Happy Easter!

Around this time, there are a lot of egg boiling happening.

There are many different ways to do this simple task, but do you know the best way?

Here’s the Kitchen Wizard Trick.

1. Boil water in a pot (deep enough to cover the eggs).  Using a ladle, slip the eggs slowly into the gently boiling water one by one.  (Straight out of the fridge is fine.  No need to leave them in room temperature.)

2. Cook eggs for 10 – 12 minutes, then drain the water.  Pour cold water onto the boiled eggs to cool them down and peel the shells.

That’s it!

You’ll be amazed how easy to peel the eggs!

You can also use the same method to make soft boiled eggs.  Simply shorten the cooking time by a few minutes depending on your preference.

By using boiling water, the protein of the egg white will shrink a bit, creating a space between the shell and the whites, making the shells to come off cleanly.  On the other hand, when we cook eggs from cold water, that shrinkage happens slowly, so the shells clings to the egg white, making it difficult to peel.

Some cookbooks tell you to pierce a pin hole — good idea to completely avoid the possibility of the egg shells cracking in the water, but it’s a pain to find a pin that’s small and clean enough in an ordinary home kitchen, don’t you think?   If you place the eggs slowly into the gently boiling water (so that there won’t be a big shock to the shells), you can mostly avoid the cracks.  Plus a small crack won’t do anything, just as the small pinhole won’t.  If it ever cracks and starts releasing the white, just take it off when it’s done.   No big deal.

There’s no need to peel the eggs right away.  Color and decorate your eggs as you wish…  The shells will still come out smoothly when you are ready.

I like boiling extra eggs and keep them in my fridge for later use — egg salad, healthy snack, adding color for salad, etc.   You can even make a deviled egg or home-made tartar sauce in 3 minutes if you have them on hand!

I used to think making deviled eggs was a huge production, potluck or party only dish.  Now, thanks to this trick (especially having boiled eggs on hand), I can make just one as a snack all the time!

Easy Deviled Eggs

1. Peel the eggs, cut in half, take the yolks out.

2. Add about 1 teaspoon mayonnaise  (or sour cream, yogurt),  tiny bit of mustard and fish sauce (easy anchovy alternative) per egg yolk and mash them all together.  If you like, add other herbs, curry powder (yum!), or finely chopped vegetables.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. Put them back into the egg cavities, and enjoy!

Happy Easter!

I recently got a huge box from FedEx.

It’s light…  Hmmm….  No idea what it is…

The sender…  Foodbuzz.

I remembered a while ago, Foodbuzz solicited some featured publishers who want to test Newman’s Own products and create a video.  They even said “We’ll send you a HD Flip video to make the video!”

Of course I said Yes right away.  And forgot about it. Didn’t think I would win the video.

Well, I was wrong. I did.  So in the box, there was a Ultra HD Flip Video with a big Newman’s Own logo on it, 3 Newmans Own Pasta Sauce (Tomato &  Basil Bombolina, Cabernet Marinara, and Roasted Garlic), 3 dressings (Lighten Up Caeser, Lightened Up Raspberry and Walnut, and Family Recipe Italian), and coupon for Free Thin and Crispy Pizza (<- click this link for $1 off coupon).

Very generous!  Thank you, Uncle Paul, and Foodbuzz!

The guidelines for the assignment were

1. To create a video features a recipe suitalble for an everyday meal or that can accompany a pizza.
2. Recipe that can be created in less than 30 minutes, and video should be less than 5 minutes.
3. Humorous, edgy, fun and creative.
4. And of course, feature his product(s).

As I look at these huge bottles of salad dressings, I thought “Wonder if this raspberry and walnut dressing can work on raw kale salad to streamline the steps?”  Yes, I’m lazy by nature. I always think about making things easier and more efficient – save time and money while maximizing the outcome, so that I can use them for something fun.  That’s why my clients loved me when I used to be a  Global Logistics Consultant at FedEx.  For me, from the manufacturers in Asia to the end customers around the US, or from the store or our fridge to our table where the end customers are (my husband and I), it’s the same thing!

