Spring Greens season is here - make some Saag

Spinach is one of the first greens to pop up in the garden in the spring. Amazingly, spinach can germinate in cold soils, as cold as 33 °F! I usually plant spinach in the fall, when it germinates easily in the warm soil. When the cold weather comes, it hibernates for the winter. As soon as the soil warms up again in the spring, it's off and running. That makes spinach the very first green to make it to my table.

I posted this recipe for Saag Paneer, which is Indian Greens with Cheese (or tofu if you prefer - it's easier to find than the fresh cheese and much cheaper). The original recipe called for frozen spinach, which is inexpensive and available year-round. But, this being the start of spring greens, you can make it with fresh spinach. Substitute 2 bunches of coarsely chopped fresh spinach for the frozen spinach and make the original recipe as written.

If you do use fresh garden or farmers' market spinach, make sure you wash it well (the process is described in this recipe for sautéed kale) because it holds onto sand and gritty greens is way icky.

Nowadays, you can also get bags of triple-washed fresh spinach, which is a great leap forward for spinach. You'll need a big bag of spinach for this, 20-24 oz. worth.

Braised Tofu and Leeks

Leeks look like giant scallions. Their flavor is milder than green onions and much milder than yellow onions. Fall is leek season - they take a long, long time to reach a good size. I grow them in my garden and I need to plant the seeds inside in January and won't start picking them until late summer/early fall. Lucky for you, leeks are available year round in supermarkets.

The big drawback for leeks is they need to be washed carefully. They are buried in soil to increase the amount of white stalk (look for leeks with a lot of white stalk - they are more tender). That soil gets in between the leaf layers. To clean them, cut off the dark green leafy top and the root end. Cut the leek lengthwise and swish energetically in dislodge the dirt. Check between the layers for hidden sand. On the plus side, they won't make you cry as much as other onions. :-)

I like to use them in Chinese dishes. Their mild flavor complements garlic and ginger. Their texture is nice in stir fries or braises. Here, I add water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, increasing the vegetable count in this one pot braise. Tofu replaces the meat for this Meatless Monday entree.

Braised Tofu and Leeks

(serves 4)

14-16 oz. firm tofu, cut into 1" cubes
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large clove garlic, minced

½ Tablespoon minced or grated ginger, about an 1" piece

1 leek, white and light green part only, washed well (see intro) and cut into 1" slices

2 cups vegetable stock (see Note)

½ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon sugar

1 8 oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1 8 oz. can sliced bamboo shoots, drained

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 Tablespoon cold water

4 Tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted, for garnish

Place the tofu cubes on a towel to soak up excess moisture.

Heat up a wok or deep skillet over high heat. Add the oil, then the garlic and ginger. Stir and add the leeks. Stir fry until the leeks wilt and start to brown in places. Add the stock, salt, soy sauce, sugar, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and tofu. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 4 minutes. Increase the heat to bring the stock to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water and add to the wok. Stir until the sauce thickens. Taste for salt. Serve over hot rice with a Tablespoon of sliced almonds for garnish.

Note: Though not vegetarian, this is excellent made with ham or chicken stock. 

Dan-Dan Noodles

Another recipe from my class this week, a vegetarian version of a popular street food in China. There is quite a bit of interpretation in this recipe. I'm not sure what makes it Dan-Dan noodles besides spicy (as it came out of Sichuan cuisine) and noodles. I'm even willing to drop the spicy if it gets you to try it out.

You can use fresh noodles, even Italian pasta such as fettucini or linguine. Or you can use dried Chinese egg noodles. If you are very ambitious, you can make you own egg pasta. Takes a bit of time and elbow grease rolling it out. Lots of fun and the resulting pasta has a very satisfying bite. I understand if you want this to be fast and easy, though.

Many of the recipes use stir fried ground pork. This is vegetarian, and I substituted tofu for the pork. The tofu, which is pretty bland stuff on its own, absorbs the sauce nicely, as do the noodles. My students, some who said they didn't care for tofu, declared it quite tasty.

Dan-Dan Noodles
(serves 4)

Sauce
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 scallion, minced
1 teaspoon chile oil (optional or use more if you like hot)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

14-16 oz. soft tofu, cut into small cubes
½ pound fresh egg noodles or 6 oz. dried noodles
2 Tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

In a large bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Add the cubed tofu and gently toss so the tofu doesn't break apart.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of water until just tender. Drain and put in the bowl with the sauce. Toss to cover the noodles in the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. When serving, use a spoon to make sure you get the tofu along with the noodles.

