One day of the week I finish classes at 7. C meets me right afterward, and about once a month we go out to grab some dinner nearby. One day we found a yummy and inexpensive little restaurant called China Garden Restaurant (200 Bloor St West). It has very good food, gigantic portions (we always wind up taking a bit home), a cozy quiet atmosphere and low enough prices that I don’t feel too bad about the special treat. (Most dishes are under $10, and lean closer to $6.)
It is there that I found the wonder that is their “Spicy Fried Bean Curd.”

Salty, not too spicy, with soft delicious tofu inside: but I absolute love this. It’s light and crispy and wonderful. It’s a good thing we don’t eat out very often, though, because I don’t think it’s super healthy. >.>;;

On our last visit, C got “Mixed Vegetable Fried Rice.” I only snuck a few bites of it, but it tasted very good, without a greasy aftertaste that some fried rice tends to have. (The waitress also endeared herself to me when, upon being asked if there was any meat in the fried rice, she reassured us there wasn’t, but told us that there was egg and double checked with us that that this was alright.)

Snow pea leaf in some light garlic sauce – this was a recommendation by the waitress which we agreed to, to offset the sin of so much fried food. It was light and crunchy, and the sauce was garlicey enough that I was happy, but not so much that C (who isn’t as big a fan of garlic) complained.

I haven’t explored too many food places around campus, yet, but I’m very happy with this one!

(Edit: Thank you, Gordon for the correction regarding the veggie in the last photo! ^^)

Filed under: Food, Photo by Lensblot
3 Comments »

I really enjoy cooking, and thought it may be fun to preserve some of my favourite recipes by writing them down. While I’m at it, why not share them, so others can enjoy too?
This time I’m going to be making Ma-po Tofu. Although the underlying themes are the same, I’ve found that a lot of eateries prepared this style of tofu in different ways. Some feature dark tofu, almost marinated in the sauce. Others nearly “raw” tofu with the sauce simply poured over top. Some are spicy and some warm and cozy. You can change the proportions of the ingredients to suit your personal style. Here’s my version:

Ingredients (left to right, top to bottom in picture):
Soy sauce (thick and almost sweet) – 2 tablespoons
Hoisin sauce – 2 tablespoons
Soy sauce (light, watery and salty) – 1/4 a cup
Chili powder – till eyes water
Zucchini – 1, chopped into crescents
Red wine – 3 tablespoons
Leek – 1 large one, chopped
Regular/Medium tofu – 2 boxes, chopped into small cubes
Green onion – 1, finely chopped
Chili flakes – 1 1/2 tablespoon
(Not pictured:
Minced ginger – 1 tablespoon
Cornstarch – 1 1/2 teaspoon)

Ingredients

I begin by chopping everything that needs chopping, starting with the tofu. While I’m working on the leek and zucchini, I add my tofu cubes to a pot of boiling water. I leave the tofu to boil for about 1 minute, then set it aside and leave it in the water for about 5 minutes. After this, I drain it and set it aside again. This makes the tofu firm, and less likely to turn into tofu slime in the bottom of my pan as I stir.
I take a large pan, and pour about 1/5 cup of water into it. (I will be adding touches of water as needed until I add the sauces. Just enough to cover the bottom and provide some steam.) Once the water starts to boil, I add the zucchini and ginger to the pan, and pour on the wine. I lower the heat to medium and cover for a few minutes until the zucchini becomes more yellowish green in colour, rather than white. At this point I add the leeks. When they become more pliant, I add the tofu and the onions.

Veggies and tofu without any sauces.

Once the tofu and onions are in, I add the sauces and spices. The lovely green veggies usually go a sickly brown at this point from the soy sauce. After I stir them around so as to make sure everything is equally covered, I lower the heat enough to make sure nothing will come to a boil and cover for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, I take 1/2 cup of COLD water and mix in my cornstarch. After the five minutes are up, I mix my cornstarch paste quickly with the liquid sauce on the bottom of my pan to thicken it up.

Ma-po tofu, cooked and ready to serve.

This version of ma-po tofu is best served while still warm, because as the sauce cools, it will congeal. It’s good served with rice, or on its own.
Please please be aware that my proportions may be off. I’m one of those “a dash of this, until it looks right” cooks. You may want to add less or more soy sauce, for example, depending on how salty your version is. You can also try substituting veggies for your favourites, or eliminating them all together and sticking to the tofu only. For those of you who eat meat, ground beef/turkey is supposed to go really well with this dish, and can be added to the pan before you begin cooking the other ingredients. Experiment to find what works for you! Please let me know if you have any questions, and how I can improve my recipe posts, since I’d like to keep doing them. I hope you enjoyed!

Filed under: Food by Lensblot
No Comments »