So I poured the dressing onto a little bit of kale!  It worked!

Normally, the kale are massaged with olive oil, salt and lemon juice, then add dressing later, but with this dressing the second step can be skipped. Sweet!

The sliced strawberry against kale is so pretty! It’s like Christmas!  It’s hard to see on the video, but if you cut the green parts with a paring knife in to a V shape, and slice thin, they look like hearts!

It totally lightened me up — especially because I got to use the hand to mix the sweet dressing into kale, and Mr. tough guy Kale totally lightened up by getting a nice massage by Ms. Newman – Raspberry and Walnut Dressing (and your magic touch of course),  then marrying luscious Ms. Sliced Strawberry….  And go nuts with the addition of crunchy Mr. Pican… and they lived happily ever after.  (They taste even better the next day after the “honeymoon”.)

Seriously, kale is one of the most nutritious vegetable, highly anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, plus anti-cancerous. According to Whole Foods Market’s ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) system, it’s on top at 1000, but bitter and tough. With this salad,  the sweetness of the dressing lightens up the bitterness of kale, it will convert the green haters to kale lovers!  This will be a perfect accompaniment to Pizza!  Stick the thing in the oven (the Kitchen Wizard will say the toaster oven for bigger time-saving — no need to preheat), and while it’s heating, you can give a nice little massage to Mr. Kale.  Then both should be ready about the same time.

This salad  make a major contribution toward  5 servings of fruit and veggie goal, so you will live happily ever after… when you make this salad regularly.

Lightened Up Kale and Strawberry Salad

• 1 bunch kale – stems removed, chopped or torn small
• About 1/2 pack strawberries – sliced
• About 4 tablespoons Newmans Own Lighten Up Raspberry and Walnut Dressing
• 2 tablespoons chopped nuts (I used picans)

1. Pour dressing onto the chopped or torn kale and massage with hands really well for about 1 minute until the kale is soft and its volume is reduced by half.  Leave alone for about 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Add strawberries and nuts, mix gently and enjoy!  Serves about 4 depending on the size of the kale bunch.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My sister-in-law Lynn emailed me a few days ago for suggestion for a great green bean dish.  Without hesitation, I shared this recipe, which is one of my go-to dish when I have green beans.  It’s great as a side dish, and will go great with Thanksgiving Turkey, but actually served as an appetizer in the country where it came from.

This Turkish Green Beans is a very typical dish they serve as a part of mezze (appetizer spread) in Turkey or Greece.  When we visited Turkey, we ate it all the time, and never got bored of it. As a mezze at a restaurant, they are served always served cold, but it’s delicious hot as well.  That makes this an ideal dish for a party, because you can make it and not worry about “being on the perfect temperature.”

If you are bored with typical green bean recipes for Thanksgiving, try it — people will love it!  Be sure to save some for yourselves if you are bringing it for a potluck.  It taste even better on the next few days!

Turkish Green Beans with Light  Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• About 2 lbs green green beans, ends removed, cut in half if long.
• 1 large or 2 small/med onions – finely chopped
• 1 large tomato – chopped (Or slice if you want take them out at the end.)
• ¼  Cup EVOO (add more if not enough to coat the green beans)
• 3 –  3  1/2 Cup water
• 4-5 fresh basil leaves or pinch of dry basil
• Sugar
• ½ ts tomato puree (optional)
• Salt & pepper

Method:

1. Gently warm the EVOO and add all ingredients except water, tomato puree and basil.  Stir and cook at high heat until all coated with oil and begin to soften.
2. Add boiling water, tomato puree (if using) and basil. Leave uncovered and cook until veggies are soft and water is evapolated.  Serve hot or cold with drizzle of EVOO on top.  If eaten cold, a squeeze of lemon juice is nice too!

If you haven’t seen my last post, here’s easy non-cook Cranberry and Fruit Relish recipe that double as condiments/side dish for turkey as well as refreshing and lighter dessert after a huge feast.

