Duck Sauce

A year or two ago, I purchased canned apricots. The idea was that if I love the fresh ones, I'd at least like the canned ones. However, canned apricots are just mushy and a tad overripe, or at least these ones were. I managed to get through all but one can, and there that can remained in the back of our canned-goods cupboard.

Then, there came one of those nights (ever so frequent now) where we needed a meal and just searched the cupboard to make a stir fry. I happened upon a recipe for duck sauce, remembered that can of apricots, and things just fell into place.

Veggie and Tofu Stir fry with Duck Sauce
What you need:
1 package noodles
assorted veggies (I believe I used red peper, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms)
1 package extra firm tofu
4 t soy sauce + more for marinating the tofu
1 can apricots
2 T white vinegar

1. Bake the tofu, marinated in a liberal amount of soy sauce, for about a half an hour, turning once halfway through the cooking time.

2. Cook the noodles according to package instructions.

3. Make the duck sauce. Put the apricots, vinegar, and 4 teaspoons of soy sauce in a blender. Blend to smooth. It will look a lot like egg yolk and frankly, really unappetizing.

4. Stiry fry the veggies until tender and add the tofu to them. Pour in half the duck sauce and fry for a few minutes.

5. Add the noodles and the remaining duck sauce and fry for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Dig in. The duck sauce is sweet with a hint of salt and really makes the stir fry special. You can also just make the duck sauce and use it on meatier dishes if you tend toward carnivorism.

Tofu and Carrots done Japanese Style

So I was perusing my library's cookbooks in search of Japanese, and I happened upon what I humorously consider the sequel to French Women Don't Get Fat. It is, you guessed it, Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat. It's by Naomi Moriyama and her hubby William Doyle and includes recipes more often than not pulled directly from Moriyama's mother's recipe book (not that she has a literal recipe book but you get the idea). As such, the recipes, thus far, are absolutely fantastic, producing better-than-restaurant quality Japanese right in my own kitchen. This is no small feat.

The problem: to get the recipes, you have to withstand (or ignore) a lengthy diatribe on why eating the Japanese way is the healthiest way to eat (including how it's best if you invest in new Japanese tableware). Now, I'm not saying Japanese isn't healthy. It's loaded with seaweed and miso paste and I just can't get enough. I just get a little sick of hearing how everybody has the secret for THE way to eat a healthy diet, and everybody thinks they're right. I also find it troubling to try to convince people to exclusively eat foods that have to be imported, rather than showing them ways to use the food that grows right in their own communities. Lastly (and then I will end this mini-rant and get on to the good stuff), I find it unfair that homecooked rural Japanese food is being paired against, rather than homecooked rural American food, fast food American food, as though all of us here in the states know only how to use a McDonald's drive thru and the number of our favorite pizza joint. It made for a bit of a straw man argument, even if the book did make some good points and reveal some kickbutt recipes.

CarrotyTofu with Sesame

-adapted from Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat-

what you need:

1 block extra firm tofu

2 T cider vinegar

2 t sugar

2 t white wine

2 t soy sauce

1 t salt

1 T canola oil

5 carrots, matchsticked

1/3 c toasted ground white sesame seeds

2 c. brown rice

1. Make rice via rice cooker or the more intensive stovetop method. While it's cooking, cut up the tofu, season (if desired) with allspice and pop it in the oven for about 20=30 minutes, flipping once during baking. Cut tofu into cubes.
2. Combine vinegar-salt in small bowl until sugar is dissolved. (Of course, the wine should be sake, this being a Japanese dish, but lacking that, I opened a bottle of white wine spritzer from, I believe, Africa. Consider my version African-infused Asian.)
3. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Add carrot and tofu and sauté until carrots are tender, 3 min, Reduce heat to med-low and add sauce mix. Cook 2 more min. Turn off heat and add sesame seeds. Toss it all together.
4. Serve with rice, and if you want to be Japanese about it, serve them in separate bowls.

My table setting ended up quite lovely if I do say so myself. And because I opened that spritzer, I enjoyed a glass of bubbly with my repast.