Miso-Glazed Tofu

In China, there are entire aisles in the chilled sections of supermarkets dedicated to tofu.  The variety must be fascinating to a foreigner where they are used to just tofus categorized into soft and firm.  Some specialist shops have overpriced fusion tofus studded with olives and sun dried tomatoes, which are surprisingly good actually, but the choice is still limiting.  Tofu comes in different textures, formats and flavors - they come in sheets, they come in tubes, they come dried and they come marinated.  Maybe tofu would not be so off-putting to so many people if they were exposed to it in all its forms.

Salt and Vinegar Potatoes

 I'd often associate foods with feelings.  My boyfriend's petname for me is "Potato" - supposedly, back in his country, calling someone a potato is a good thing, it means that they are... Versatile.  You know, a potato can be turned into a mash, rosti, latkes, chips, crisps, it can be anything.  And if I could associate the different forms they take with the different feelings I have, well, I unfortunately don't feel like these glorious salt and vinegar potatoes right now - these are new potatoes that are boiled in vinegar and water so they have that lovely sharp tang, and they are then cut in half and fried in plenty of oil so that they're crispy and rich. Topped with plenty of maldon salt and chopped herbs and it's a side that stands proud in any meal.  I don't feel like that now.  I feel like a bland pile of lumpy mash.  Like a school dinner mash.  Yes, my current emotional state is school dinner mash.

How to: Homemade Soy Milk

Ok I'm going to tell you straight out that it's too much effort.

This involves soaking the soy beans overnight, removing the skins, blitzing them, boiling them for thirty minutes and then straining them.  In China we have these soy milk makers where all you have to do is put the soaked soy beans in and then it does all of that otherwise superfluous manual labor and in half an hour you've got your soy milk.

Multi-Seed Spelt Crackers

I have an obsession with these multi-seed Norwegian crispbreads or knekkebrød.  I went through a phase of oat cakes, then Ryvita and now these.  The crackers I made featured in this post aren't exactly like those but I tried.  My Norwegian boyfriend is my supplier of knekkebrød but he can't keep up with my demand unfortunately and so sometimes I resort to making my own cracker equivalent.

Italian Red Wine Cookies

They smell like Christmas but look like Halloween.  It's a rather off-putting grey-caramel, I know, but the burgundy doesn't quite come through without food coloring I'm afraid.

 With a half open bottle of red wine in my house, instead of appreciating the act of drinking alone, I just thought of marinades, stews and cookies, as I'm still a child.  

Summer Corn Salad

I remember as a child, the best thing about a mixed salad was the kernels sweetcorn that laced through the lettuce leaves and tomato slices. I remember the Pizza Hut salad bars, and how I'd get scoops and scoops of sweetcorn.  Then there are also the ears of hot steaming sweetcorn in the winter sold on the streets for literally pennies.  I've always liked sweetcorn.

Miso Braised Cabbage

Yes, I am aware, cabbage times are gone.  After months of gale, showers and achromatic vegetables, Britain has eased into Spring.  It's time for asparagus, for wild garlic, for morels - exciting produce and here I am still eating cabbage.  Braised, too.  Not even shredded and tossed with a zesty dressing served as a slaw in a spring picnic. 

Roasted Cabbage with Spicy Salsa

Spring has hit us quite abruptly - the days have suddenly been stretched out with all this blinding sunlight and high temperatures.  The gales have stopped.  The rain has taken a break.  The chill is gone.  It's mid-April and it's Spring and it's sunny and it's warm and it makes you realize that the harshest thing about the world is that it moves on without you.  That you're not as connected with nature and humanity as they say we are.  The sun won't stop shining, people won't stop celebrating, and good things won't stop happening just because you're sad.

Similarly just turn on the news when you're having a good day. 

Grits with Braised Spring Onions and Fried Garlic

As a vegetable, onions are often overlooked.  It's my favorite vegetable - red, white, shallots, spring onions - I like them roasted and braised so they're all soft and sweet; I like them raw, thinly sliced, so they're crunchy and spicy.  And it's got to be one of the cheapest vegetables to get. 

I also love garlic.  That's got to be the biggest plus of being single - I can shamelessly have all the garlic I want.  I love roasted garlic smeared on some toasted sourdough with a healthy drizzle of olive oil and flaked sea salt. Mmmmm.

Tofu with Peppers and Spicy Oyster Sauce

As I write about this tofu dish, all I can think about is meat.  I have been very good these last few weeks in avoiding meat for a variety of reasons and right now all I want is something bloody and preferably with bones attached -- like a proper steak or a roast.  That's all my carnivorous side craves for at the moment. 

BUT.  Everyone should reduce their meat consumption, as we all know.  I try to limit it to once a week when it comes to red meat, so here's another one of those meatless recipes for you, and tomorrow I'm going to the butcher's.

Matcha, Ginger & Sesame Granola

So many green recipes lately - and it's all right after St Patrick's Day.  Oh well, I'll remind everyone of these next year.  I woke up early this morning to make these so that I could take a photo them while there was still natural light.  That's what I've been having to do in the winter and in the deep dark days of January it meant that I could only take photos in my lunch break #lifeinBritain.  However,  to my surprise, I got home at 7pm today and it was still bright out.  Okay, "bright" is a strong word but there was still light.  It's still cold, and it was windy as f*ch today BUT all is looking up because it's brighter. 

Tofu with Porcini Mushroom Jus

"A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life."

