Wednesday, June 6, 2012

cabbage noodles

i was hot to trot to make this for myself when... what's this? a christian? home? for dinner?
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HURRAY.

here he is nomming.  nom nom nom.  a friend of mine once joked that i should make a webpage totally devoted to christian's food consumption, entitled what's-christian-eating-dot-com.  i just happen to have an amazing photo collection of christian eating.  poor chap.  but before christian sat down on our balcony to sink his chopsticks into his bowl of noodles, i had to make them.  here's that story:

along with the chard and rhubarb and cherries we got from christian's parents were two heads of napa cabbage.  im sure the mister had visions of kimchi dancing in his head, but that's a project for him.  i try and eat the stuff but i just cant handle it.  i do enjoy cabbage though, in general.  i do like slaw and i ate a great deal of cabbage in china (oh, 辣炝莲白, you are missed! i would often order that dish with 西红柿炒蛋 from the teacher's cafeteria for lunch... both are very much homestyle chinese cooking).

i was talking with my mom about what to do with the cabbage and she said to grate an apple and grate the cabbage.  that got the ol' wheels spinning.  i started thinking of the afore mentioned chinese cabbage dish and how easy it is to stir fry the vegetable... and then i thought about noodles and how we love to eat them. especially soba or udon.  and before i knew it, a dish was born.

we have boringly named the dish cabbage noodles.  but it does not taste boring.

i prepped some tofu--ive read about folks using a plate and a paper towel to squeeze the water out, but i prefer to just use my hand and a towel.   after slicing the tofu, i lay it on a towel on a flat surface.  then i roll the tofu up and press with my hand.  the water goes out and the flavour can come in.
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for a marinade, i picked, in order of appearance (and quantity), mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce, and honey.  i swished around the mixture and added more of the first three ingredients.  i put the tofu in and prepped everything else while it could soak up the goodness.

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i washed and chopped the cabbage, grated the apple, boiled the noodles, chopped some garlic, and was lucky enough to find just a bit of ginger in the fridge.  i love ginger.  love it.  if you have a sore throat? slice up some ginger root and throw it in a pot with some boiling cola.  no, really.  especially during the winter months. it's just the bestest thing. 

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i warmed up some cooking oil in our skillet. next, i took each piece of tofu and liiiiiiightly coated it in a little cornstarch. once the oil said it was ready, i added the tofu to the hot pan and cooked each side until it was golden.
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 once all the pieces were cooked, i transfered them onto a plate and added the ginger and garlic to the pan. i gave them a good swirl and added the apple. then i added the cabbage and stir fried until the leaves were just wilting. then i poured in the rest of the marinade, gave that a good swish, and added the noodles. i removed the pan from the heat and continued to mix everything together.

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And that's all there is (there isn't any more).

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bon appétit <3

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