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Edamame Flavored Tofu Dumplings

27 Dec

In between the holidays and the new year, I tend to get a bit restless and sluggish about cooking. It just seems like the days between Christmas and the New Year are made for lazing about and not really doing anything. But I am always in the mood for dumplings, especially when they are light and fresh and come in a crispy rice paper wrapper. With a bit of leftover veggies and a box of shelf stable Mori-Nu Silken Tofu from the pantry, these come together so quickly, and without the hassle of folding dumpling wrappers. The wrapping method for the rice paper dumplings is very similar to how you would fold a burrito, just pull all the sides in fold until you have a small packet to cook. Since the rice paper wrappers are already moistened before wrapping, there’s no need to add water into the pan to steam the dumplings, simply crisp and enjoy!

I had seen multiple versions of these rice paper dumplings making the rounds on social media, but when I saw Mori-Nu Silken Tofu released a new bunch of flavors (Yuzu AND Edamame) I knew they would be a perfect addition to these. The pop of green from the edamame-flavored tofu is gorgeous and the flavor compliments the shiitake mushrooms and soy sauce perfectly. If you would like to substitute, I’d recommend using the Mori-Nu Silken Tofu Extra Firm.

You can add in as many vegetables as you like to this-it’s a very versatile way to use up leftovers from veggie platters and vegetables that didn’t quite make the cut for your charcuterie board. If these dumplings don’t strike your fancy, I’d be happy to recommend trying my mapo tofu dumplings.

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Sticky Eggplant

10 Aug

Some sticky icky eggplant in my chopsticks, to go alongside my platter of sushi, because why not have both?

I saw a similar recipe to this on Instagram a few weeks ago and obviously had to make my own version. I’ve been well stocked on eggplant all summer thanks to the Old Capitol Farmer’s Market in my town and all the wonderful farmers who bring their produce out.


How many other things in your life do you limit to one or the other, when instead, you could just have both? Like sushi and eggplant. Both of my favorite things. But I never enjoy them together!


The eggplant is simply cooked in a large cast iron skillet with some oil and water until its fully steamed and a bit charred. Then it’s topped with sauce and cilantro and sesame seeds and it’s ready for consumption. I like to serve this with rice or rice noodles, or simply by itself. Let me know if you give it a try!

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Mapo Tofu Inspired Dumplings

30 Jun

My kids and husband can all attest to my unending love of dumplings, gyoza, potstickers, ravioli, and any other foods that include a filling stuffed inside of carbohydrates. For Mother’s Days, I often request a bag of premade dumplings and feast on them all day and night.

But the premade version could never compare to these!

This recipe was a combination of leftovers that needed to be used up (dumpling wrappers and mapo tofu) but I loved them so much I started making them regularly. These mapo tofu inspired dumplings combine all the spicy, sweet, and umami flavors I love about mapo with the comfort of a bite sized wheat wrapper.

As usual, I’m using my favorite Mori-Nu Silken Tofu for this. I love having their tofu on hand for dishes like this because it stays fresh on the shelf and it has the perfect texture for slipping into some crispy and chewy dumplings. Unlike water packed tofu, Mori-Nu Silken Tofu doesn’t require a lot of pressing or draining to cook which makes it more accessible and quicker to prep!

There are many types of wonton or dumpling wrappers you could use for this, just be sure to check the ingredients for eggs! If you can find round wrappers, those will work as well, just do a traditional crimping fold to keep them shut.

For my mapo tofu I always use ground Szechuan pepper and a spicy broad bean paste. My brand of choice is Lee Kum Kee, but there are many different options you can use-just adjust the taste based on your spice tolerance!

For folding these, it’s quite simple, just wet the edges of each wrapper, fold corner to corner, and then gently pinch the outside tips together (see above.) You can also look up videos on YouTube for different folding methods if you’d like another shape of dumpling.

Make sure to use a fully hot skillet and a neutral oil for cooking these. The splash of water in the pan helps steam the wrappers and gives them a soft texture, but will splatter everywhere if not covered. I love my cast iron skillet for cooking these because it holds so much heat and the bottoms crisp up perfectly.

Click on read more below to get the recipe!

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Salt and Pepper Tofu

5 Oct

When I was in 6th grade my teacher, Mrs. Dagle, gave the class a get-to-know-you survey. She asked for everyone’s favorite color, book, food, etc. I remember answering my favorite food as “anything except tofu.” I hated the texture of tofu for years-I would often buy it and leave it in the fridge for weeks until I finally cooked it, only to throw half away. Salt and pepper tofu was the first recipe I tried where I really enjoyed the texture and the taste. Something about frying tofu to give it a crunchy texture made it more palatable to me.