These are the wise words from Coco Chanel and on Sunday morning I just had the urge to cut my hair.  I had had long hair for the past 7 years but new look, new attitude, new life.  I found a hairdresser that took walk-in appointments and in thirty minutes I came out as a changed woman. And I felt better.  Changes, no matter how insignificant, from a haircut to a piercing to a tattoo -- somehow signify something so much bigger. 

And since I felt better, I came home and I cooked.

Matcha & Dark Chocolate Chocolate Granola Bars

Mail makes me happy.  It doesn't have to be from friends, as long as it's addressed to me, those letters in the post will put a smile on my face.  That's why I subscribe to so many things and that's why I like ordering things online too just so I can have them delivered. 

A few weeks ago though I received the loveliest little surprise -- a tin of matcha powder and a tin of Himalayan salt with truffles.  It was one of those preciously rare occasions where I get mail from my friends and I could not have wished for better things to discover at my door step.  Thank you, Grace <3

Speaking of mail, I just ordered yet another set of earphones on Amazon (love Prime, free next day deliveries are life-changing).  I've gone through 5 sets of earphones since September because they keep on breaking or disappearing and for the past week I've been walking around with those big massive headphones like an obnoxious teenager because that's all I have.  They act as earmuffs too though which is quite nice.  

Mattar Tofu

I'm so envious of people who can just wing it when it comes to spices.  With spices, especially in Indian cooking, I need to follow the recipe like a robot. I'm scared of making adjustments, because I'd mess up the harmonious balance of flavors.  Indian cooking's difficult and I'd argue that it's one of the most difficult cuisines to cook.  Using 7 different spices in a dish and creating the perfect symphony of flavors where all of them sing individually and together is a skill I yearn to have.  I have a very well stocked cupboard with all the lovely spices but I'm just lazy to cook Indian food because I hate following recipes so strictly.  Well, we all have to start somewhere.

Oatmeal with Tahini, Ginger & Lemon

It's February.  Shop windows are adorned with roses and paper hearts, restaurants are featuring oysters and chocolate fondants, and your inbox is spammed with getaway offers.  As unbearable as it is, as someone who's single, I don't despise Valentine's Day.  I think it's kind of cute to be honest.  I use the opportunity to show some love to my friends and family and most importantly, to myself.  This was me giving myself some love this morning.

Coffee & Walnut Granola

Just for that extra boost of caffeine in the morning because I wake up with a double espresso and it's not enough.  I'm up by 5:40am half the week - did I mention that?  I started drinking coffee quite early on and so with time I've had to increase my daily dosage for it to have an effect on me.  Life is short, I want to be awake for most of it.

Roasted Sprouts & Mung Bean Salad

Equal quantities of miso paste and honey is the easiest dressing and marinade.  It's the perfect thing to perk up the boring old veg and to make your 5-a-day as good as your lasagna -- ok I may be stretching it a bit far there, but it really does make broccoli, root veg and sprouts taste fantastic. That's right, you too can love sprouts and eat it willingly. 

And if this doesn't convert you sprout-haters, Brian Turner has them battered, deep-fried and served with a "tomato tartare".  The "tartare" is passata and mayonnaise, cheeky man trying to make it sound healthier.  I mean the recipe probably reduces the nutritional value of sprouts.  It probably just gives you negative nutritional points and you're better off not eating sprouts altogether, but hey, baby steps to liking a vegetable you've always hated, right? 

Chocolate-Covered Almonds

You know when you leave a restaurant hungry?  Yea, it doesn't happen to me very often, yet here I am, right after lunch, eating these almonds, which unfortunately, as good as they are, aren't very filling.  What I need is a sandwich, but I can't quite justify that right after spending £25 on lunch.  See, the problem is it wasn't one of those posh restaurants with tiny beautiful plates of exquisite food.  I usually am mentally and physically prepared for those meals where I know I will be fed very little.  But I went to a Vietnamese place.  I expected big sharing plates of generous curries and salads -- I wasn't mentally prepared for stingy baby-sized curries.  I just wasn't prepared and I hate being disappointed. All was delicious and fresh and spicy but... here I am, filling up on almonds.  I should probably stop eating these and opt for a piece of wholegrain toast but they're very addictive.

Miso Butter Beans & Sauerkraut on Toast

I was lost for words and thoughts and didn't know what to write in this post, so I actually found a prezi presentation on fun facts about sauerkraut.  I have to say, the word "fun" is used too liberally at times.  I do love presentations made with prezi though, so I still spent a good couple of minutes of my life watching the whole presentation. I love that under the heading of "Sensory Perceptions", after "sour", "salty" and "sulphuric", they've put "divisive in opinion".

I love random facts and would like to think I have quite a large collection of fun trivia in my mind, however, they're so useless that they have rarely even been helpful in pub quizzes.   Fun facts and one-liners.  I use the two to break awkward silences...which don't always alleviate the situation but you can't please everyone. 

Vanilla Raspberry Jam

I'll be honest, jam has never excited me.  I never opted for jam on my toast, or in my croissants, or as a filling in any other pastry.  Meh, I always preferred nutella and peanut butter or just pure butter with some sugar and cinnamon.  However, I love making jam, especially in the winter.  I love hovering over a stove and stirring continuously in a slow regular motion.  The steam rising up to your face and fogging up the windows, the scent sweetening the kitchen -- I mean it's like the equivalent of going to the spa for me.   

 Raspberry jam's great if you have no patience for what I just said.  I think this altogether took 20 minutes max.  I just make them for other people as gifts now.