for people that don’t like such ingredient”. If you don’t like tofu, there is no obligation to eat some. But,but… Let’s say this is a recipe that makes tofu taste and feel differently. It is marinated and prepared in a Chinese style sauce.

It’s very firm momendoufu (cotton tofu). I’ve put a plate on the block during 15 minutes to squeeze out excess water.
Cut, and mixed with a marinade (1 tbs soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, 2 tbs Chinese wine, 1/2 ts wuxi 5 spices mix) and let 1/2 hour.
Then I passed the cubes in a plate of potato starch and stir-fried till golden.

For the sauce :
Heat 1 tbs of sugar (here kurozato black cane sugar), when it’s getting into caramel.
On lower heat, add in water, paprika powder or paste, grated garlic, the rest of the plate of starch and the plate of marinade.
Stir till it takes texture. Add some black rice vinegar. Check salt, add chili pepper to taste, more water if you want.
Reheat the tofu in the sauce.