Mushroom Tofu Stir Fry Recipe

My husband Lulu's niece and nephew spent the afternoon with us. It was so nice having so many children in the house. Of course, our daughter Aria was the center of attention and she loved it! While they were playing with the baby, I prepared dinner. I cooked some brown rice (Lulu's request since the beginning of the new year) and made mushroom tofu stir fry.

The stir fry is composed of combined shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and enoki mushrooms, Japanese eggplant, sugar snap peas and tofu, of course!

Gluten Free Tofu Ravioli Soup Recipe

Tofu ravioli soup is a great first course. The soup is very light and as a bonus, it's gluten free. The twist is that thin slices of tofu are used as the wrapper for the ravioli. I filled the gluten-free raviolis with pre-cooked mushrooms, mung bean paste and jicama. I served them phở-style, meaning that I brought the ravioli to the table in bowls and then covered them with boiling-hot broth just before serving.

I learned the recipe from the lovely Chef Theresa Lin while attending the top 100 Chinese Restaurant Show in January in San Francisco. She's a hostess of several Chinese-language TV and radio programs around the world. She also was the executive food designer of the hit film "Eat Drink Man Woman," which garnered an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign Film. I got the opportunity to spend some time and have lunch with her, and in a very brief amount of time I learned quite a bit about Chinese cuisine. She is such a sweet lady and let Lulu and me taste her delicious food. This was one of the dishes she featured, and we loved it. You will too!

Braised Tofu with Hoisin Sauce

Braising is one of the best cooking methods to increase the flavor of tofu. In this particular dish, I braised the tofu in a hoisin sauce-based mixture for its caramel color and subtle sweetness. To this, I added several vegetables such as wood ear mushrooms, button mushrooms, carrots and Japanese eggplants.

If you've been following my culinary adventures, you know I married a vegetarian. I'm not saying it as though it's a flaw, but I have to admit that when we first got married, I was a little nervous about what I was going to feed my sweetie. I really didn't have any familiarity with vegetarian cuisine. I love Lulu so much that I was determined to learn how to prepare flavorful vegetarian meals. Since then, I've tried boiling tofu, pan-searing it, grilling it, braising it and deep-frying it. I think I've gone through every possibility, but If you have any other methods you like for cooking tofu, please drop me a message. 

Vietnamese Meatloaf (Mam Chung Thit)

Mắm chưng thịt is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. It's a blend of pork or chicken, crab meat, salted fish fillet in brine, bean thread noodles, mushrooms and eggs.

For this recipe, I used a mix of chicken breast and thighs. The flavor is reminiscent of the filling of a meat egg roll combined with the strong flavor of salted fish fillet in nước mắm (brine). The most common fish used for making steam fish cakes is snakehead fish, though mackerel or catfish can be used as well.

Asian Style Warm Potato Salad