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Lemon & Basil Spaghetti Squash Salad

18 Jun 2013

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I harvested 52 pounds of spaghetti squash! That is, by far, the largest harvest of anything I’ve ever grown short of oranges.

spaghettisquash3

Many of them were immediately baked, shredded and frozen for future consumption because the thick rind had a bug hole in it. If the squash has a hole, cook it immediately or it will rot from the inside out. The squashes are stored in baskets in the pantry in the laundry room, by far the coolest and driest room in my house.  About a week after the first of the spaghetti squashes were put in the pantry, I noticed a dripping hole in one of them. I took it out and figured I would trim off the bad spot and bake the rest. When I started cutting into it I found the entire center was rotten. Lesson learned- only store hard-skinned squashes with no holes!

To cook spaghetti squash, simple cut in half, rub the cut sides with olive oil, and roast in a 400 oven until a butter knife slides through the thickest part. You can also put an inch of water in the bottom of a baking dish and bake the squashes cut side down, though this method of steaming makes the cooked squash quite watery. Many people suggest steaming spaghetti squash in the microwave, but this gave me uneven results, so now I only bake them. Baking several at a time saves energy!

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Lemon & Basil Spaghetti Squash Salad

This salad takes full advantage of the mildly sweet  flavor of steamed or baked spaghetti squash. My family loved this so much we ate it two days in a row! Don’t skimp on the ingredients. This is one of those dishes that expresses the ideal of “local and seasonal” since so many of the ingredients are available right now at the farmers market or in the garden.

3-4 pounds spaghetti squash, baked, seeded and shredded (about 4-5 packed cups of cooked squash shreds)
1/2 lb good ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
large bunch of basil, trimmed of stems and sliced thinly
3 lemons, rind peeled and juice squeezed
4 oz goat’s milk feta, crumbled
Good quality extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

In a large bowl, toss the warm spaghetti squash, tomatoes, basil, lemon juice, and lemon rind with a fork until evenly combined. Then toss the feta through. Add enough olive oil, starting with 1/4 cup, until the flavors are evenly balanced. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to meld. Before serving, toss thoroughly and adjust with salt and pepper.

By: Andi Houston Category: Garden Updates, Recipes!

Spaghetti with Lambsquarters Marinara

12 Jun 2013

9 Comments

This is the story of how I got my kids to eat weeds.

lambsquarters1

No one could rightly call my kids “picky eaters”. My younger son’s favorite snack is sardines in mustard sauce. My daughter begs for kimbap and taro ice cream. My kids happily eat squid, kimchi, and stinky cheeses. However, due to my adventurous palate and my devotion to introducing them to new foods on a regular basis, they are… cautious. Probably too many times they’ve asked “What’s in this?” and my reply has been “Try it! You’ll like it!”

lambsquarters2

So I’ve devised a strategy that seems to work. Hide the weird new food in a form that the kids are already familiar with!

lambsquarters4

Lambsquarters is a semi-domesticated cultivated weed. There are several varieties grown for food, I think mine is Chenopodium giganteum, magenta lambsquarters. There is a closely-related Chenopodium native to the Americas also cultivated as a food plant with a short growth habit and narrower leaves, but I think most of what I’ve seen is white lambsquarters, which is native to Europe. Most lambsquarters are not quite so “wild” as the weeds we forage in the woods. I have gathered them growing as a weed in rows of other cultivated vegetables on organic farms but I’ve never seen them in uncultivated areas. I grew this from seed purchased from the Edible Plant Project. Magenta lambsquarters are vigorous, beautiful, and extremely nutritious. However, they also have a unique texture… they’re covered in a fuzzy pink down that repels water and they’re sturdy like kale when cooked.

lambsquarters5

Spaghetti with Lambsquarters Marinara

1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce,  homemade or store-bought
1/4 c cream
2 large sprigs each of fresh basil and parsley
2 large bunches of fresh lambsquarters
1 tbl salt
1 lb hot cooked spaghetti
Grated parmesan

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Fill your sink with a few inches of cold water. Carefully pull the lambsquarters leaves and growth tips off of the hard stems. Discard the stems (put them in the compost!). Dump the leaves into the cold water and swish them around well, then lift them out of the cold water to leave behind sand and bugs. Blanch the leaves only until they’re wilted and bright green, then immediately submerge in cold water. When cooled, drain well and chop the leaves.