After Thanksgiving, what to do with all the turkey leftover????

I used to struggle with this.  After a while, you get completely bored with turkey sandwich and salad. No more.

Would you like some recipes you can use for turkey leftovers, and never get bored?   How about a super multi-duty recipe you can use for many dishes after you make the base?  Specifically, 2 everyday soups, 1 elegant stew, pot pies, crepe fillings, gratins etc. and oh, don’t forget, broth to make everything delicious later, out of pretty much one recipe?

The following rotisserie chicken leftover recipes (click link) can work with turkey beautifully. I normally give this only to the students who come to my hands-on classes.  Since ’tis a time to give thanks, please accept this as my thank-you gift to you, for your feedback, comments, and support.  Thank you — they keep me inspired, so please keep them coming!

Now you are all set for all the turkey leftovers!  (Where the recipe says “Rotisserie Chicken”, substitute with turkey leftover.)

1. Super Multi-purpose Vegetable Soups & Waterzooi (Creamy Belgian Poultry Stew) recipe

• Use about 3-4 lbs of turkey leftovers including bones for the same amount of soup and waterzooi on the recipe.
• For turkey broth, you’d want to cook it for couple of hours minimum for the best flavor, so cut the veggie bigger in bite size pieces, add them after 1 hour or so, if you don’t like your veggies too soft.
• You can make a larger batch of vegetable soup.  Take the turkey meat and bones out and freeze in easy to use portions (1-2 qt batches).  When freezing, do not add potatoes, because freezing will make them spongy.
• Or you can strain all the vegetables and meat, and make turkey broth and freeze the broth. I normally prefer freezing it thin and flat like other things (up to 1 1/2 cups for a QT bag), or you can also use ice cube tray for smaller quantities, but when you make a huge quantity like this, just freeze in 1-2 qt batches in a container.  When using, thaw, reheat the whole thing, and store in the refrigerator and use it in 3-4 days.
• After you take the meat and bones out, you can puree the veggies and serve as a side dish or under turkey, chicken, fish etc.
• Or dilute a bit with broth or cream, and use it as a sauce.
• The leftover waterzooi can be transformed into many dishes such as turkey pot pie, sauce for pasta, gratin or doria (mix with cooked and buttered pasta or rice, cover with more waterzooi, and top with grated cheeses and bake until bubbly and golden brown.)
• A super elegant (could be served to guests!) alternative is Waterzooi Crepe Gratin.  Basically, I used extra crepes from breakfast to wrap the waterzooi leftover inside, cover with white sauce (this one was frozen thin and flat in my freezer when I made extra — heat in the microwave first to avoid separation), top with torn sliced cheese, and bake until bubbly and golden brown.  Perfect comfort food on a cold day!  No one will notice that you made this in less than 5 minutes hands-on time, all with leftovers.  For a small family, I highly recommend baking it in the toaster oven.  No pre-heating required, so it’s much faster!

If you still have more turkey left, I’d recommend you shred them smaller. Very handy when you are busy and hungry.  You can throw them into pasta, soups, make sandwiches, mix with mayo or vinaigrette and some other veggies to make salads… the sky is the limit!  Here are couple of examples.

2.  Chicken (turkey) and Shiitake with Grated Daikon and Ponzu
3.  Quesadilla

If you have any questions, feel free to post it in the comment section. : )

Happy Turkey Day!

Talking about Filipinos and Philippines (to be exact, their food), one thing I love the most is Sinigang.  This one goes even further than my days in Manhattan.  I’m sure I asked Ursula, the nanny/cook/cleaning lady of my roommates’ siblings to make sinigang, but she never did.  Maybe because I wasn’t her master, maybe because she didn’t like it, I don’t know.  So the last time (and possibly the only time) I had it was in the Philippines, when I was still living in Tokyo, before I even know that I would be living in the US, so we are talking around 1987.

My friend Rina’s dad had an assignment in Manila, so a few of us decided to visit his mansion in Dasmarinas Villege in Makati, where all these wealthy and influential Filipinos live.  One of their neighbors was Imerda Marcos, or  Aquinos… I don’t quite remember but someone really famous at that time.

