Tried another tofu dish last night - Cardamom Tofu with Lime Greens

Ingredients:
flour
cornstarch
ground cardamom
salt & pepper
sunflower oil
firm tofu
garlic
red chiles (Fresh Farms didn't have on Sunday, I used green finger.)
choy sum
sriracha
soy sauce
limes water

Once again, I opted to not deep fry the tofu and oven baked it instead.

The recipe was fairly simple without a ton of chopping + no blender or food processor needed.

Sauteing the sliced garlic, chiles & choy sum stems:


Adding in the choy sum leaves:


Finished dish with jasmine rice (extra lime wedges were on the table):

We enjoyed the combination of flavors and textures but wished there had been a bit more sauce.

Tonight I made Noodle Salad with Mushroom and Peanut Laab.

Another fairly long list of ingredients:
Basmati Rice
Boiling Water
Salt
Green Beans
Cucumber
Red Chiles
Red Onion
Tamarind Paste
Maple Syrup
Fish Sauce
Lime Juice
Peanut Oil
Brown Button Mushrooms
Oyster Mushrooms
Chile Flakes
Peanuts
Mint Leaves
Thai Basil (unfortunately, Fresh Farms didn't have this week so I had to leave it out.)
Cilantro

I prepped a couple of things yesterday - toasted the rice and ground it to a powder and blanched the green beans.

There's a lot going on here. Cooking the noodles and making a salad of the cucumber, beans, chiles, onion, salt, and fresh herbs. Making a dressing with the tamarind, maple syrup, fish sauce, soy, lime juice & peanut oil. Making the laarb with more peanut oil, the mushrooms, chile flakes, peanuts, ground toasted rice, fish sauce, soy & lime juice...

Been awhile since I'd worked with tamarind pulp. It's a bit of a pain.


Mushrooms prepped and tamarind dressing.


Cooked laarb.


Plated.

Flavor-wise, this was restaurant quality. Tons of depth. Work to reward, I would say do it on a lazy weekend. Had this been an average work/school night it might have been too much. But school starts tomorrow so this was a last hurrah...

Last night I made Udon Noodles with Fried Tofu & Orange Nam Jim.

Ingredients:
For the Tofu:
garlic
soy sauce
maple syrup
sunflower oil
salt
firm tofu

Nam Jim:
basmati rice
Aleppo chile flakes
oranges
tamarind paste
fish sauce
maple syrup
soy sauce
shallot
cilantro

Remaining Ingredients:
udon noodles
Thai basil (didn't have so used regular from my neighbor's garden.)
green onions
red chiles
sesame seeds

I marinated the tofu for an hour per his instructions. Instead of pan frying it, I then tossed it with some cornstarch and oven baked it. Not as crispy as his I am sure but no oil splatter all over my stovetop.



Toasted the basmati rice and Allepo peppers then ground them in my spice grinder. Mixed that with the rest of the Nan Jim ingredients.



Cooked noodles tossed with warm Nan Jim and heated through.



Finished with the tofu and garnish ingredients.



This was a girl's night. Audrey and I enjoyed it. Wish I would have had the Thai basil though. Fresh Farms Niles has been very inconsistent with stocking it lately.

With the start of the school year and Audrey's multiple extracurriculars, I am going to set this book down for awhile. I had fun with it but the majority of the recipes are a bit more like projects than just getting dinner on the table. Fine, when I have the time...
I am glad I explored, there were some revelatory moments.

Next up? I think I'd like to do some armchair traveling via cooking. I'm going to take a look at some of my international cookbooks and decide where to go.

He is coming out with a new cookbook in October. It is called Comfort. You should grow your own thai basil next year. I grown lots of basil on my condo balcony.

It's a further hike for you, but Richwell Market in Morton Grove seems to always have thai basil ( they call it vietnamese basil ).

lougord99 wrote:It's a further hike for you, but Richwell Market in Morton Grove seems to always have thai basil ( they call it vietnamese basil ).

Thanks for the tip. With a kid in dance, soccer, and cross country right now, one-stop shopping is all I can handle. I will keep it in mind for winter though.

LynnB wrote:

lougord99 wrote:It's a further hike for you, but Richwell Market in Morton Grove seems to always have thai basil ( they call it vietnamese basil ).

Thanks for the tip. With a kid in dance, soccer, and cross country right now, one-stop shopping is all I can handle. I will keep it in mind for winter though.

Assuming you're referring to the Touhy location, if they've been out multiple times, you've just been really unlucky. The stand next to the opening from the produce greens into the liquor section has been full of Thai basil over and over. I took note because I was surprised when you initially said they were out.

bweiny wrote:

LynnB wrote:

lougord99 wrote:It's a further hike for you, but Richwell Market in Morton Grove seems to always have thai basil ( they call it vietnamese basil ).

Thanks for the tip. With a kid in dance, soccer, and cross country right now, one-stop shopping is all I can handle. I will keep it in mind for winter though.

Assuming you're referring to the Touhy location, if they've been out multiple times, you've just been really unlucky. The stand next to the opening from the produce greens into the liquor section has been full of Thai basil over and over. I took note because I was surprised when you initially said they were out.

Guess I’m unlucky because when I was there on Tuesday that rack was full of regular basil, not Thai.

Most of the Asian grocers in Niles area including HMART, Joong Boo, Park To Shop, and even Jerry's in Niles has Thai basil.