Return of the Tofu

Peanut-sauced tofu, chard with garlic & ginger on rice. Yum.

When you test recipes, you have a lot of leftovers. I had a bit of the peanut-sauced tofu that went into the vegetarian spring rolls. I had some leftover rice and a big bunch of chard leaves. It became my lunch today. Super fast and delicious.

I love leftovers!

The tofu recipe is in with the Vegetarian Spring Rolls from my last class.

The chard is a simple greens sauté,  garlic, ginger, oil, salt, and pepper. Check out my post on kale for techniques and ideas for sautéing greens.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

I am a huge fan of rice wrappers. They are cheap. They are easy to handle once you get the hang of it. They are light and they look so cool! I used them instead of the traditional Mu Shu Pancakes last year in a class. Huge hit. I brought them back for another class this month in the form of vegetarian spring rolls. They are filled with lettuce, mint (though you could use basil if you prefer), a carrot-cucumber salad, and baked tofu. The tofu is baked in a peanut sauce which does double-duty as the dipping sauce. Delicious!

Whole lot of wrappers - you can wrap a lot of goodies with one package

There are a few tricks to using these.

• Use warm water and don't leave the wrapper in the water too long. When they start to get pliable, take them out and lay them flat for filling. I like to put the water in a pie pan or cake pan that is big enough to hold the wrapper without any bending.
• Don't overfill them. They do stretch but if you have pointy things sticking out, like stems of herbs or lettuce, they will rip. 

  

  This is about as much as you want to fill these.

• Don't stack them or let them touch once you have rolled them. They will stick to each other, ripping the wrapper.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

(makes 12 spring rolls)

1 pound firm tofu, sliced into 8 slices (see Note)

Sauce

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

1 large clove garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar, natural or seasoned

3 Tablespoons Hoisin sauce

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

½ cup warm water, approximately

1 to 3 teaspoons Siracha sauce (adjust to your desired spice level)

juice of ½ lime

Carrot Salad

2 medium carrots

2 medium cucumbers

4 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 Tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

12 rice spring roll wrappers

about 4 large lettuce leaves, washed and torn into pieces that will fit in the wrappers

24 large mint leaves

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, mix together peanut butter, garlic, rice wine vinegar, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and Siracha. Mix until smooth. In the beginning, the peanut butter will resist combining with the liquid ingredients, but keep at it. Add water to thin to a saucy consistency. You want it thin enough so you can dip but not so thin that it drips off the spoon. Place the tofu in a single layer in a baking dish (8"x4" or 9"x11"). Pour on about ⅓ the sauce and turn to coat the tofu. Bake for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

While the tofu is cooling, prep the carrot-cucumber salad. Peel and julienne (cut into thin strips) or shred the carrot. Peel, seed the cucumber. Cut them into 3" lengths and slice thinly the long way. (If you want more knife practice, you can julienne them too.) Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the carrot and cucumber. Toss to coat. Let marinate for 15 minutes.

Slice the tofu into long, thin slices when cool enough to handle. Set everything out where you can reach it: all the ingredients, a pan with an inch of warm water for softening the rice wrappers, and a surface for rolling. Lay down a piece of lettuce, a couple of mint leaves, a little carrot salad, and a few tofu slices. Roll up like a burrito - fold in the sides, fold up the edge closest to you, then roll the whole thing up to the top.

Add the lime juice to the remaining sauce and stir. Serve with rolls.

Note: You can make this with tofu right out of the carton, but the texture is better if you freeze it first. Slice it into 8 pieces, put them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, and put it in the freezer. Freeze for an hour or longer. Thaw and blot dry before baking.

Baked Tofu with Peanut Sauce

Baked Tofu with Peanut Sauce and a side of Hot and Sour Mushroom Stir fry

This is a very quick dish or you can do some steps ahead and end up with something very different. Both are really tasty. Just different.

If you start with frozen and pressed tofu, the tofu will cook up very firm, making it excellent for putting in vegetarian spring rolls or using in stir fries. If you start with tofu that is fresh from the carton, it will be saucier - the water that you would have pressed out will combine with the peanut butter mixture and make a sauce. It's good over plain rice or noodles either way.