Heat the marinara sauce over medium-low heat until barely bubbling. Stir in the cream and the chopped lambsquarters. Turn off the heat. Rinse and chop the basil and parsley and stir the fresh herbs into the sauce. Serve immediately over hot cooked pasta and top with plenty of parmesan.

By: Andi Houston Category: Recipes! Tags: , , ,

Spiced Stir-fried Okra

5 Jun 2013

2 Comments

Idli are traditionally served for breakfast with various chutneys and a spicy lentil soup but I’m a rule-breaker. I had some okra to be used up and so I made stir-fried spiced okra to go with the idli. Many people think okra is “slimy”, but only if it’s boiled. Sauteed or stir-fried okra is tender and slime-free. Okra is so bountiful and inexpensive here in the summer I am always looking for new ways to cook it, and the combination of idli, chutney, and spiced okra was so light and delicious that I think I have found my go-to lunch for the rest of the summer.

idli3

Curry leaf may seem exotic but it’s easily found at any well-stocked Indian grocery store. If you can find a plant and enjoy Indian food, you should grow it yourself. Curry leaf is best used fresh but I never can use all of the leaves before they go bad. If you have the plant you can only pick what you need, which is rarely more than 5 leaves at a time. I haven’t found my own curry plant yet, but it’s on the “short list” for my garden.

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Spiced Sauteed Okra

1 lb fresh whole okra
1 large bunch green onions or 2 small white onions, chopped
5 fresh curry leaves, sliced into thin “ribbons”
1 tsp whole coriander seed
2 dried red chilis, crushed, or 1/4 tsp crushed red chili
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1- 2 tbl oil
salt & pepper

First trim the stems off of the okra, but leave the “caps” as much as possible. Then slice the okra into 1/2″ pieces at a slight angle.

Heat a small saute pan or wok over medium heat. Add the oil and get it really hot-almost smoking. Add the mustard seed into the oil and swirl the pan off the heat until the mustard seeds start popping. Add the onion and stir-fry until the onion is nice and browned. The add the okra and stir-fry until the okra is lightly browned and cooked through, adding another tablespoon of oil if necessary. Then add the coriander, chilis, and curry leaf and stir until you can really smell the spices. Add salt and freshly-cracked black pepper to taste. Serve very hot!

By: Andi Houston Category: Recipes! Tags: , , ,

Homemade Wild-fermented Idli

4 Jun 2013

4 Comments

I adore Indian food of all regions and descriptions, but South Indian is probably my favorite regional Indian cuisine. Coconut milk, curry leaves, mustard seeds, bright red chiles, and rice? Bring it on. Wild fermentation has a long history in India and there are many traditional dishes made with what we would call “sourdough”, batters dependent on wild yeasts for their unique tang. One of these traditional dishes is idli, a steamed “bread” made from a mixture of ground and fermented rice and lentils. I have eaten idli many times in restaurants and purchased them ready-made from Indian grocery stores, but I had never made them at home because they require a special piece of equipment- an idli steamer. Even eating idli in restaurants is a rare treat. There are no Indian restaurants serving South Indian food in my town so I have to seek them out in Indian restaurants in larger cities like Woodlands in Orlando.

A month or so ago I found myself wandering around a ritual and kitchen supply store in Atlanta, where lo and behold, they were selling small inexpensive idli steamers. I purchased one immediately, giddy with the idea of finally attempting one of my favorite dishes at home.

idli batter

This is my first, too-thick batter. If the batter is too thick it won’t ferment properly. Thin it down until it’s the consistency of pancake batter.

Last weekend the stars finally lined up correctly to try making idli. I read just about every idli-making recipe on the internet, which are mostly written by young expat women trying to recreate the fluffy and light idli their mom or grandma made when they were growing up. My mom doesn’t even know what idli are, so I felt rather freed from the ideal “perfect-mom-idli” and ready to experiment. The nice part of experiments like these is that rice and lentils are cheap. If it fails, I’m out about a dollar. No biggie.

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Wild-Fermented Idli

The fermentation gives a great boost to the digestibility of the rice and lentils. If you can’t get urad dal or basmati rice, try this with other small lentils or beans. It may take some experimenting, but the technique will not change.

