Braised Tofu in Miso Broth

To make this dish, fried tofu is braised (cooked with a small amount of liquid) in miso broth. The recipe is ultra-simple and very flavorful. You could accompany this dish with sautéed Asian vegetables such as bok choy, choy sum, Chinese mustard greens or Chinese cabbage and steamed white jasmine rice.

You can also make use of the leftover miso broth. If you want to serve it as a soup with vegetables, add about 1 cup of boiling water to the broth to adjust the seasoning. What you'll end up with is a typical Vietnamese dinner meal: a serving of tofu and/or meat, steamed jasmine rice and soup on the side.

Kale with Homemade Pickled Ginger

Kale with pickled ginger is one of the healthiest and tastiest ways to get a meal packed with iron. I made my own pickled ginger and an Asian-inspired salad dressing with lemongrass, miso and sesame oil. The result is the perfect condiment for boiled kale.

The reason I've been trying to make iron-rich meals lately is that my sister-in-law, Sunny, was diagnosed with iron deficiency. It's a fairly common problem that primarily affects women. She had trouble with the iron pills, so it was suggested to us that we make her foods that are rich in iron. Because of this, I've been trying to cook more with kale.

If you have any suggestions, please do share! Sunny will thank you.

Korean Tofu Soup with Rice Cakes

Rice cakes are made from glutinous rice flour. We buy them at the Korean market. They're a great alternative to bánh phở or ordinary noodles. What I love most about this product is  that they're made with no additives or preservatives. They're a favorite at our house. The texture is very nice, and works well in a simple, clear vegetable broth. If you're looking for a healthy meal, this is not your average diet cabbage soup.

Vegetarian Gravy for Thanksgiving

I personally love homemade turkey gravy with all the caramelized bits and drippings of the roasted turkey, so I was a bit skeptical when Lulu asked me to try his vegetarian miso gravy recipe. I couldn't believe that it would have the complexity of flavors that are present in traditional giblet gravy, but to my surprise, it was absolutely delicious. 

Miso is fermented soy bean paste, and it imparts a strong, earthy flavor to the gravy. For additional flavor I added fried onions and chili flakes. Butter and a touch of heavy cream created a rich texture.

Even if you don't have a gaggle of vegetarians in your house as I do, it's worth trying out this recipe.

Vegetarian Sizzling Rice Soup

Yesterday, I promised that I was going to post a recipe about how to make sizzling rice soup. So I reserved 1 cup of parched rice from the Indian puffed rice snack we made yesterday, called chudwa in Urdu.

My favorite part of making sizzling soup is the sound of the freshly fried puffed rice in contact with the broth. It always amazes the kids. My poor Lulu's caught a bad cold so the warm broth really helped soothe his throat.  And he's a big kid, so the sizzling amazes him too!

I added water-chestnuts for crunch and miso and tofu for protein. The result is a very healthy and flavorful soup that you can enjoy as a starter or as a full meal.