Baked Tofu with Peanut Sauce
(serves 4, costs $2.50)

1 carton of firm tofu, 14 to 16 oz.
3 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pinch of cayenne
1 Tablespoon soy sauce, regular or low-sodium

Drain the tofu and slice it into 6-8 slices, about ¾" thick. You have a few choices at this point:

Lots of time: Freeze tofu, thaw, then lay on a baking rack between paper towels over a dish to catch any drips. Cover with a baking sheet and weight down with a couple of heavy cans to press out even more moisture. Let drain for 30 minutes.

Little time but you planned ahead: Freeze the tofu and then thaw.

No time: Pat dry.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Spray a baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour the sauce into the pan. Place the tofu on top and turn to cover both sides with sauce. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn over tofu and bake for another 8-10 minutes until sauce is bubbly and hot.

This can also be made in the microwave, which is even faster. Make sure to use a microwaveable baking dish and cook it for 3 minutes on each side.

Note: You can slice and freeze the tofu in advance. I keep some frozen tofu in the freezer so I can make a chewy tofu dish quickly.

Meatless Monday: Apricot Baked Tofu

This one is really easy. It's better if you plan ahead and freeze the tofu. That improves the texture of the tofu a lot by getting rid of more water. You can skip the freezing and just press slices of tofu between layers of toweling to remove some of the water, but it's worth it to think ahead a little and freeze it.

The flavor is a little tart, and a little sweet. The fruit is delicious with the tofu, and the mayo adds richness.

Apricot Baked Tofu
(serves 4, costs $3.60)

14-16 oz. firm tofu
4 Tablespoon mayonnaise (regular or low-fat)
2 Tablespoon ketchup
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon vinegar (white, cider vinegar, or rice)
½ teaspoon salt or seasoned salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 Tablespoon apricot or peach jam or preserves
non-stick cooking spray
1 peach or nectarine, sliced into 12 slices or ½ mango, sliced

Slice the tofu into 6 slices, each about ¾" thick. Place on a small cookie sheet and freeze. It takes about 2 hours to freeze, but you can freeze it overnight if that is more convenient. Remove from the freezer and allow to thaw about 30 minutes. Lay 3 layers of paper towels on a rack, place the tofu on top, and cover with another 3 layers of paper towels. Cover with a plate and put something heavy like a bag of flour or a big can of tomatoes on the plate. Place the whole thing in the sink or on a plate to let the water drip off. Let sit for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, ketchup, garlic powder, vinegar, salt, pepper, and apricot preserves.

Spray a small cookie sheet (you can use the one you froze the tofu on; just wipe it dry) with non-stick cooking spray. Place the tofu slices in one layer and very close together on the cookie sheet. Spread ¾ of the mayo mixture on top. Spread the fruit slices on top in one layer. Spread on the rest of the mayo mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve over rice.

Meatless Monday: Sweet and Sour Tofu

The most common restaurant form of sweet and sour anything is a rather gloppy dish, often with an alarmingly red-colored sauce, thanks to red food coloring. This is not that dish. This is a light but tasty interpretation that is only a little bit sweet and a just a little bit sour. Usually, the "meat" is battered and deep-fried. No meat here, just tofu, and no deep-fat frying either. Frying may result in a delicious crispiness, but I find it rather a pain to execute. First, you need to heat up a fair bit of oil, even for shallow frying. That means you get to eat a fair amount of oil too. But, worst of all, is dealing with the oil afterward, hot oil being something like napalm. Frying is a fine technique once in a while as a treat. It's not what I consider a quick everyday sort of thing, however.

In this recipe, I do brown the tofu in a little bit of oil. This is to change the texture - it becomes chewy and I like that. If you don't want to bother (tofu, with its high water content spits a great deal when you brown it), just skip the browning step and use raw tofu. The texture will be softer but the flavor will be very similar. And, it will cut a bit of time off of a dish that comes together quickly, even if you brown the tofu.

Sweet and Sour Tofu
(serves 4, costs $5.10)

14-16 oz. firm or extra-firm tofu, cut into ½" cubes and blotted with paper towels
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
½ of a medium onion, cut into ½" chunks
½ to 1 whole medium red pepper, cored, seeded and cut into ½" chunks
1 cup fresh or canned pineapple, cut into ½ chunks or use canned bits

Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 Tablespoon white or cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons sake, rice wine, or dry sherry
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
⅔ cup vegetable or chicken stock

1 Tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tablespoon cold water
¼ - ½ teaspoon salt
sliced scallions or chopped cilantro, for garnish if desired

Combine all the sauce ingredients(the garlic to the stock) in a medium bowl and set aside.