1/2 c split urad dal, skinless
2 c basmati rice
1 tbl whole fenugreek seeds
1-2 tsp salt

On the morning of the first day, pour the dry dal and rice into two separate bowls. Add the fenugreek seeds to the lentils. Cover each with 2″ of water, filtered or de-chlorinated if possible. Set out, uncovered, for 12 hours in a warm place.

That evening you make the batter. Drain the lentils and rice separately, keeping the water. Scrape the lentils and fenugreek seeds into a blender and grind on low, adding just enough of the soaking liquid to make a paste. When it’s completely smooth, scrape into a large glass bowl. Discard the remaining lentil soaking water. Then grind the rice, adding just enough of the rice soaking water to make a medium-thick batter like pancake batter. The batter must be as smooth as possible. This took five full minutes of grinding in my home blender, stopping occasionally to let the motor cool. Then add the rice batter to the lentil batter and stir thoroughly. The consistency should be white, light, and should drop off a spoon freely, not stick to the spoon or run off. Add one teaspoon of salt to the batter and beat the batter thoroughly with a sturdy whisk or wooden spoon to get some air in the batter. Then cover lightly with a piece of cheesecloth or a floursack towel and set aside in a warm, sheltered place, like bread dough. Let rise overnight.

Check the batter in the morning. Are there tiny bubbles? Are there lots of bubbles? If the batter is too thick or not rising, add a small amount of water until the batter “loosens up” and beat it again. Cover again and let it sit for another 8-12 hours. You want the batter to be very bubbly and smell good and sour, like a sourdough starter. If the batter reaches this state before you can cook the idli, put the batter in the fridge. Take it out and let it get warm and “alive” again before you cook it.

Take out your idli steamer*. Oil each depression. Put a couple of inches of water in a pot with a tight-fitting lid and bring the water up to a boil. Lightly spoon about 2 tbl of batter into each depression until each cup is full. Carefully lower the steamer into the pot, cover it, and steam on medium heat for 10 minutes. The idli are done when they are firm to the touch in the center.  Carefully “pop” them out of the steamer, and then oil each depression again and repeat the process until the batter is gone. If they are not light & fluffy, a common “cheat” is to add a 1/2 tsp of baking powder to the batter right before cooking to give it a little extra lift. My first batch needed extra salt and baking powder. Next time I will ferment the batter longer.

Serve idlis hot with the chutney of your choice, though traditional and my favorite is coconut chutney. Tomorrow I’ll share the recipe for the spiced okra and coconut chutney I served with these idli!

*If you don’t have an idli steamer, you can try using cupcake liners in a steamer or make dosa or uttapam instead, which are also delicious.

By: Andi Houston Category: Recipes! Tags: , , , , ,

Rosemary… Cake?

24 May 2013

2 Comments

There is a rare combination of “interesting” and “accessible” in reading recipes that works on me like magic. Before you know it I’m heading for the pots and pans with laptop in hand. This cake was one of those recipes. Rosemary in a cake? I also thought the cake might be nice topped with the vanilla-balsamic strawberry sauce in the pantry.

And wow was I right. The rosemary in my herb garden has approximately tripled in size in the past two months so I used just-snipped rosemary, which was subtle but there. This cake is moist and good alone, but with an assertive sauce it was fantastic. If you’ve been canning like I have, this cake would be the perfect pairing to show off some of your more-complex jams and sauces.

This simple cake is based on several Rosemary-Olive Oil cake recipes I found around the web, but I didn’t have any decent olive oil on hand and I wanted to use some whole grains. I think that using free-range eggs makes a big difference in the richness and color, so use free-range eggs if at all possible in this recipe.

rosemary cake

Simple Rosemary Cake with Vanilla-Balsamic Strawberry Sauce

4 large free-range eggs
2/3 c sunflower oil or any other cold-pressed neutral oil, or ghee
2/3 c raw sugar
1/2 c oat flour
1/2 c spelt flour
1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbl fresh rosemary, minced
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Line the bottom of a 9″ springform pan with paper, and butter the paper and the walls of the pan. Heat the oven to 325.

