Frozen Tofu

I had to freeze my tofu the other day because I couldn't finish it before it goes bad. This is my first time cooking frozen tofu(had to do so because I need to make more space in the fridge!!). Like fishballs, the texture of tofu changes when you freeze it because some moisture had escaped and it becomes more dense. It tastes like paneer minus the creaminess. Good if you want to substitute this to paneer if you're vegan. The texture is very nice....it's porous and springy . The best way to prepare it is to cook it with a lot sauce so that it sucks up all the flavor.

It's very easy to prepare, just soak it in water a few hours before cooking and strain out the excess water so that it will not dilute the sauce you intend to cook it in. Heat up enough oil and toss the tofu cubes in dry it up a little. Then remove them before u toss in the ingredients you want. I made Ma Po Tofu with these but only remember to take photos after it was almost all gone...hehehe......will post them when I make them again.

looks like sponge cake eh?

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Sweet Potato Bread

I know it's time to use my bread machine since it's been sitting around collecting dust and I can't recall when was the last time i used it. So i decided to make a few loaves after the last attempts to the bakeries and I didn't really like what they have. S and I kinda miss the breads we get in Germany but it seems like people dont bake breads like that in NZ....most of them make breads that are too airy and lack in taste. Anyway, I decided to use whatever I have in my pantry cupboard and there was a big bag of sweet potatoes. Using the bread machine is very convenient. I just have to add in all the ingredients whilst watching my TVB series...hehehe...nothing comes between my canto drama series and me. I then let it knead in the machine and that saves me some time to prepare other things for dinner. After kneading, I took it out and let rise in the warm oven and then sprinkle some rolled oats before baking for 25 mins. Comes out quite nice but not as sweet as I expected. Next time, I will add some brown sugar instead of just normal granulated sugar. The texture is pretty nice I would say.....very soft inside but has a nice thin crunchy crust. Would be nice with some butter and Nutella.

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Making Vanilla Sugar

During my last trip to Nosh , I bought a small sachet of grounded vanilla. I have used vanilla essence in my baking and i find the artificial vanilla flavour could be quite revolting. I chose the ground vanilla over scraping it from the vanilla bean because of convenience. It costs NZD 12.99 for a 20 gm sachet but I think it's worth it since you don't really use so much of it. Also, I made some vanilla sugar with the grounded vanilla bean. It's really simple. I just mixed some 300gm organic unrefined sugar, which has a dirty brown look, with 1/4 teaspoon of grounded vanilla and then store it in an airtight jar. This will be handy when you want to make some cakes, muffins etc....not very strong but just a light hint of vanilla for your baking or bevarages.


This is a rather convenient and cheaper way of having your own vanilla sugar because they are usually quite costly and only available in gourmet food stores.

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