General Tso's Jackfruit - Vegan

I was never a fan of jackfruit but after making it as a replacement for the meat product, I stated to like the taste and texture. Its like tofu, it doesn't have its own flavor , you can add it in any sauce and it will take that sauce flavor and make it delicious.  I have made  Jackfruit Biryani - Kathal Biryani ,  Pulled Jackfruit Tacos,  Vegan Birria Quesadillas with Jackfruit, to name a few. And now I started to like it now. We all made General Tso sauce and use paneer, tofu, chicken, beef so why not this humble Jackfruit and here it is. It is ready in under 20 minutes and delicious.

I served it with fried rice , you can have it with plain white rice or noodles and If you need more vegetable on side you can have steamed bok choy or broccoli or carrots and diner is done. 

Ingredients :

1 tbsp. oil

2 cup defrost jackfruit or 1 can jackfruit

for sauce

3 tbsp. rice vinegar

3 tbsp. soy sauce or tamari 

2 tbsp. Hoisin sauce

1 tbsp. crushed or finely chopped ginger

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

1 tsp. corn starch

1 tbsp. sriracha or chili garlic sauce or red pepper flakes 

Garnish :

1/2 tsp. sesame seeds

Method :

If you are using frozen jackfruit then de frost it first and pat dry .

If you are using can one then drain , rinse and pat dry.

With fork or hands shred the jackfruit into bite sized pieces. I didn't like the seed in it so I took that out too. 

Heat a pan over medium heat. 

Add oil and jackfruit and cook for 5 minutes so its nicely warm and crispy too. 

In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients  together and mix it

Add sauce in to the pan and mix until jackfruit is covered in sauce. 

Cook on medium to low flame for 5 -6 minutes and make sure you are stirring occasionally till the sauce is thick and change the color little bit.

Don't let it burn the sauce , take it off from the heat and serve with rice and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and enjoy warm General Tso's Jackfruit. 

Chinese vegetable Melody in Stir fry sauce

I like to use the vegetables which kids generally don't eat it in normal dishes. So When I make stir-fries, I add all those and make some yummy sauce to go with it and feed it, Kids will have it without any complaints. Generally I serve one vegetable dish with sauce, one noodle dish so with I had Pad See Eww and spring rolls and puff tofu and by the end of the diner , all was gone. Here I have used green beans , mushrooms, carrot, broccoli, onion and sweet colorful peppers.  You can take whatever you have in on hand. You can tofu also in it or your favorite protein. 

Ingredients : 

2 cups of green beans blanched and cut in half

1/2 cup of white button mushrooms chopped in slices

1 cup blanched broccoli

2-3 sweet colorful peppers chopped in cubes

1 white onion chopped in cubes

ginger, garlic and green chilies finely chopped 2 tbsp. 

1 tbsp. oil

Sauce mix : 

2 tbsp. soy sauce or as needed to adjust salt content

1 tbsp. black bean garlic sauce

3 tbsp. vegetarian oyster mushroom sauce

1 tbsp. coconut sugar or any sweetener

1 tbsp. rice  vinegar

4 tbsp. water

1 tbsp., or as per your taste sriracha

1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. hot sesame oil or regular sesame oil

Method : 

Bo blanch the vegetables, heat up the pan with water in it and once its boiled, add first beans and keep it in water for a minute and take it out and put it in ice cold water. Do same for broccoli. and keep it aside. 

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce mix in a bowl and set aside. Adjust the taste as per your liking, you can use this noodles too. 

Heat a oil in wok or non stick pan. Add ginger , garlic and green chilies, cook till you get nice aroma, then add carrot, peppers and mix it, add onions and mushrooms and cook for minute too. 

DO NOT OVERCOOK the vegetables. 

Then add blanched green beans and broccoli and mix it. 

By spoon mix the sauce again before pouring it in to the wok so starch don't stuck at the bottom.

Pour the sauce on the vegetables and mix it nicely so it coats  the vegetables. 

If sauce is too thick add few tbsp. of water and adjust it , Check the seasoning and adjust it if needed too. 

Enjoy it with plain white rice. 

If you like garnished it with white sesame seeds and serve hot. 

Air Fried Crispy Tofu in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Who doesn't like sweet and sour and spicy, so why not to make this healthy dish in using Tofu in sweet and sour sauce, it has perfect amount of sweetness from maple syrup and tartness from Pineapple juice. If you don't have pineapple juice you can use lime juice too but caramelized pineapple juice gives nice brown color to the dish. To make this sauce, its just take 2 minutes and you can add it to any protein or lots of vegetable and make it, I have used tofu which I Air fried it, you can do pan fried, deep fried, what ever works with you. Take your favorite vegetables along with  it and enjoy it with plain rice. You can adjust the quantities of the sauce as per your liking. 