Beat together eggs, oil, and sugar until smooth and light. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the egg mixture. Beat in with a sturdy spoon or spatula just until combined, then stir in minced rosemary. Scrape batter into the springform pan and tap the pan lightly on the side to settle the batter and get rid of any big air bubbles.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out of the center clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and then remove the sides. Let cool overnight if possible. Serve with Vanilla-Balsamic Strawberry sauce or fruit coulis or preserve of your choice.

By: Andi Houston Category: Eat Local Challenge, Recipes! Tags: , ,

Canning Day and Vanilla Balsamic Strawberry Sauce

8 May 2013

12 Comments

Sometimes home chores can be a kind of moving meditation, too.

Sunday was scheduled to be a canning and kitchen project day for me. The Gainesville Food Swap is coming soon and I wanted to make a few more items for the swap, plus canning several projects in one large water bath saves electricity and time. So I purchased a half-flat of strawberries, several pounds of okra, and hard-boiled two dozen quail eggs the day before.

ripe strawberries

Then Sunday morning we received the news of a death in the family.  There was absolutely nothing I could do for them, being halfway across the country. So I carried on with my plans and spent the afternoon in the kitchen, music in the background, mostly alone. I don’t know if these will be the best pickled okra or pickled beets I’ll ever make. I was distracted by worry and probably missed a couple of ingredients. Fortunately I’ve made this strawberry sauce many times. But these jars are also full of the memories I thought about while I was stirring, and a sort of peace I found through this simple work.

canning day

Swedish Pickled Beets from A Passionate Plate- I added quail eggs and substituted whole peppercorns for the cloves

Pickled Okra from Katy She Cooks- I used whole dill heads from the garden but forgot the chiles

Vanilla-Balsamic Strawberry Sauce

This sauce will not set up like a jam, it’s meant for serving over pancakes or strawberry shortcake. This is an excellent recipe to use bruised and slightly over-ripe berries.

1 half-flat of very ripe strawberries, 6 pint baskets
2 c raw sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbl high-quality balsamic vinegar
2 whole vanilla beans

Trim strawberries and cut in half. Fill your sink with a few inches of water- enough that all of the berries will float. Dump in the berries and swish them around with your hands for a minute or so. Now take a slotted spoon (or your hands) and lift the berries out of the water and place them in a non-reactive pot with a lid. Lifting the berries out of the water is the best way to get all of the sand off.

Add the sugar and salt to the berries. Do not add any water! Cover the pot and put it over medium heat. While the strawberries are coming to a boil, take the whole vanilla beans and make a slit lengthwise halfway through the bean with a small sharp knife. You want to expose the seeds, but not necessarily cut the bean in half. Then cut them in half across the width. Toss them in the pot. Stir and cover again until the berries come to a full boil in their own juices. Stir again, reduce the heat to low, and take the cover off. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the sauce at a brisk simmer. Stir often to reduce risk of scorching.

Let the berries simmer until the sauce is reduced by about 1/4 and the vanilla scent is strong. Take the sauce off the heat and puree with an immersion blender until about half pureed. You can also puree half of the sauce in batches in a regular blender, too. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir well. Let a spoonful cool and taste for seasoning. Depending on your berries, the sauce may need additional sugar.

Fill three pint jars with the boiling hot strawberry sauce, leaving 1″ head space. Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. If the strawberry sauce separates in the jar, just give it a good stir before serving. We especially like this sauce over whole-grain pancakes spread with ricotta cheese.

By: Andi Houston Category: Eat Local Challenge, Recipes!

Eat Local Challenge Goals for 2013

2 May 2013

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Yesterday was the start of the Eat Local Challenge. Not only is May a month of beautiful weather here, it also has a wide range of fresh produce since the winter and early spring crops like tender greens and broccoli are at their tail end and the summer crops like okra and peppers are just starting to come in. For the Eat Local Challenge this year I’m going to try something new- tracking what local products I’m eating at each meal. I’ll post a list of what I buy each week and my menu. You can see past menus under “Weekly Meal Plans” and photos of my weekly farmers’ market haul under “What’s in the Basket?” We’ve been ‘eating local” for many years but this year I’m going to try and figure out exactly what percentage of my weekly grocery budget is buying local food.

Another goal this month is to create a recipe archive for this site. I have scores of recipes on this blog and most of them focus on local produce, but they’re hard to find. A recipe archive based on seasons will help you find dishes that use produce growing at the same time.