If browning tofu, get a large skillet or wok very hot and add the oil. [You want to fit all the tofu in the pan in one layer without crowding them together so they will brown nicely. If your wok isn't big enough to do this all at once, brown the tofu in 2 batches.] Add the tofu and brown on one side, give it a stir, and brown on another side. It takes too long to brown all six sides, but 2 sides is enough to change the texture. After the tofu is browned on 2 sides, remove to a bowl.

Get the skillet very hot again and add the onion. Cook until it just starts to brown a little and the onion is softened. Remove to the bowl with the tofu. Reduce the heat to medium and add the red pepper, then the sauce. Bring to a boil. Add in the cornstarch-water mixture, bring back to a boil, and cook until the sauce thickens. Add in the tofu, onions, pineapple, and salt. Stir and cook for a few minutes to get everything hot. Garnish with scallions and/or cilantro, if desired. Serve over hot rice.

Meatless Monday: Mu Shu Tofu

Mu Shu "Something" is a staple when we head out for Chinese food. There are a few speciality ingredients in the typical restaurant Mu Shu: dried shiitake mushrooms, dried lily buds, tree ear mushrooms, and Hoisin sauce. We substituted more common vegetables - cabbage, carrots, and bamboo shoots - but kept the seasoning the same. The Hoisin sauce and toasted sesame oil are important flavors here, so don't leave them out. You can find both of them at most supermarkets in the Asian ingredient section. They last a very long time (Hoisin sauce in the fridge, sesame oil in a dark, cool cabinet) so you'll have them for the next time you break out the wok.

Tofu isn't as dense as pork or chicken but it does a great job of blending in with the other ingredients. Frozen and thawed tofu is a little drier and absorbs flavors better. You can freeze it in a block and cut it after it thaws, but we recommend you slice it, then freeze it on a cookie sheet. It will freeze and thaw a bit faster this way.

Though the prep takes a bit of time, the dish comes together fast.

Flour tortillas are the usual easy-to-find substitution for the Chinese flour pancakes. Rice paper wrappers are hardly traditional, but they are a lighter alternative to the tortillas. If you can find them - look in Asian markets and some supermarkets - they are quite economical, and a delicious change from the flour pancakes.

Mu Shu Tofu
(serves 4-6; costs $7.90)

Tofu and Marinade
14-16 oz. firm or extra-firm tofu, drained and sliced ½" thick, frozen, and thawed
2 teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon cornstarch

4 Tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
2 eggs, beaten
2 scallions, white part minced and green part cut into 1" lengths
1 5 oz. can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
¼ medium head green cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, julienned

Seasoning Mix
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sesame oil
about 6 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
12 6" flour tortillas or 12 rice paper wrappers (8" size)

Lay tofu slices on paper towels, cover with more paper towels, and blot up some of the moisture by gently squeezing down on the slices. Cut tofu slices into ½" sticks. Toss with 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and cornstarch in a bowl. Get all the other ingredients prepped and ready to go. This is a stir fry and it goes fast.

If you are using flour tortillas, warm them and keep them warm until the stir fry is complete.

Heat a large wok or skillet until very hot. Add 1 Tablespoons oil. Add the egg and quickly scramble it. Remove the egg to a bowl. Add another tablespoon of oil. Add tofu. Stir fry tofu for 3 minutes. Remove to bowl with egg. Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons oil. Add the minced white part of the scallions, bamboo shoots, cabbage, and carrot. Stir fry until the cabbage is starting to wilt but still crunchy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green scallion pieces, egg, tofu, and seasoning mix ingredients. Cook for another minute. Remove from heat and stir in sesame oil.

If using flour tortillas, smear a tortilla with ½ Tablespoon Hoisin sauce, put in about ½ cup of the stir fry, and roll up.

If using rice paper wrappers, dip a wrapper in hot tap water to soften (see Note), lay out flat, smear on ½ Tablespoon Hoisin sauce, add about ½ cup of the stir fry, and roll up.

Note: Rice paper wrappers can be a little tricky. Once they soften up, they stick to themselves like glue. To prevent this, don't leave them in the water too long. Dip in the water, flip it over and pull it out of the water just as it starts to get pliable. At this point, it will be easy to lay it out flat. The wrapper will continue to soften after that, making it easy to roll up.

Chinese New Year Tofu

Yesterday was the Chinese New Year - Happy Year of the Snake!

Mapo Tofu is a spicy Chinese comfort food. And, spicy it is! This recipe is a mild soft tofu dish for those of you who can't stand the heat. :-) Really, there is nothing missing from this recipe - rich flavors but no heat. The soft tofu has a soothing texture that is unlike anything else. Give it a try.

