Fried Tofu recipe and "It's Complicated"

In my fridge, I found tofu which is about to expire. I had to used this. I thought about different kind of tofu dish and remember this fried tofu dish called "Agedashi Tofu" in Japan.

This might be a side dish or appetizer kind of dish but I made this as a main dish since I had to consume lots of tofu. I had this dish at bars (Izakaya) in Japan. I think it is popular dish to have with some alcohol.

Izakaya is kind of like a bar in Japan. They serve drinks and also some small dishes like tapas. When we go drinking, many people go to these Izakaya and have drinks and food together.

I had this dish many times in Izakaya but I never made this before. I realized that this dish was easier than I thought it will be. I also had some daikon radish so I grated it and added on top. Here is the recipe.

Agedashi Tofu
Tofu (medium firm) 1
Corn Starch    about 3 table spoons
Seasoned Soy Sauce (Tsuyu no moto)  about 1/2 cup
Water        about 1/2 cup
Green onion   1/2 cup chopped
Daikon raddish      1/4 cup grated (Optional)
Shiso (Japanese basil)  about 3 leaves (Optional)
Vegetable oil    2 table spoon

1. Cut one tofu into 12 pieces and dredge them into corn starch.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add tofu. Saute until it is light brown and turn. Saute for a few minutes until the other side is also light brown.

3. Add Seasoned Soy Sauce and water. Bring to a boil and let it simmer until it thickens a little bit.

4. Transfer into a bowl or plate and add chopped green onion, chopped shiso and grated daikon raddish on top. Serve.

Pretty easy isn't it?

I harvested lots of green onion from my garden so I also made some Japanese flavored scrambled egg with lots of chopped green onion. I like adding some seasoned soy sauce and sugar into my eggs. It goes very well with rice.

I was suprised how easy it was to make fried tofu. It is fried but you don't need lots of oil. You just need a little bit to saute. I think it makes much easier if you have seasoned soy sauce (Tsuyuno moto ot Mentsuyu) but if you don't have it, I think you can also use regular soy sauce, sake and sugar (or mirin) instead of seasoned soy sauce.

On the weekend, I watched this DVD called "It's complicated".


It is about divorced middle age couple starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I thought they are so good! It is funny movie to watch when you want to laugh.

If you have a chance, watch it. I am sure that it will give you a good laugh :-)

Onion & Mushroom Tart, Tomato & Basil Tart

I was looking at a tart recipe book which I borrowed from a library and decided to make savory tart with some ingredients which I had at home.

This is the book I was looking at. Doesn't this look good? 

This book has both savory and sweet tart but I wanted to make some savory tart for dinner. 

I had onion, shiitake mushroom, tomato, basil and cheese so I decided to make two different kind of tart with these ingredients. 

First, I made tart dough and bake a little bit with some weight before I add some topping. I think you can see some of the rice on the side fell which I used for the weight. 

So, one kind of tart was with caramelized onion with some sautéed garlic shiitake mushrooms with some cheese on top. The other kind was tomato, red onion and some basil with cheese. 

Then I put them in the oven for about 30mins. Here is what came out. 

On top of these tart, I sprikled some truffle balsamic vinegar cream which I bought in Germany. I have been wanting to use this truffle balsamic vinegar cream but I didn't know exactly for what. When I made these tart, I thought these might go great with this truffle balsamic vinegar cream so I tried. This is how truffle balsamic cream look like. 

It looks great with this truffle balsamic vinegar cream and it tasted wonderful also. A sharp balsamic flavor enhanced the flavor of the whole tart. 

These tarts were great but I think it might have been better with some puff pastry. After I made these, I realized that the cover of the book was also with puff pastry. I would like to try it with puff pastry next time. But it seem like making puff pastry is more difficult and time consuming. I am not sure if I can successfully make puff pastry on my own but I would like to try sometimes... :-) 

Carne Asada Salad

I had some leftover meat and salad from the BBQ, I decided to make Carne Asada Salad. We also had corn  so I throw that in for the color and crunch.

First, we barbecued this marinated carne asada from Trader Joe's. It is quite big.

For the salad, we had ready-to-use mixed salad and throw some corn and bell peppers and grape tomatoes. Then, we add sliced carne asada on top. This is healthy but satisfying salad. We used store bought balsamic vinegar dressing.

Oh, I also added my favorite! Avocado! Summer is the great time to eat fresh salad. This kind of salad is very satisfying and can be served as a meal. I like buying salad leaves here in the U.S. because there are so many different kind of salad leaves and you can make different kind of salad.

By the way, I still have some of these meat leftover in my fridge. I am wondering what I should make from it :-)