Archive for May 2016

Mandy cooks: Crispy Tofu and rice noodles

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Look at me, acting all fancy with my tofu and veggies. Actually this recipe is super easy, I just came up with it on the spot after my mother told me it was Vesak day and that I should probably go vegetarian, but I thought I would upload it anyway because, well, my blog needs revival and it just might teach you a few things on how to improvise when your supplies are low. On to the recipe!

Ingredients (serves 2)

(for the tofu)
  • 1 Block of firm tofu, the kind you get from DM, sliced into 4-5 chunks
  • Breadcrumbs mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper (I used Paniermehl because I still have a huge box from the last time I made schnitzel)
  • 1 Egg, beaten
  • Garlic Salt
  • Pepper
  • Sesame oil
  • Soy sauce 
  • Cornflour (or regular flour will do in a pinch, which is what I used)
(for the noodles)
  • 3-4 servings of dry rice noodles. Get the kind where the noodles are already separated into serving sizes. Mine were pretty small, which is why I used 3.
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp Soy sauce 
  • Vegetable of your choice. I would recommend bean sprouts to give it more of a Pad Thai kinda feel, but I used Chinese cabbage because that was all I had
  • Pad t=Thai sauce

Method

  1. Start with the tofu first. Rub some soy sauce and sesame oil all over your tofu chunks
  2. First, cover the tofu with your cornflour or flour.
  3. Then, dip it in the beaten egg.
  4. Finally, toss it around in the breadcrumbs until it's all covered.
  5. Heat a frying pan with 1-2 tablespoons of oil on medium high heat, then when the pan sizzles when you drop some breadcrumbs in, place the tofu in the frying pan and lightly fry on all sides until golden brown. 

  6. Set aside the tofu.
  7. Boil some water in a kettle and cover your dry rice noodles with the boiling water. Let the noodles sit in the boiling water for max 3 minutes, then drain the water and place the noodles in cold water to prevent it from cooking in its own heat even further. 
  8. In the meantime, beat the eggs together with 1 tbsp of soy sauce (or more, depending on how salty you like your eggs). Heat the pan up once again on medium heat, then pan fry the eggs until each side is lightly browned. 
  9. Cut the fried eggs into slices. 
  10. Once again, heat the pan up to medium high heat, stir fry the veggies until soft, then dump the rice noodles in and stir fry for a couple of minutes with enough Pad Thai sauce to cover all the noodles. 
  11. And that's it! If you have some (which I did not, evidently), chop some peanuts up and toss it in with the noodles to make it really taste like Pad Thai. 
Not really a Michelin-star worthy meal is it? But it tastes good and it's sure as hell healthier than the 500 Doners a day you've been pushing down your face, so get on the ball and start making this! Just kidding, eat what you want (although a Doner a day is going to be hell on your colon, my buddy my friend). 

Mandy cooks: 2 Ingredient banana pancakes

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Sorry for the extremely long hiatus! I've been busy the past semester with my internship, school and then exams, so honestly I haven't been cooking or eating out much (unless you count getting takeaway pizza from the pizzeria below my apartment). I also haven't immediately been going out after exams, apart from a party and a couple of dinners at a friends place, but just been chilling at home with my gameboy and basically being the antisocial goblin I am inside. BUT since people have been complaining about how dead my blog is, here's a quick, easy recipe to revive it! These are two ingredient banana pancakes that one always sees on Buzzfeed or Pinterest ("10 EASY RECIPES FOR THE LAZY STUDENT" and so on), but I personally didn't believe they would taste like real pancakes and you know what, they don't!

They're still pretty good though, like a mix between an omelette and goreng pisang (fried banana fritters). Plus I guess if you're into the whole gluten-free, dairy-free thing, this would be a pretty good substitute.  So on to the recipe!

Ingredients

(makes 8-9 mini pancakes, enough for one person)
  • 1 very ripe banana (the mushier the better)
  • 2 eggs
  • (optional) pinch of baking powder (recommend! Makes it more fluffy), fruits, honey, maple syrup, nuts, chocolate chips, whatever you want to garnish it with. 

Method

  1. Mash the banana until it looks like baby food, then crack two eggs, whisk them till they are thoroughly mixed, and then add to the mashed bananas and crank up the ol' manual mixer (aka your arm)  till it looks like everything is blended together. 
  2. Heat a pan on medium heat with some oil or butter. I just used two little packets of butter that you always get at hotels or when you order a bucket at KFC with corn cobs, and your boyfriend always eats your share of the corn but leaves the butter so you have to stash them away discreetly in your handbag because you're cheap AF but don't want people to know it...I digress, what were we doing again? Oh yes, the recipe. 
  3. Drop two tablespoons of batter on the pan to make one mini pancake. I do not recommend making them any bigger because these are really soft and fragile, and if you make them any bigger than your spatula you're going to make a mess trying to flip it. 
  4. Cook on both sides for about a minute, or until each side looks nice and brown. 
  5. Stack pancakes on a plate and garnish! I used honey, some kinako (soybean powder) and sliced kiwis and it was goooood. Would recommend this combination, unless you don't have access to kinako powder in which case feel free to substitute with nuts. (FYI if you live near a Daiso, they sell these there for 2 dollars for a pretty big pack) 
The inside of the pancake. As you can see, it has quite a soft, custard like consistency, not quite pancake like but still very good. So there you go! Just a short post to revive the blog a little, see you around when I start getting more of a life/money to go out and review places!