One day we went to a restaurant with our friend Seline from IBM Philippines, who had a 2-month assignment in Tokyo where Rina and I used to work together.  She ordered sinigang for us to try, this sour soup with shrimp and vegetables that water my mouth just thinking about it!  As you already figure out, I tend to remember things I ate and the flavor for a long time, even if I forget everything else.  I vaguely remember Rina telling me that you can buy a sinigang mix, I might have bought a packet or two for souvenir, but for some reason, I don’t remember making it.  Maybe it wasn’t so memorable!

Then years passed…  I moved from Tokyo to Michigan, then to Arizona, then to New York, LA and San Francisco.  No sinigang came near me, even at Filipino restaurants nor Filipino friend’s houses, even though I always asked about it.

After I made the large batch of winter melon and chicken soup the other day, I was contemplating what I could transform it into.  All of a sudden, I got my light bulb moment!  Add the tamarind paste and make it into sinigang!

The result was spectacular!   Yes, this flavor!  The only green I had was sauteed pea sprouts, and the only shrimp I had was small frozen shrimps, but I was able to recreate that complex tangy flavor with tamarind and fish sauce without going shopping.  The best part was I already had the soup, so it took me only 5 minutes!

Sinigang

Ingredients: (serves 2)

• Chicken and Winter Melon Soup leftover — 2-3 cups
  • If you don’t have this, quarter and slice daikon or water melon into about 1 inch X 1 inch, 1/4 inch thickness so that it cooks faster.
  • and Chicken stock
• EVOO — 1/2 – 1 TBS
• Garlic, minced — 1
• Onion – sliced about 1/4 C
• Tomatoes — chopped about 1/2 C
• Vegetables cut in bite size pieces about 1/2 ~ 2/3 cup total
  • I used oyster mushrooms and cooked pea sprouts
• Shrimp – if large, 1-2 per person, best if it has head attached.  If small, 1/4 – 1/3 C for two
• Tamarind paste — 2 -3 TBS
• Fish Sauce — to taste
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, cook minced garlic in medium low heat, when fragrant, add onion and sweat it.
• Add other vegetables including tomatoes, from those that takes longest to cook first.    Saute until somewhat soft, add the shrimp and coat with oil. Season lightly with salt.
• Add the soup leftover, or chicken stock if you don’t have the leftover.  Bring to a soft boil.  When the soup is hot, mix in the tamarind paste and fish sauce. When the shrimp is cooked through, taste and adjust seasoning.

I tried it three ways — as it is, with some rice in it, with some noodles, as usual. They were all good.  : )  Now I can eat sinigang anytime I want!  I’m a happy camper!

The moral of the story…  if you can’t get something you like, make it your own.  You’ll be so glad you did!

Do you like root vegetables?

As it gets colder, I long for root vegetables.  And we Japanese love root vegetables, including things like gobo (burdock) which many Westerners considers as “tree roots”.  When it’s cooked properly, it tastes great packed with earthy flavor, and mildly laxative, so excellent for your plumbing issues. : )

One of the most typical root vegetable dish in Japan is Nimono, literally means “braised dish”.  The veggies that are commonly used for this are: burdock (gobo), lotus roots (renkon), carrots (something red), green beans or snow peas (something green), dried mushrooms, and yam jelly cake called “konnyaku”. Sometime it has chicken in it.  After sauteing them briefly in salad oil, everything is simmered in soy and sugar based dashi for long time until everything turn brown.  Personally I thought it tasted somewhat old-fashioned, and didn’t like it much as a child, so rarely made it.

This update version I learned from a friend of mine from highschool who’s a renowned chef and Olive Oil Sommelier in Japan cooks much faster, and the flavor of each vegetables shines through.  It’s lightly seasoned, so you can transform this into other dishes easily as well.  Since konnayku is hard to get for most people, I skipped it. Also I happened have white radishes (not the Japanese kokabu, but western kind) that I wanted to use up, so I decided to add it instead of daikon.  The result was easy to make, super healthy, flavorful dish!  You will love it.

