Donburi with tomato rice

I really like donburi (egg/veggie/meat) over rice bowls from Japanese restaurants. The other day I came across a simple vegetarian version and decided to try it out.

Ingredients:

• tofu (medium firm)
• green beans (or other veggie of choice)
• onion
• garlic
• scallion
• eggs
• mushrooms
• chicken stock (or any stock, I didn't have dashi)
• sugar
• salt
• soy sauce

Directions:

1. chop up all veggies (garlic, onion, scallion, mushrooms)
2. whisk eggs with dash salt, tbsp or so of sugar, and a bit of stock. I didn't include soy sauce as in the original recipe. I like to control soy sauce by sprinkle some after the whole thing is done
3. heat oil in pan, then cook garlic and onion until fragrant/translucent
4. add mushrooms, tofu, and green beans and cook until soft
5. add egg mix to pan and cover with lid for 2-3 min
6. check to see if the egg consistency is to your liking
7. top off with scallion and a bit of soy sauce if you like

source recipe link: http://www.otakufood.com/tofu-mushroom-donburi/

I made tomato rice to go with the toppings. To make it, just add tomato sauce (to taste) to the water as you cook rice in a pot. pretty awesome. 

p.s. I didn't follow a recipe. I happened to have some left over tomato sauce from cooking chili previously and just decided to add it in rice and see what happens. there we go. genius stuff.

Steamed Tofu

Ever had chilled tofu at a Japanese restaurant for appetizer? Well, after I found this recipe, I swear I refuse to buy that dish again. Simple and affordable to make at home.

http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/steam-tofu.html

Ingredient

• 1 box of silken tofu (I use the 山水 kind from supermarket)
• scallion (1 or 2 stalks)
• ginger (1 small slice, shredded)
• cilantro (optional, chopped)
• seaweed (1 small section, shredded)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Directions

1. take silken tofu out of the container, cut into quarters (or fewer depending on size of the party) and place in plate.
2. chop white part of scallion, leave the green part for later
3. place chopped white part of scallion and ginger onto tofu, add seaweed if you’re using it
4. boil water in steamer. steam tofu for ten minutes
5. take out tofu, let cool, drain excess liquid from plate
6. sprinkle sesame oil and soy sauce on top of tofu
7. sprinkle chopped green part of scallion on top, add chopped cilantro if you are using it
8. chill and serve (or serve as is)

Tofu House

17 W 32nd St, New York, NY
menu pages: http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/bcd-tofu-house/menu

Recommended by a coworker on a rainy day. Pretty good tofu. We got the seafood & beef tofu dinner (comes with rice) and the thin korean pizza for appetizer (pancake with seafood and veggies). I liked all the side dishes, especially kimchi obviously. It was a nice setting and not too crowded. Good for a rainy day since it really warms you up and gets you out of the rain.