Asparagus and Zucchini Tofu Recipe

This tofu stir fry dish is a staple in our home and I make it at least one a month. It's quick to prepare, flavorful and packed with fresh green vegetables. 

The preparation is always more or less the same. In this version, pan-seared tofu pieces (or leftover cooked chicken breasts) are tossed with previously cooked zucchini and baby asparagus in maple syrup, chipotle garlic sauce and soy sauce. At the end, I added onions wedges and turned the heat off; the residual heat in the dish finished cooking the onions while keeping them juicy, sweet and crunchy.

Aloo Korma Recipe (Beef and Potato Curry)

I've prepared this Indian curry called korma countless times since I got married. I learned this dish from my husband Lulu's aunt (I call her Phoopi). It's a very flexible dish that allows for many combinations of meat and vegetable. Chicken, beef, goat, potato, taro and  various vegetables (peas, carrot, broccoli) are commonly used. The spicy gravy is what's constant.

The gravy is made of fried onion paste and yogurt and is flavored with ginger-garlic paste as well as several Indian spices. This version contains beef but you can easily omit the meat if you're preparing a vegetarian version.

I had initially planned to include aloo korma ("aloo" is Urdu for "potato") in my first cookbook, Haute Potato: From Pommes Rissolees to Timbale with Roquefort, 75 Gourmet Potato Recipes, but finally went for other Indian dishes such as kheema cutlets (Indian-style meat-filled pancakes), panipuri (bite-sized, crispy South Indian masala potato-filled appetizers) and aloo bonda (spicy potato fritter) to name a few.

Fig and Farro Stuffed Poblano Pepper Recipe

I prepared stuffed Poblano peppers in three steps. First, I cooked balsamic shallots until they were very soft and turned almost into a compote. Then, I cooked ground beef in chipotle fig sauce and mixed in plump and chewy farro berries. The last step consisted of stuffing the beef mixture into halved Poblano peppers and baking in the oven until golden.

Today, I used Bellindora balsalmic fig vinegar in this dish. The flavor is wonderful and I think the addition of dried fig spread added more sweetness to the sauce. These vinegars are so versatile!

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Mixed-Bean Soup Recipe

This is probably the last soup I'm making this season as we're slowly experiencing warmer temperatures. I prepared the soup with 10 varieties of beans. Four-pound mixed bean packages are readily available at my local Korean market. In this particular one, only seven dried beans were mixed in it, namely soybeans, chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, peas, black eyed peas and lima beans. I also added white cannellini beans, green beans and edamame beans to complete the nourishing soup.

In addition to the soup, I included corn kernels for extra sweetness and deep-fried tofu cubes for texture. Everyone in my home enjoyed it because the starchy vegetables are quite filling and almost make you forget about meat!

Lotus Root Soup Recipe (Canh Cu Sen)

The authentic recipe for lotus soup, called canh củ sen in Vietnamese, calls for pork broth, dried scallops, dried octopus and various dried fruits and nuts. With my family being mostly vegetarian, I adapted it to fit everyone's diet. 

I tried to mimic the meaty broth with Okinawan potatoes (purple-fleshed Japanese sweet potatoes) and preserved daikon radish and flavored it with the usual dried black dates called jujube (or plum), dried South almonds, peanuts and gojee berries. Lastly, fresh lotus root is sliced thinly and added to the broth until softened. Some people like it on the crunchy side, but I prefer it very tender.