Sauteed Root Vegetables Japanese Style

Ingredients:

• Small white radishes – 8
• Carrot, medium – 1
• Lotus root, small – 1
• Green beans, 1/2 cup
• Shiitake mushrooms, medium, 4 -5
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2-3 TBS
• Soy Sauce, 1 TBS
• Mirin (Sweet Rice Wine), 1 TBS
• Sake, 1 TBS
• Salt and pepper – to taste

Method:

1. Boil water in a medium pot and lightly salt it.  Peel carrots and lotus roots.  Cut all veggies into bit-size pieces, then parboil each vegetables except shiitake.
2. In a hot skillet, heat EVOO and saute all the parboiled vegetables and shiitake, and add soy sauce, mirin, sake.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add extra EVOO and mix gently at the end if desired.

You can double or triple the recipe because the leftover will be great chopped up, and transformed into soups, mixed rice dish, etc. later in the week.  Or add mayo and cooked shredded chicken to make healthy salad or sandwich fillings, or saute it with ground meat, season with miso etc. and top on tofu, or rice…. Or drizzle some ponzu and bake it until golden brown, serve with shaved bonito flakes or even Parmesan cheese on top…  Yum!

As you can see this is a super easy way to increase vegetable intake in your daily diet.  A plant-based dish like this is the reason why the Japanese dishes are considered so healthy, and their obesity rate is so low compared with many developed countries (3% vs 13~34% of other countries including the US among the highest).  Plus this updated version has about 1/3 of sodium and 1/8 of sugar of the traditional version — you should definitely try it.

So what’s your favorite root vegetable dish?

Back to school, back to work.  September is often when new things start — and things get busy.

It’s a great time to learn new cooking tricks to put real meals on the table fast, so that you have more time to enjoy the food, and other things you love.

Especially if you have one or  two (or with little ones) people household and want to learn how diversify your dinner options easily and quickly.

Join me for:
“Real Meals on the Table Fast for One or Two People”
When:  Saturday,  September 18th, 2010  11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Where:  Oakland Public Library Lakeview Branch Event Room
550 El Embarcadero, Oakland, CA 94610   tel: 510-238-7344
Cost:      Complimentary to my subscribers
Pre-registration required: http://eepurl.com/zleV

Stop dinner boredom — even if you are cooking for just one or two.

Many single people and small families face the dilemma of how to cook at home regularly, especially balancing time & effort with cost & health benefits. They don’t know how to diversify their dinner options without relying on prepared meals and restaurants.

Can you relate?

I’m so excited to share my secrets with you – how to put a variety of real meals on the table fast for one or two people — without repetition.

These simple and unique cooking secrets are usually kept only between great Japanese home-cooks. I know from my own experience how frustrating it could be to eat the same thing over and over, yet not knowing how to pull off many variations without a lot of time and effort — so I adapted them for the American kitchen and lifestyle so people like you can benefit. After this class, you will change the way you think about food and cooking — it’ll be much more fun and easy! By implementing just a few of my unique yet practical tips, you too can enjoy lots more variety AND save time, money (this is how we saved over $10,000 per year just from cooking more at home) and reduce waste.

This is about how to cook more efficiently while creating more variety, the Japanese way. Appropriate for all cuisines and dietary restrictions.

If there are requests, I’ll be happy to take you to Trader Joe’s or the Grand Lake Farmers’ Market after the class to help you shop more efficiently as well.
The space is limited, and i’ts already filling up fast — so please sign up now before it becomes full.
Sign up from here.

Once you are registered, you will receive confirmations and reminders with details (map, parking info etc) automatically.
Feel free to invite your friends and family who would love to learn the secrets to put real meals on the table fast for one or two people.  Simply forward this newsletter from the link in the footer.

Hope you can join me.  It’s free & fun!

Mari

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.

What dish speaks to you “HOME”?