This is a stir fry so make sure you have all your ingredients ready to go, measured out and accessible, before you start. Stirfries happen fast and you can't be looking for the cornstarch in the middle of things.

Bean Curd with Oyster Sauce
(serves 4, costs $2.70)

1 pound soft tofu, drained and cut into ¾ inch cubes
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 scallions, chopped
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce (see Notes)
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
a pinch of black pepper
½ cup vegetable stock
½ Tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil (see Notes)

Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over high heat. Add the garlic and scallions. Cook for about 20-30 seconds, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the bean curd cubes, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, black pepper, and stock. Gently stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes. Give the cornstarch/water mixture a stir to make sure the cornstarch is dissolved and add to the pan. Stir and bring to a boil. The cornstarch won't thicken until it comes to a boil. It will also become translucent and shiny as it thickens. Remove from heat and add the sesame oil. Serve over rice.

Notes: Though oyster sauce is usually made with fish or shellfish, there are vegetarian versions available.

Roasted sesame oil has a very distinctive flavor. It's an important flavor in hot and sour soup and Mu Shu Pork. Look for it in the Asian ingredient section of your supermarket. Keep it in a cool, dark place and it will keep a very long time. Its flavor breaks down when heated so we add it as garnish after the dish is completed.

Thai Fried Rice

This is Ronnie's favorite fried rice recipe, maybe one of her favorite recipes ever! And for good reason. It's easy, quick, and delicious. I hadn't realized how popular Indian-style curry powder was in Thai cooking until I went looking for Thai tea (more on this in an upcoming post). Thai curry powder, which is very close to Indian curry powder, is sold in large containers so Thai cooks must use it up pretty quickly. Who knew?

Fried rice, whether Thai or Chinese, is always better made with cold cooked rice. Freshly cooked rice is too sticky. You can make the rice before making the fried rice but we strongly recommend you spread it out of the pot onto a baking sheet and chill it for 30 minutes. If you happen to have leftover rice from some recent Asian take-out meal, that's the easiest start to this dish. You'll need 3 cups of cooked rice instead of the 1 cup of raw rice called for in the recipe.

We used the optional brown gravy sauce to make the fried rice above. This is only a coloring agent. Given the bright yellow from the curry powder, this is definitely not essential to the dish, so feel free to leave it out (and we didn't include it in the cost of the dish either).

This dish is very adaptable to whatever cooked protein you have: chicken, pork, shrimp, tofu, ham. All are great here. Or add nothing - it's still delicious. The cashews, pineapple, and curry really make this dish special. If you start with cooked rice, it takes no time at all.

Thai Fried Rice
(serves 2-4 generously; total cost w/o optional meat is $2.80, with chicken the cost is $4.60)

1 cup long grain rice
2 cups cold water
2 Tablespoons oil
½ medium onion, chopped
2-3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons brown gravy sauce (optional)
2 cups cooked chicken or pork, cut into cubes (optional)
1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks
¼ cup roasted cashews, chopped
½ cup frozen peas
2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Place the rice and cold water in a 3 quart pot. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and tilt the cover to allow some steam to come out of the pot. Cook for 20 minutes, turn off the heat and place the cover back on the pot. Let it sit for 5 minutes. The rice is best used cold, so make it ahead of time and refrigerate it, or spread it out on a baking sheet to cool.

In a large sauté or frying pan, place oil on medium-high heat. Cook onions in oil until they are soft and golden brown in color. Add curry powder and chicken or pork (if using) and stir until meat is heated. Add brown gravy sauce (if using). Add pineapple, cashews and peas and stir until heated through. Add rice and stir until incorporated with other ingredients. Stir in soy sauce.

Chicken & Broccoli Stir-fry

A successful stir-fry requires a number of things:

• You need to have everything ready before you start cooking. Things happen fast with a stir-fry because it is a high-heat cooking method. If you don't have every ingredient measured and ready to go, things will go south quickly. Garlic burns, meat overcooks. Not pretty. Having everything ready to go is called "mise en place." It's French for putting in place. Mise en place is how restaurants can turn out hundreds of from-scratch meals in very little time. And, it's not just for restaurants. It will make you a better home cook.
• You need to cut your raw ingredients in similar bite-sized pieces. Food needs to cook quickly and if there are big hunks of meat or broccoli in your stir-fry, or if everything is cut in very different sizes, it will not cook quickly nor will it cook evenly. You want the meat and veggies in equivalent bite-sized pieces.
• You need to use really high heat. A stir-fry cooks in 10 minutes or less. For that to happen, you need to get your skillet or wok as hot as you can. Of course, because you are working with very high heat, you have to be on top of what's going on. No answering the phone. No digging through the fridge for ingredients (see first bullet again). It also means that you need to keep stirring the ingredients to keep things from burning. There's a reason it's called stir-fry. The high heat is also what makes it taste so good, so don't be afraid. 

