My Chinese New Year's Egg Rolls

Disclaimer: Homemade Egg Rolls take at least a few hours to make. I'm going to post pictures here, but I don't want to break my own rules by posting the recipe. If you guys are interested, email me and I'll give you the dish (so to speak.) Heh. I have to say though. This is my mom's meatless recipe and she is a damn fine cook.

For those of you who don't already know, it's a popular Chinese tradition to serve Egg Rolls on New Year's Eve because they represent wealth since they resemble a gold bar.

Those are gold alright... Yum! Happy Chinese New Year's!

Spicy Kung Pao Tofu

If you like peppers this recipe is definitely for you. Inspired by the Chinese version of 'Kung Pao Chicken' this healthy vegetarian version is also simple to make. I stole this from Recipezaar.com and modified it a little bit. Click here for the original.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs of Vegetable Broth
1 Tbs Soy Sauce, 2 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp of Cornstarch
1/2 tsp of Sugar
2 Tbs of Sliced Garlic
2 Tbs of Minced Ginger
3/4 tsp of Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbs of Canola Oil
1 Red Bell Pepper - sliced into 1/2 inch squares
1 Yellow Bell Pepper - sliced into 1/2 inch squares
1 Green Bell Pepper - sliced into 1/2 inch squares
1 Carton of Firm Tofu - cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Salt to taste
1 Tbs of Chopped Peanuts

In a small bowl combine vegetable broth, soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch, and sugar. In a large wok or skillet over medium heat - cook garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper in hot oil for about 10 seconds. Add bell peppers and stir-fry until peppers start to soften. Add tofu and broth mixture. Stir-fry a few more seconds. Cover, reduce to low heat and cook until tofu has heated through and sauce has thickened. Add salt to taste and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Sprinkle with peanuts. Serve over rice!

Cool Tofu Snack

'Tofu Snack' is quick, easy, and perfect for the hot summer weather! It's great as an appetizer or healthy snack when you're not in the mood to cook. Take a slab of chilled tofu (meaning tofu that's been in the refrigerator), drain, and cut in half. Or if you're really hungry you can use the whole thing.

Required: Firm Tofu, Vegetarian Oyster Sauce (you can get this at most Asian stores), Vegetarian Nori Furikake (thanks Stacey)

Slice drained tofu into cubes. Pour some oyster sauce on top and then sprinkle with Furikake. Oooh we're mixing Chinese and Japanese condiments together! You may want to repeat the condiment mixture on the second layer if you used all of the first layer. You'll see what I mean once eat the first cube.

Super cool!

Spicy Chinese Inspired Scramble

Broccoli, tofu and bean sauce are featured in this dish. It's easy, I promise!

Required: Broccoli, Bean Sauce (you can get this in any Asian grocery store), Spices (black pepper or Sri Ra Cha - pictured here), Sesame Oil or Canola Oil

Optional: Somen Noodles or Rice, Tofu, Peanuts or Cashews, Chili Oil

I always have to have carbs with my dishes, thus the Somen. But you can make this without noodles or rice. If you want to make the noodles, I would suggest boiling the noodles first. If you are making rice, you should prepare it well in advance. The noodles took less than 5 minutes to cook.

While the noodle was boiling. I crumbled the tofu. (After the noodles were finished boiling, I added some Sesame and Hot Chili Oil as well as a little soy sauce to the drained noodles.) You can use a fork for mushing. Then I used about 1 to 2 tablespoons to oil a pan with sesame oil. I let the pan heat up. I added pre-chopped broccoli into the pan and sauteed for a bit. I like my broccoli crispy but not soft; use your own judgement here. After I decided the broccoli was almost where I wanted it, I added the crumbled tofu. I then took another 1 to 2 tablespoons of black bean sauce and added to the mix. Black bean sauce is very salty so there's no need to add salt. (I learned this the hard way once.) After that, you have to push everything around in the pan until the ingredients are mingling well enough. Cook to taste. I added a little black pepper and Sri Ra Cha which is Chinese hot sauce.

This saute went over Somen noodles.

Done in 20 minutes!