And then in the middle of the month I’m running the first Gainesville Food Swap!

Have you signed up yet? If you aren’t here in the Gainesville area, does your county or city have an Eat Local Challenge month?

By: Andi Houston Category: Eat Local Challenge, Recipes!

Coconut Oil Banana Bread

23 Apr 2013

4 Comments

My kids are active. All three take tae kwan do twice a week. My daughter plays lacrosse on top of that, and my son is on the crew team. My oldest works full time as an electrician’s assistant on a commercial site. So I like to have healthy high-calorie snacks around as much as possible… but they also have to taste good. One of their favorites is banana bread so I pack as much nutrition in my banana bread recipes as possible. I rarely make the same recipe twice, but this whole-grain, heavy-on-the-protein experiment turned out with perfect quick bread texture and big banana flavor. They’ve already eaten half the cake (I may have had a piece, too). Half oat flour and half spelt flour is my preferred whole-grain flour combination, but you can substitute any flour you have on hand.

banana bread

Coconut Oil Banana Bread

5 big soft-ripe bananas
2 free-range eggs
1/2 c coconut oil
1/2 c cane syrup
1 c raw sugar
1 c coconut flour
1 c oat flour
1 c spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350. Coat a bundt pan with coconut oil. Place the peeled bananas, eggs, oil, syrup, and sugar in a large bowl. Mash and combine using an electric mixer for a chunky texture. (If you want no chunks of banana, do this in a blender.) Add the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine the dry ingredients and then beat with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until almost smooth. Scrape evenly into the bundt pan, and then bang the pan gently on the counter a time or two to settle and even out the batter.

Bake until a skewer comes out moist but clean, 45-50 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out and cool overnight before slicing. Serve toasted with plenty of melted butter, or slathered in peanut butter for an after-school snack.

Also, if you’re in the Gainesville area, I am hosting the Gainesville Food Swap next month! Check it out!

By: Andi Houston Category: Recipes! Tags: , , , ,

Spicy Pickled Quail Eggs

18 Apr 2013

2 Comments

Surprising though it may be, pickled eggs only came into my life recently. I’ve seen those scary jars of fluorescent red pickled eggs at gas stations my whole life but had never even considered them actual food. I mean, the jars are always slightly dusty. Have you ever seen anyone actually buy one of those gas station pickled eggs? Are they even real?

HannahsPickled

Then we found some pickled quail eggs at Dorignac’s in Metairie, LA. Those tiny eggs were delicious. Spicy and salty with no scary food coloring and just the right amount of spice. We emptied two jars at one dinner party.

Then my husband comes home a few weeks ago to tell me that one of his co-workers was earning extra money raising quail, and did I want some eggs? Heck, yes! I had to try replicating those Cajun pickled quail eggs. He brought home two dozen eggs and I let them sit in the fridge for ten days to “loosen up”, so they’d be easier to peel. I boiled them and my friend volunteered to peel the tedious things.  I mean really, what else can you do with quail eggs but pickle them? It takes a million to make egg salad and scrambled eggs. They’re entirely too delicate to make deviled eggs. But they’re perfect for pickling.

pickled eggs

Cajun-style Spicy Pickled Quail Eggs

2 dozen quail eggs, at least a week old
1 1/2 c rice vinegar
1/4 c water
2 tsp cane syrup (I bet sorghum molasses would be an excellent substitute)
1 tbl whole peppercorns
1 tsp whole allspice berries
2 bay leaves
1 tsp chile flakes
2 sprays of green coriander seeds (substitute 1/2 tsp coriander seeds if your cilantro isn’t going to seed like mine)
scant tsp salt

Sterilize a pint jar.

Put eggs in a pan, cover with water. Bring a to slow boil, turn off and immediately drain the eggs and plunge them in ice water. If you cook the eggs too “hard” they’ll get rubbery in the brine. As soon as they’re cool enough to handle, peel them carefully and set aside to cool and dry. (Don’t throw those shells away- add them to your compost bin.)

Combine rice vinegar through salt in a small pan and bring to a furious boil. Set aside and let cool.