This is about as simple as you can get in a stir-fry. It's not sophisticated but it's quick and filling. Future posts will feature other stir-fries with more complex flavors.

Chicken & Broccoli Stir-fry
(serves 2-3)

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dry sherry or Chinese rice wine (see Note)
¾ pound skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into slices about ¼" thick, 2 x 1" long and wide (see Variations)
½ pound broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets, stems peeled and sliced 1/4" thick (see Variations)
1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil
½ - 1 teaspoon minced ginger, depending on your love of ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
additional soy sauce, if desired

Combine soy sauce, cornstarch and dry sherry in a medium bowl. Mix enough to dissolve cornstarch. Add chicken breast and toss to coat meat with marinade. Marinate in the fridge for 10-30 minutes. Drain chicken pieces, reserving 1 tablespoon of marinade.

Heat oil in skillet or wok until very hot. The oil will shimmer and ripple (but not smoke) when it's hot enough. Don't walk away while the oil is heating up because it can go from hot enough to bursting into flames quickly. [If this ever happens to you, don't panic! Cover the pan with a lid and remove from the heat. Do not remove lid until pan has cooled.]

Add chicken to skillet and immediately start stirring it around. Stir fry for a few minutes until chicken begins to brown. Add ginger, garlic and broccoli. Stir fry for another 5-6 minutes until broccoli is done to your liking.

Add broth and 1 tablespoon of reserved marinade. Cook for 30 seconds. The sauce should boil and thicken somewhat.

Serve with rice, passing soy sauce if additional salt is needed.

Note: Though we don't generally recommend cooking sherry, if you aren't old enough to buy actual sherry, it will do if it's all you can get. Just remember that it has a lot of added salt so you probably won't need additional soy sauce. You can also find Chinese cooking rice wine in most Asian markets, but it also has salt added.

Variations: Beef, pork, shrimp, scallops, or tofu can be substituted for the chicken. They will all cook in about the same time if they are cut into a similar size. Jumbo shrimp should be cut in half lengthwise. Tofu should be cut into 1x1" cubes. Other vegetables can be used, such as bok choy, Napa cabbage, mushrooms, or green beans. Bok choy, Napa cabbage, and mushrooms will cook in less time, about 3 minutes. Green beans will take as long as broccoli to cook.

Curry: tasty solution for turkey leftovers

Thanksgiving means turkey, and if you are lucky, you will find yourself with a bumper crop of leftover turkey. There will be turkey soup bubbling on stoves Friday and turkey sandwiches to last through the weekend. Here's a different spin on turkey leftovers - a curry. It's a great quick stew for using up all manner of leftover protein. If you don't have turkey, use cooked chicken, cooked shrimp, tofu, or a favorite in my house, leftover leg of lamb.

Quick Turkey Curry
recipe adapted from The Turkey Cookbook by Rick Rodgers
(4 servings)

3 tbl butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbl curry powder
2 tbl flour
1 1/2 cups Turkey Stock or Chicken Stock
3 cups turkey, chopped into bite-sized pieces (about 1 pound)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt (nonfat, low-fat or full-fat)
3/4 cup frozen mango, thawed  and chopped (or 1 medium banana, cut into 1/2" slices)
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds (see Note)

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, apple, and garlic and cook until the onion is softened and just golden.

Sprinkle onions with curry powder and stir for 15 seconds.

Sprinkle onions with flour and cook for another minute.

Stir in broth, bring to a simmer and then cook on medium-low for 5 minutes.

Stir in turkey and salt. Cook for 5 minutes to reheat turkey.

Add yogurt and mango. Stir to combine and remove from heat. If you cook the yogurt too long, it will separate and you'll see little flecks of white. Your sauce won't be as smooth either but it's still perfectly fine to eat.

Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve over rice.

Note: to toast nuts put them on a cookie sheet and place in a preheated 300 degree oven for 5 minutes. Don't forget them - they burn quickly!