For me, it’s iri-dofu, Japanese tofu scramble. It’s one of the most typical Japanese home-cooked dish, and you probably won’t see it served much at restaurants (unless it’s more casual “Izakaya” type place.)  With a chopsticks full (?) of this fluffy tofu and tuna mixture with steamed rice, I breathe in the delicate scent of soy sauce, green onion, and sake, and am  immediately transferred back to Tokyo.  This version is a bit different from what I ate growing up with julienned vegetables, but it combines my other childhood favorite of tuna and green onion, and it’s more flavorful and easier than more traditional version. It only uses 4 main ingredients of widely available products (for some people, always on hand), and not much chopping.  If you don’t have sake, use very dry white wine.

Iri-dofu 　いり豆腐 (Tofu Scramble)

Ingredients (Serves 2-3 as main dish, 4-6 as side dish)

• Tofu (Momen, in the US, use medium or medium firm)  1 block (about 400g)
• Tuna 1 can (6oz 170g), packed in olive oil kind preferred, DO NOT DRAIN OIL
  • If its in water, drain water well, use 2 TBS Olive Oil in step 3.
• Eggs 2, beaten
• Green onions, sliced 1/2 c (about 3)
• Sake, 1 1/2 TBS
• Soy sauce, 1 1/2 TBS
• Kosher Salt, pinch (optional.  If not using, increase the amount of soy sauce to 1 ts to 1/2 TBS)

Method:

1. Drain water from tofu in a strainer for 5-10 min.  To make the next step faster, I scramble tofu loosely and put in a microwaveable container with a lid and a plastic strainer to collect water. Microwave for 3-4 minutes on high.   If your container doesn’t have a plastic strainer, create a bridge with two chopsticks, and place whole tofu on top, so that the water will drain.
2. Heat a pan or skillet with relatively wide bottom and short sides (to allow the water evaporate faster), then scramble the drained tofu with a wooden spoon on high  until water is evaporated.
3. Add the entire can of tuna with olive oil from the can.  If using the tuna packed in water, add the olive oil to tofu before adding the drained tuna.   Mix well and continue to cook to coat the oil well with tofu.
4. Add Sake, Soy Sauce and sliced green onions.  Continue to stir so that it will not burn.
5. Add a pinch of salt in beaten egg, and pour it around the tofu.  Stir the tofu quickly with 4-5 chopsticks until egg gets firmer.  Serve hot.

Note: A note about the microwave:  As many of you know, the more powerful your microwave is, the shorter you need to cook.  Ours rotates, but is a very small one, the type that barely fits a dinner plate. So, if you have a newer, powerful microwave, please start with half of the time suggested, and add time little by little to obtain desired results.

Variations:

• Vegetarian version:
  1. Instead of tuna, use 4-5 small dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. To quicken the process, remove the stems, break it in half, soak in water with a pinch of sugar mixed with right side up, and top it with a small plate so that mushroom will submerged in water.  Microwave for 2 min.  When the shiitake are soft, squeeze the water out, and slice them thinly.  Save the juice for later use since it adds a lot of umami (savory flavor) to many Japanese dishes.
  2. Slice other vegetables such as carrots and snowpeas/green beans (for color and vitamin A and C) thinly and about 1 inch long. The total amount should be about 4 oz.
  3. At step 3, add oil and vegetables instead of tuna.  You may want to add a little more soysauce and some sugar (about 1/2 TBS) to add more flavor.
• You can also use soaked and squeezed hijiki seaweed with other veggies.
• For crunchiness, also try gobo (burdock root) or renkon (lotus root).  They oxidise easily, so as you cut, release them in water mixed with a bit of rice or white vinegar.
• Instead of tuna, try ground chicken (or you can add this to vegetarian version.)
  1. After step 1, heat oil in a pan or skillet, cook ground chicken until well crumbled.  Then add carrots, vegetables and saute briefly.
  2. Add tofu and follow the directions, 2, 4 and 5.

So what’s your favorite home-cooked meal?   I look forward to your comment.  : )