Carefully pack the eggs in the clean jar. They won’t quite fill it up. Now strain the brine. Take out the bay leaves and coriander sprays (if used) and carefully poke them down among the eggs with a chopstick. Be careful not to break any of the eggs open, or the exposed yolk will make the brine murky (like mine!).  Then pour the brine over until the eggs are completely covered, and finally scatter the remaining spices from the brine over the eggs with a spoon. Cap the jar tightly and gently shake to make sure the spices are distributed evenly. Store in the fridge for two weeks before eating.

By: Andi Houston Category: Recipes! Tags: , ,

Fresh Bamboo Shoot- Lemongrass Stirfry

16 Apr 2013

2 Comments

One of the wonderful surprises my husband brought home from his trip to Atlanta was a giant fresh bamboo shoot. This was the largest fresh bamboo shoot I’ve ever seen, easily 4″ across at the base, and completely whole. Usually if you can find fresh bamboo shoots they are sold already peeled. This was a wonderful skill to practice since we are planting bamboo this year and hope to be harvesting our own fresh bamboo shoots soon.

bamboo shoot

Preparing a whole fresh bamboo shoot is similar to a artichoke- there’s a lot of hard fibrous layers to peel away. The yummy bit’s hidden on the inside. The fibrous layers peel away easily to expose the soft mild-flavored shoot inside. Spring is the season for bamboo shoots! Go to your Asian grocer and ask if they have any.

I decided to make a Vietnamese-style stir-fry with the spicy marinated tofu he also bought from the Vietnamese market. Stir-fry dishes are excellent for using up tons of fresh vegetables when I go a bit overboard at the farmer’s market, and we don’t eat tofu very often so this was a big treat. I also seized the chance to use the lemongrass growing in my herb garden. This is my first lemongrass harvest! The lemongrass is bouncing back nicely from the late freeze, I finally feel like I can start harvesting a few stalks here and there.

lemongrass

Since marinated tofu isn’t easy to find outside of Vietnamese neighborhoods, I’ve included a spicy lemongrass marinade recipe I’ve used many times from Charmaine Solomon’s The Complete Asian Cookbook. You can use this delicious marinade on plain tofu or chicken.

stirfry2

Fresh Bamboo Shoot-Lemongrass Stirfry

2 lb extra-firm tofu, pressed overnight on towels to get ride of any extra water (or use chicken breasts or thighs)

Marinade

3 or 4 stalks fresh lemongrass, soft parts only chopped
3 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 fresh red chiles, or 1/2 tsp chile flakes
2 tbl sunflower, coconut or peanut oil
2 tsp coconut sugar ( you can substitute palm sugar or honey)

Slice the dry tofu into thick matchsticks and dry again on towels. Put the marinade ingredients in a blender and pulse, adding just enough water to make a thick paste. Put the tofu in a non-reactive bowl, add the marinade, and stir until all of the pieces are coated in marinade. Cover tightly and let marinate for at least 2 hours, or do this in the morning and let it marinate all day while you’re at work.

Stirfry ingredients

1 fresh bamboo shoot, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 head cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 lb snow peas, strings pulled if necessary
2 large spring onions or shallots, sliced
3-4 tbl fish sauce
1 tbl coconut sugar
3 stalks lemongrass, soft parts only minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
Sunflower, peanut or coconut oil

Heat a non-stick wok over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp of oil, swirl around. Add the bamboo shoot, tossing until lightly browned. Add 1/4 c of water to the wok and cover. Let the bamboo shoot steam, tossing the pan occasionally, until you can hear it sizzling again in the oil, showing that all of the water has evaporated. Set the bamboo shoots aside in another bowl.

Add another tbs or so of oil. Stir-fry the cabbage, snow peas, and shallots. Add to the bowl with the bamboo shoots. Finally add the tofu to the wok, stir-frying until the liquid has evaporated, the tofu is beginning to brown around the edges, and you can really smell the spices. Then make a hole in the center of the wok. Add another tbs of oil if there is none at the bottom of the pan. Add the ginger, garlic, and lemongrass to that little puddle of hot oil. Let them sizzle together for a few seconds until they start to turn really golden and fragrant. Then add the vegetables back to the wok, toss the whole mixture well, and pour 3 tbl of fish sauce and the sugar over the mixture. Toss again until it all sizzles. Taste for balance, add fish sauce or sugar if necessary.

Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice and plenty of fresh limes to squeeze over.

By: Andi Houston Category: Recipes! Tags: , , ,
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