Ingredients for the sauce

1 cup canned pineapple juice

3/4 cup light brown sugar or maple syrup

1/3 cup rice vinegar

3 tbsp. ketchup

2 tbsp. soy  sauce or tamari sauce

corn starch slurry - 1 and half tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp. of water

Method :

Place all the ingredients except the cornstarch slurry in a pan and bring it to boil. 

Once its boiled add in slurry and cook till its thickens. 

Stir constantly to mix it. 

If you are using later, put it in air tight glass container and keep it in refrigerator, but since we are using it in this recipe I have kept it on side. 

Ingredients :

1 block of pressed tofu, cut it in triangles

Few florets of broccoli

5 Portobello baby mushrooms sliced in match sticks

1 red onion sliced in match sticks

half stick celery sliced

one carrot sliced

4 cloves of garlic sliced

1 inch of ginger finely sliced

2 tbsp. oil

Method : 

Put the aluminum foil on air fried plate, put the triangle tofu and spray it with oil.

Fry it on 350 for 15 minutes turning in between. 

You can pan fry it too or baked it in oven too.

I did air fried half and half shallow fry it. 

Once tofu is done, take it out.

heat the pan , add oil in it. 

when its hot, add ginger and garlic and cook it till its raw smell goes away , for 2 minutes on low to medium flame, make sure you don't burn the garlic.

Add your vegetables and cook it on high flame for 2 minutes. 

Add two to three tbsp. of sauce in it and mix it. 

Add more or less as per your liking. 

mix it nicely and cook it for 1 minute and done. 

Serve it hot with plain rice, I had with side of red curry too. 

You can sprinkle chopped green onions on top too. 

Tofu and Broccoli in Chinese Brown Sauce

This Brown sauce is basically an all purpose stir fry sauce. You can make this and store it for 4 to 5 days in a seal jar in fridge.  The most famous brown sauce recipe is Chicken and broccoli but to make it vegetarian  I have used Tofu and instead of dark soy sauce , I have used light one hence the light brown color but you are not worried about salt content go ahead and use dark soy sauce. I made a meal out of this, with the side of rice and noodles and baked spring rolls.

If you are like me who loves spicy Chinese food, then increase the amount of red pepper flakes or sriracha or fresh Thai chilies. For sweetener, I have used maple syrup you can use agave, regular sugar syrup. To make it Gluten free, you can use GF dark soy sauce , you can mix light and dark both and to make it vegan, Tamari sauce is fine too and soy free alternative , you can use coconut aminos.


Ingredients :

1 Block of tofu Pressed and  dry
10-15 branches of broccoli
2 tbsp cornstarch for tofu
2 tbsp oil

For sauce : 

1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tbsp corn starch
few rounds of fresh grated black pepper


1/2 tsp oil
4 tsp fresh minced garlic
2 tsp fresh minced ginger

Method:

Cut the tofu in small squares and put corn starch in it and mix it and keep it out.

Blanched the broccoli for 1 minute in hot water or if you like soft broccoli then for 2 minutes.

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce except oil and ginger and garlic.

Heat oil in a pan , cook tofu till its brown from all the side. Keep it aside.

In the same pan, add oil ,  add ginger and garlic and saute for a minute.

Whisk the sauce again and pour it in to the pan, bring it to a boil.

Add cooked tofu and broccoli and mix it nicely.

Simmer for few minutes until sauce thickened, stirring carefully.

when its thick, shut off the gas and serve immediately over the rice and Enjoy.

You can just make sauce and use it as dip or when it cool , store it in a jar. But I like to make it fresh every time.

Pad See Ew - Thai Stir Fried Rice noodles

Pad See Ew literally means Stir fry soy sauce noodles. For Pad Thai its on a sweet side, this noodles are on salty and sour balance. Basically you can add just fresh rice noodles, Chinese Broccoli, egg and sauces but I needed more vegetables so I have added mushroom too to give a meaty texture. The sauce for the noodles is the key, don't add more or less otherwise noodles will be dry if less or runny if its too much. If you can not find Chinese broccoli, add spinach and broccoli or broccolini.

You can use any protein in it, chicken is the best but for me I keep it simple.

For sauces you need, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, vinegar and sugar.

For noodles, if you can get fresh rice noodles its best, otherwise you can use any broad rice noodles or even pad Thai noodles.




Ingredients : 

1 packed fresh wide flat rice noodles or 7 oz. dried wide rice stick noodles
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large egg
5-6 chopped portebello mushrooms
4 stems Chinese broccoli or handful of spinach and broccoli or use bok choy

For sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce - for meat, regular oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce - light is fine
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tbsp water



Method : 

Trim the ends of  Chinese broccoli and separate leaves from stems.

Prepare noodles according to package if using dried, if using fresh , just cut the stripes length wise.

Mix all the ingredients under sauce and mix till sugar dissolves.

Heat the oil in a large wok or pan.

Add garlic, mushrooms, your greens and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Take it on side and crack the egg inside. scramble the egg and mix it everything.

Add noodles and sauce and mix it nicely till everything is covered in sauce.

Take it out and serve immediately.