Lemongrass Tofu with Cabbage Stir Fry

Easy side dish: Shredded Cabbage and Red Pepper Stir Fry

Spicy Crispy Lemongrass Tofu

I like to score the tofu, so that the flavor can get inside too.  Some people like to deep fry this, but I found that the lemongrass would fall off to the bottom of the pot and burn.  Just a little bit of oil in the pan is fine for me, and I don't have to any waste oil either.  The time consuming part is to turn them on all sides to get every surface crispy.  But that's just me- I like crispness. 

When you have left over noodles...

... those noodles will appear in  different forms for days and days after.  Noodle stir fry with meat, with veggies, noodle soup, noodle with fried eggs, fried noodle patties (my creation), etc.

All thanks to SOMEONE (whose eyes are bigger than her stomach), who decided to boil SIX packages of noodles for 5 people.  We barely ate half the amount.

So this is the first reincarnation of those noodles- a veggie stir fry with homemade fried tofu.  If you can fry tofu at home, it is definitely MUCH better than those in the supermarket.

Flat noodleees!

Veggie-tofu stir fried flat noodles.... with a fried egg!

Spicy Stir-Fried Pork Blood with Chives

Stir-fried blood pudding with chives, bean sprouts, lots of garlic, ginger, and chilies. I didn't eat it, but I think it was good! :D

My mind thinks the blood pieces taste better if it's a little crispy on the outside when stir-fried with garlic first, which was what I did.

Pink Cat's Special 3-Rice Fried Rice

Red jasmine rice, regular jasmine rice, and basmati rice.

What's in it: tofu, scallions, eggs, green beans, corn, chili flakes, broccoli (or whatever veggies you have on hand... carrots, peas, etc.) Remember to finish it off with some sesame oil at the end. I added some almond slices for additional crunch too.

Dinner: Braised Smelt and Stir Fried Gai-lan

Braised smelt in caramel sauce.

This is a savory caramel sauce, not the sweet kind that you usually associate with. The caramel adds a depth of flavor to any Vietnamese braised meat or fish dishes. I don't like smelt, because the fish breaks up too easily during cooking and there's too many tiny bones in it to eat. These were cooked with ginger, garlic, chili and fish sauce too. And you eat these with rice!

Pork and gai-lan stir fried.

Crispy Warm Beans and Spinach

One of the simpliest, and best side dishes ever. All you have to do is boil some beans until soft (ahead of time), drain them, and crispy them up in a pan with a bit of olive oil. This recipe is versatile too! Use any greens you like. The original recipe called for kale, but I only had baby spinach on hand.

I like to season it a bit- with garlic powder (or fresh garlic in hot oil), salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Just don't add any sauce of any kind. That would make the beans soggy. You can add an herb too, if you like. But it's sooooo good simply with some rice, and maybe a fried egg? ^-^

It is the texture that make this dish good. The beans become crispy on the outside, yet warm and soft on the inside. Crispy bits of beans also break off and cling on to the spinach. I think a drizzling of toasted sesame seed oil at the end would make it good too, but I didn't do that last time. Try it out!

Lunch: Peanut Buttered Tofu and Long beans

Spicy sauteed long beans with carrots and peppers.

I like cooking them with lots of chilies and garlic, and another version with shrimp paste. They're crisp and tender when eaten young, which is what you should be looking for when shopping for them. The Chinese long bean, also known as the yardlong bean, is actually only about half a yard long.


Heheh.. Such a messy bowl. This is fried tofu in peanut butter sauce (nothing special). Hey, I kind like it... Eat with some noodles or rice.

Curried Noodle Stir Fry

I don't think curry flavor/powder should be confined to making curry alone. I like it with fried tofu and noodle stir fries too! I also added turmeric powder, because I like the flavor. It's good for your health and goes well with curry powder too. (Even though some people might not agree that there is such a thing as curry powder.) :-)

Pork Fried Rice

Golden corns...

Sweet peas...

Crunchy green beans...

Spicy eggs...

Flavorful rice...

Juicy BBQ pork...

Oh wait, I got the wrong bowl of fried rice! This is the meat version!

One of the things I did with this fried rice is, instead frying up the egg whites+yolks together, I used the yolks to mix into the hot steamy rice. This gave the rice a nice yellowish color to it, as well as making it very tasty. I used only 1 yolk and the rest egg whites for the chopped egg pieces. Add in a little chili flakes when you eat, and it's very good.

p.s. One of the things I'm liking more and more is using basmati rice for making fried rice. It has a soft and nice texture to it.

My love for flat noodles

Boo! I tried to make a carrot "flower" with 5 petals, but somehow only ended up with 4 petals!

This stir fry was good, but I'd prefer veggie ingredients in it. Too bad, it was the end of the weekend and my fridge was empty.

Oh I love flat noodles. So satisfying to eat with its chewy-soft texture. I'm craving drunken noodle (same flat noodle) as I am writing this up!

Rice Stick Noodles- Stir fried

Did you have lunch yet? I just found out SOMEBODY had drunken noodle with out me today. :(

Well, this noodle dish is not from today, but from the past weekend. Usually during the week, my meals are only rice since it's always hot and ready in a rice pot.

But for weekends, I'd like to make noodles, whether soup noodles, stir fries, or (dry) tossed. The tossed is with vermicelli, chiffonade lettuce and herbs, grilled meats or fried lemongrass tofu, with a seasoned soy or fish sauce that you spoon in to your bowl. Then you toss it together!

This dish was just a stir fry of vegetables and fried tofu that I needed to use up before they go bad. Stir fries don't need to be complicated, where you follow a specific recipe. The only thing that you need to follow is the order of the ingredients you're going to cook... which one cooks quicker than another, so that it doesn't turn mushy. Mushy vegetables are bad bad!

Seafood Noodles

:: Chinese broccoli

:: Crab sticks

:: Scallops (Pan fried first)

:: Shrimps

:: Carrots

:: Egg noodles


Stir-fried together!

Stir-Fried Flat Noodles w/ Greens

- Flat noodles

- Black wood ear mushrooms

- Green beans

- Zucchini

- Shitty chives

- Beancurd sticks

Stir-Fried Vermicelli

'Bun Xao Chay'

Vegetarian stir fried rice noodle (vermicelli) with tofu, split green beans, carrots, and fried bean curd sheets.

Stir Fried Flat Noodles

Tofu, carrots, bean sprouts, chives (flowers), noodles.... sounds very healthy. ^_^












More Noodles!

Random veggies:

Broccoli, nappa cabbage, carrots... some other green veggies, I don't remember what they are!?

Spicy Basmati Fried Rice

Basmati rice is specially supplied by Chi's Rice& Spice Co. (^_~)

Yummy spicy fried rice!