I bookmarked this recipe years ago and it’s become a favorite for busy weeknights. I’ve also experimented with cooking the tofu in sauce afterwards, but I prefer to leave it crunchy just the way it is. Feel free to use it in other dishes or as a beginning step to making barbeque tofu.

Salt and Pepper Tofu

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Sweetfire Seitan

14 Sep Sweetfire Seitan

Most people who know me know I worked in a famous Asian restaurant for well over a year. I was very limited in my meal options there; I pretty much exclusively ate white rice and vegetable spring rolls. Every once in a while I would cook my own meals using the ingredients available to me. One meal I ate regularly was vegetables cooked in their sweet chili sauce (which they called sweetfire.) I was never able to add a vegan protein to it there, but recreating it at home gave me that option.

Sweetfire Seitan

I used seitan I had dipped in a soy/flour mixture and fried, because the recipe from my work used deep-fried chicken bites. You could easily sub tofu or unbreaded seitan as well. This recipe is extremely quick and easy, especially if you use premade sauce and seitan. Perfect for busy work nights or long days with a teething toddler.

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Mapo Tofu-Revisited

11 Aug

Mapo tofu is still one of our favorite meals here – it’s one of my go to dishes when I’m low on time, because it doesn’t require a huge prep time. I’ve improved on my original recipe a lot, specifically by adding the broad bean paste and szechuan pepper. The szechuan pepper adds an almost – citrus flavor that’s perfect for this spicy dish.

Mapo Tofu-Revisited

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Baked Tofu

29 Jun Baked Tofu

I’ve already told you guys about how much I hated tofu as a child. As much as I don’t enjoy saying it (my husband can attest to this), I was wrong! Tofu is one of the most scrumptious things in the universe, as long as you drain it well and cover it in delicious flavors. I’ll be honest though, I’ve come to even enjoy eating it plain.

Baked Tofu

You can definitely use extra firm tofu for this, but firm will work just as fine. Don’t get the stuff in the aseptic package, you want the water filled stuff you have to drain. Don’t forget to save that water to whip into meringues! Black vinegar is the only hard to find ingredient in this recipe, but you can substitute a good balsamic vinegar if you don’t have a well stocked asian store nearby. It won’t have the same flavor profile, so definitely search for black vinegar!

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Sweet and Sour Seitan

3 Jan

One of my favorite meal growing up was sweet and sour meatballs. My mom used a recipe from the original orange Betty Crocker (you know the one, your mom had it too.) I love adapting old recipes, so here’s my version.

I use seitan instead of meatballs, but you could easily substitute tofu. Feel free to add different veggies, but the pineapple is essential.

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Mapo Eggplant

3 Nov

This could easily be called sichuan eggplant, but I prefer to think of it as mapo eggplant, as that’s what inspired the recipe. I’ve expressed how much I love mapo tofu in my previous post and this dish runs a close second. I came up with this to use up our abundance of eggplant in our garden this year; my desire for spicy foods prevailed over  traditional dishes like moussaka.

The eggplant gets a perfect soft and chewy texture when fried, and soaks up the sauce perfectly. I use mushrooms and seitan to mimic the pork in traditional mapo tofu and add some green onions for color. I usually grind my own sichuan peppercorns and make my own chili oil, but you don’t have to go through all that effort if you can buy them both. The fermented black beans and chili bean paste are key in this recipe; you can make it without them, but they add a depth you can’t get without them.

Mapo Eggplant

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Fried Rice

1 Nov

I’ve previously talked about my employment at a popular Asian restaurant that shall remain nameless (hint:you find it in most rest areas across the country and it features a bear in its name.) I spent my first few weeks there solely making fried rice, which is a lot more complicated in large amounts than it seems. I never tried their fried rice, because it contained chicken broth, but I started replicating the recipe at home with great success.

The key to good fried rice is old rice, high heat and a well seasoned wok. It’s going to be really hard to achieve the latter two on a home stovetop, because most people don’t have restaurant style burners. Bearing that in mind, you can still make some pretty tasty rice. I use dark soy sauce because it gives the rice that rich, dark brown color. Feel free to use regular soy sauce, just increase the amount you use.

I love having a big bowl of this in my fridge, I sneak bites of cold rice throughout the day. It’s one of my ultimate comfort foods, especially with chili sauce or teriyaki sauce on the side.

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