Recipe: Sweet Chilli Lime Tofu with Steamed Spinach and Quinoa

This is a great vegan recipe originally posted by LindyLoo, and adapted par moi!

Sweet Chilli Lime Tofu with Steamed Spinach and Quinoa

Serves 2-4

1 block tofu sliced length-wise and cut into triangles

For the sauce:
3 tsp granulated xylitol
3 tsp soy sauce
1 3/4 tsp fresh lime juice
1/2 zest of the lime
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
4 mint leaves, chiffonaded

For the quinoa:
3/4 cup quinoa rinsed and drained
1/2 zest
2 bruised cardamon pods
1 small piece of cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups of water

For the spinach (the original recipe calls for collards , but I have no idea what those are!)
1 bag spinach leaves
2-3 tsps water
1 pinch salt
1 tsp lime juice

Combine all the ingredients for the quinoa in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and cover with a tight lid. Reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Then turn off the heat and steam for a further 10 minutes before serving.

Prepare the sauce by whisking together all the ingredients until the xylitol has dissolved.

Heat a pan and dry-fry the tofu triangles until golden on both sides.

Chop the spinach leaves (if necessary) and add to a deep frying pan/wok with the water, lime juice and salt. Cover and cook over a high heat for a couple of minutes until the spinach has wilted.

Re-heat the tofu and add the sauce to the pan. Stir to coat. Turn off the heat when the sauce starts to bubble and glaze the tofu.

Serve the spinach on top of a bed of quinoa. Add the tofu on top of that and drizzle over any left over sauce. Garnish with lime slices and the mint leaves.

Quick and easy lunch idea

Devised a really simple, yet really yummy lunch idea today - so obvious really, that I don't know why I didn't think about it before.

Spinach Scrambled Eggs

2 large eggs
handful of fresh, baby spinach
olive oil spread
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Rinse the spinach. In a small pan heat a knob of olive oil spread. Add the spinach and gently fry until it wilts (only takes a minute). Remove from the pan and keep warm. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add to the pan (on a low heat) and scramble. When almost cooked, but still moist, return the spinach to the pan. Stir into the egg. Remove the pan from the heat. Season to taste and serve, with oatcakes or potato farls.

The peppery-ness of the spinach works really well with the egg. I guess the resulting dish is really a kind of deconstructed Eggs Florentine!

New recipe: Palak Paneer

It's December! Hardly seems possible. Looking back over the archives for the last couple of months it's clear how slack I've been at posting new blog entries just recently. I've just finished writing a MAMMOTH chapter of my thesis and now I can relax a bit. I have loads of new recipes and ideas to try out, so expect the pace to pick up over the next few days.

First up, the best recipe (so far) I've found for paneer (which I'm quickly developing an addiction for). It's from the manufacturers, Long Clawson Dairies. They have a lot of recipes on their site but not, unfortunately, this one (which was printed on box):

Palak Paneer

I get my paneer from Sainsbury's, 'though I'm not sure how widely available it is around the rest of the country (I live in Leicester which has a very large South Asian population, so getting hold of ingredients for Indian cookery here isn't a big problem).

This recipe serves two.

227g paneer, cut into small cubes (I'd suggest one square inch)
butter or oil for frying
227g fresh spinach
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic*
small piece of ginger, chopped*
1 fresh green chilli, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
seasoning to taste

* Try grating the garlic and ginger - much, MUCH easier than trying to slice/chop them!

Now, the recipe also suggests 1/2 tsp mixed spice - I'm assuming they mean garam masala and not the stuff you put in mince pies!

Heat the oil or butter in a large pan. Fry the paneer quickly until golden brown then put it to one side. Roughly chop the spinach leaves.

Using the same pan, fry the onion until golden brown then add the ginger, chilli and garlic. Cook for a further minute. Add the tomato, salt, pepper, turmeric and garam masala. Cook until the oil separates.

Add the spinach. Cover and cook on a low heat until the spinach is tender and the mixture is almost dry.

Add the paneer, stir and cook for five minutes on a low heat. Add a small amount of hot water if too dry.

The recipe suggests a tomato and onion ring garnish and to serve the dish with naan bread or rice. I had it with poppadoms, which was a filling enough combination for me.