Have you ever ended up with tofu leftovers?  What do you normally do with it?

Do you want to know my secret?  Crumble with a fork, cook in microwave, then you can add to practically anything. For example, soup — not only for miso soup, but also other Asian style soup, mix with ground meat and make a healthier burgers, scrambled tofu, stir fry, stuffing for gyoza, with rice. You can even add it to smoothie or make desserts, if you use the kinu-goshi (soft or medium-soft).  You can also do this to extend the life for a few more days, when you have a fresh tofu that’s about to expire. (Tofu can be frozen in the pack or with water, yet the texture changes compeletely.)

And yes, in case you are wondering, you can make this first, and make the tofu scramble I shared with you on my last post.

Scrambled Tofu Base

1. Crumble a tofu with a folk and place it on the microwavable plate lined with a paper towel. Microwave high for 4-5 minutes.
2. Leave until cool to handle,  transfer to a tupper ware lined with paper towel. Store in the fridge.

One recipe I want to share with you today is called Shiro-ae. Literally means mixed with whites.

Shira-ae

Ingredients:

• Scrambled Tofu mix – 1 cup (about 1/2 block of tofu)
• Nerigoma (sesame paste), ground sesame seeds, Tahini or peanut butter – 2 TBS
• Sugar – to taste
• Soy sauce – to taste
• miso (optional) – to taste
• Salt – pinch
• Greens – 1 1/2 – 2 cups

Method:

1. Mix tofu, sesame paste, sugar, soy sauce and salt.
2. Steam or boil greens, shock in ice water, and squeeze water out well.  Chop in bite size pieces. Or just use leftover vegetables.
3. Mix 1 and 2 right before eating.

Note: My favorites are broccoli or spinach, yet other vegetables such as carrots and sea vegetables especially hijiki can be used for this dish.
What’s your favorite way to eat tofu?  Please share as comment below.

Do you “HATE” cleaning up the mess after dinner?

Do you want to know some cleaning secrets?

This was a big issue for us, especially because there are only 2 of us, we barely use dishwasher, i.e. we have to do dishes by hand everyday!

So, here’s the Kitchen Wizard cleaning tip!

The best thing to do is to use some paper towel (wipe) and hot water  to help loosen sticky food and oil first, leave it for a while, then proceed with washing with sponge and detergent as usual. The hotter the water, the better – just pour liberal amount and let it soak in hot water for a while and do the other dishes while you are waiting. By the time the water is not hot any more, the rest of the cleaning job will be much easier.

For this reason and to boil water faster for pasta, tea, etc., we have an electric kettle in the kitchen. They are everywhere – Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon, etc – and cheap.  It’s worth every penny.

If you don’t like the idea of consuming too many paper towels, you can even use the soiled napkin from dinner, . (BUTT, just don’t use the paper towel you used to wipe your baby’s butt!)

Unlike baby butts, you don’t need these fancy moist towelletts. It’s better to use very hot water with sturdier paper towel for dishes.  (I like Bounty.)

For dirty baby butts, soft and warm. For dishes, on the other hand, sturdy and super HOT (because they won’t scream, and actually like it that way.) Different cleaning supplies for different jobs.

This hot water trick also works for stove top and kitchen counter.  On the flat surface, carefully and slowly drizzle a little amount of very hot water to just wet ONLY the soiled area to loosen up a gunk, and then wipe with a clean paper towel or dish towel.  Please be careful… otherwise, you’ll have to clean a huge hot puddle and may even be burning yourself. Not fun.  Also make sure there’s no plastic around!

Then use detergent and re-wipe if you choose to. (I like Green Works.)  That’s it!

Because of this tip, our dish duties are more joy now.  Plus, my husband is more willing to do dishes… without me asking…  Nice, isn’t it?