Tofu coconut noodles

I have been missing Asian food here. Authentic Japanese, Chinese or Thai restaurants...especially thai..... and also thai ingredients..... Things like lemon grass, lime leaves, galangal and basil leaves. Last week, I came to know that my friend Ruchi has a "basil" potted plant at home. She offered the use of her plant and leaves....at my disposal..and as I was craving for some thai inspired meal.... I cooked these noodles....with the ingredients, I found here...

Ingredients:

• 400 gms angel hair or regular spaghetti noodles ( fresh or dried egg noodles would be nice)
• 300 grams of extra firm tofu
  
• green capsicum -- 1 medium sized
• red onion --1 medium sized
• carrot -- 1 medium sized
• frozen corn -- 1/2 cup
• garlic -- 6 cloves
• ginger -- 1 inch piece
• coconut milk -- 1/4 cup
• green chili -- 2-3 according to taste
• oil -- 1 tbsp
• soya sauce -- 1 to 2 tbsp
• spring onion  -- 2 
• basil leaves -- 7 to 8 leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

• Remove tofu from the package and put it in 2-3 paper towels so as to drain the water. Keep aside.
• Boil spaghetti or egg noodles according to the package directions. Drain and wash with cold water and keep aside.
• Chop the onion, capsicum and carrot to long pieces. Grate the ginger and garlic. Chop chilies. Defrost the corn. Keep aside.
• Heat oil, add onion. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Then add capsicum, carrot. Stir-fry till it is soft and cooked another 2-3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and chilies.

• Add frozen corn, mix well. Add soy sauce and season with salt and pepper.

• Chop tofu to half inch cubes. Add to the vegetable mix. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.

• Add the boiled spaghetti/noodles and mix everything well. Keep the heat medium high.

• Add coconut milk and chopped basil leaves and turn off the heat. Mix.

• Add more salt, pepper and soy sauce if required.
• Garnish with chopped spring onion.

• Serve hot off the pan.

Quantity:

• 3-4 servings

Notes:

• I have used italian dried spaghetti noodles. You can use asian egg or rice noodles.
• You can also use buckwheat/soba noodles or glass rice noodles.
• You can add different vegetables like mushrooms, beans or cabbage.... or even chicken or shrimp.
• You can add fish sauce, about a tbsp along with the soy sauce.

Tofu Chocolate Mousse

When my friend +Meenoo Joshi  suggested that I try out tofu chocolate mousse for a vegetarian version of chocolate mousse, I was really surprised. I had heard about tofu as a replacement for eggs, but I never believed that it would blend in so well and can be used for a dessert. I am not a vegetarian and neither am I a big fan of tofu, but this easy "made in minutes" dessert  recipe is a keeper. This is so simple dessert, just mix 2-3 ingredients and you are done. Even your kids can make it ....!!! The texture of the mousse is not as light and airy as the one with eggs, it's more like a pudding, however it tastes awesome. A chocoholic heaven!! and best of all it has only 1/4 cup of sugar.(or lesser if u prefer it that way) I googled for the recipe, I liked this one and finally came up with this recipe made with the ingredients I had in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack (about 300 gms) silken tofu
• 100 gms dark chocolate (I used Lindt 90 percent cacao)
• 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or u can use another 50 gms of dark chocolate)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup of dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar

Recipe:

• Take out tofu from it's pack and put in on a strainer to remove all the water.

• Break the chocolate into pieces, put it in a microwave safe bowl and melt it in the microwave along with the chocolate chips. You can melt it on stove top, using the double boiler method too.

• Puree the tofu in a food processor.

• Heat 1/4 cup of hot water. Add a tsp of instant coffee. Once it is blended add cocoa powder and mix it well. 

• Add the coffee-cocoa mix to the melted chocolate.

• Whisk it with a hand blender, it will start thickening.

• Add the tofu puree and the vanilla essence and whisk it well.

• Add about 1/4 cup(or less or more -- according to your taste) of sugar and blend well with a hand whisk. Tadaa !!! Done !!

• Pour about 2-3 tbsp of the mix to nice bowls and glasses and allow it to chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours or overnight.

• Serve it garnished with grated chocolate, whipped cream or fruits /berries of your choice.

Quantity:

• Makes about 5 (3 tbsp) servings.

Notes:

• I used exactly 3 tbsps of sugar. With this combination you get a bittersweet dark chocolate kind of taste. Do increase the sugar content if you like the mousse on the sweeter side.
• Use good quality dark chocolate with more than 70 percent cacao. 
• There is a lingering tofu flavor. It will lessen with a better quality chocolate and once it is chilled for about 12 hours.
• Also, use pure vanilla extract and increase quantity to 2 tsps.
• You can also add 2 tsp of coffee powder or additional 50 gms chocolate(making it 200 gms in all )
• Instead of coffee, you can use 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1 tbsp of orange zest.
• You can add about 1/2-1 cup of whipped cream to make it richer.
• Chilling it overnight, will give a better taste and better texture. I photographed it within an hour and half of chilling so it's kind of melting, but after 7 hours or so it was of firmer texture.

Ginger tofu stir-fry

I love stir-fries. One of the quickest kind of meals. You can make it, as healthy as you want. It has no restrictions about the kind of vegetables or meat you can use. If you do not have one kind of vegetable, you can skip and use the one which you have in your fridge. Also, it is a meal in minutes. This is one such recipe.