2 Sisters et 1 Cat, de Taïwan à Québec: Kung Pao Tofu/宮保豆腐

Typically this dish is made with marinated chicken, a lot of chili peppers, and peanuts, but since I have to make it with tofu, I worried that it might be a little bland if I only used tofu and chili. I wanted it to be as flavorful and as colorful as it can be, not to mention healthy as well. Inspired by the seasonal vegetables, I'm bringing some in to "jazz it up." If you don't like one of these vegetables, feel free to skip or replace it with something else. Instead of peanuts, I prefer cashews myself, since they are lower in fat content but are very high in protein and still taste fairly like peanuts. Also, if you cannot eat spicy food like me, you might want to consider either using less dried chili pepper and removing their seeds, or just skip it all together like I did.

Kung Pao Tofu (About 4 servings)

A: 1 large red bell pepper, medium dice
     1 cucumber (if it's small, please use 2), medium dice
     about 1 1/2 cup white bottom mushrooms, wiped clean and halved or
     quartered if large

about 360 g firm tofu
about 1/4 C flour (optional) - *If you're worried about the tofu sticking to the pan, you can gently pat both sides of tofu into the flour before pan frying

B: 4-5 pieces dried whole chili, cut into 1" segments (*optional - I cannot eat
     spicy food, so I eliminated all)
     1 1/2 t grated ginger
     5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
     1 scallion - white part only, chopped

1/2 C raw cashew or fried peanuts

1 1/2 t Sichuan peppercorns

about 3 T canola (or any other stir fry oil)

C:   2 1/2 T soy sauce
      1 1/2 T rice wine
      1 T vegetarian oyster sauce
      2 1/2 t sugar
      1 1/4 t Chinese black vinegar

1 t kuzu, mixed with 1 T water (you can use cornstarch instead)

1 scallion - green part only, chopped

1. Cut the tofu into large pieces. (Depending on your size of tofu, but I cut mine into about 1" square pieces). Make sure you use paper towels to really pat dry the tofu pieces, so they won't stick to the pan.

2. If using raw cashews, lightly toasted them in the pan with a little bit of oil.

3. Heat 2 T of oil and fry the Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant for about 1 minute. Strain the oil and discard the peppercorns.

4. Heat 1 T oil and gently place the tofu pieces in the pan ; pan fry both sides until golden brown. Take them out of the pan and set aside. (*After putting the tofu in the pan, do not keep on moving it. Just let it brown on one side and then flip to brown the other side. Shake the pans occasionally to make sure they don't stick during the cooking.)

5. Pour in half of the Sichuan pepper oil and quick stir frying A; season with a little bit of sea salt before taking them out.

6. Pour in the rest of the Sichuan pepper oil and cook B over medium low heat for 1-2 minutes. Add in A and tofu and pour in C. Cover and cook for a few minutes until the tofu soaked up the juice and flavor. Open the lid and stir in the kuzu mixture (if you don't have a lot of juice in the pan, only add half of the kuzu mixture.) Before taking the dish out, add the toasted cashews and mix. Pour the dish on a plate and garnish with some chopped scallions.

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To view related posts, Chinese Valentine's Day - 七夕情人節 or Easy double chocolate cupcakes with mocha ganache - 摩卡濃情黑巧小蛋糕 see links after Chinese translation of this recipe

宮保豆腐 (大約4人份)

A料:    紅甜椒, 一顆
           小黃瓜, 一條 (小條的話可用兩條)
           磨菇, 大約1 1/2杯

板豆腐, 大約 360克
麵粉少許 (可以省略) - 若怕會黏鍋，可在煎之前兩面稍微沾點麵粉, 但只要沾薄薄的一層即可，不要整塊翻滾在麵粉裡

B料:    乾辣椒, 4-5根 (*可自行選擇少量或不加)
           薑泥, 1 1/2 小匙
           蒜, 5-6粒
           青蔥一支,   蔥白

腰果或油炸花生 1/2杯

花椒粒 1 1/2 小匙

菜籽油 (或其它可耐高溫的油), 大約3大匙

調味醬料C： 醬油, 2 1/2 大匙
                    酒, 1 1/2 大匙 
                    糖, 2 1/2 小匙
                    烏醋, 1 1/4 小匙
                    素蠔油, 1 大匙

太白粉, 1小匙 (先加1大匙水調開) 
裝飾用: 青蔥一支, 綠色部分

1. 紅甜椒及小黃瓜洗淨後切丁; 磨菇用紙巾沾點水擦乾淨後切半。乾辣椒切段; 蒜切碎; 蔥白和蔥頭分開, 切碎。

2. 板豆腐切大塊後用紙巾擦乾，以免煎時黏鍋。

3. (若使用腰果的話), 將腰果用中火加少許油炒一下。

4. 加熱2大匙油，放入花椒粒炒一下把香氣逼出來，再將油過濾成花椒油。

5.. 鍋中加熱一大匙油，將擦乾的板豆腐小心放入，兩面煎至金黃後拿出。(*豆腐放入鍋後不要一直翻動它，讓底下煎至金黃後再用鏟子翻另一面，這中間可偶爾搖一下鍋子) 。

6. 將一半的花椒油倒入熱鍋中，放入A料快炒，加一點海鹽起鍋。

7. 倒入剩下的花椒油，用中小火將B料慢慢炒香後加入煎好的豆腐及炒好的A料，再倒入調味C, 蓋上鍋蓋煮2分鐘，讓豆腐慢慢吸進醬汁後，打開鍋蓋，加太白粉水將醬汁勾欠 (若醬汁不是太多，只要加一點太白粉水就好了)。起鍋前加入腰果炒拌均勻。灑上切碎的蔥花裝飾盛出。

View related posts/相關文章請看:

Chinese Valentine's Day - 七夕情人節

Easy double chocolate cupcakes with mocha ganache - 摩卡濃情黑巧小蛋糕

There's a surprise that continues after this. Apparently my little sis learned the recipe very quickly (Damn! I guess I didn't make it difficult enough for her...), and she is challenging me with hers!!! So who's the winner? Well, I guess you'll have to continue below to decide. (If you don't read Chinese, you can still enjoy the pictures.)

本文可不是到此就結束喔! 老妹不僅很快速的學會這道菜，還把它"活用"，並且跟我來個大PK! 那是誰贏呢? 就由你們大家來做決定了！

啊? 還沒結束?
對! 我們部落格就是這樣，不管觀眾想不想看，不管文章冗不冗長，總是執意並自顧自的冷不防會新增一篇有驚沒有喜的後記，想來，這就是本部落格的最大特色了吧! (登愣)

----------------------------------【自取其辱PK賽】----------------------------------

不要問我哪來的自信，因為我有明知山有虎偏向虎山行的性格(這是人格缺失吧)，廢話不多說，趕快來被汙辱吧(不是SM >///<)。

參照老姐上面的食譜，食材當然不止這些，但身為歪勾起挫界的第一把交椅，若每個步驟都精確無誤，那我就輸惹!! 哈哈哈哈.. (想巴我頭的，請直接在文章最下方按讚報名 XD)