Asia in My Classroom

I love to go to Korean Tofu Houses where they serve a variety of soups with tofu. The soup is normally served in a hot clay (or is it stone) pot. They give you an uncooked egg to be broken and the white and egg yolk mixed with the soup. The soup, which you can order with seafood (usually with oyster, one of my favorites) or dumpling, may be ordered from mildly spicy to extra spicy. It's really good. However, I can't always feast on tofu even if I want to due to my fear that it could trigger my gout. But my children love it. Can you share any recipe? I can use it for my class on cultural topic about exotic food.

Sarah,

first of all, I LOVE FOOD. I cook, eat out, anything as long as it involves food. As for tofu enchiladas, I learned this from a vegetarian friend of mine who decided to cook for us. I learn a lot from my friends. It's basically the same thing as any other enchilada except you subsitute meat like chicken with firm cut up tofu pieces. It's easy. Just get some tortillas (corn), fill them with tofu, cheese, and some sauce. Cover this all with more enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake until it's all melted and warm.

Btw, some great online cooking sources I use are epicurious.com and recipesource.com. The later has LOTS of great asian recipes. Check them out if you've never seen them before. This week I made a great citrus mayonnaise steak from online. Sounds weird but it tasted great.

kevin,
I'll try this one. What other toppings do you recommend, aside from the green onions?
I'm fond of steamed fish, too. But I don't know how to make the sauce. Do you happen to know the recipe for the sauce for steamed fish? Thanks.

I forgot in the tofu enchiladas to add whatever stuff you like in it. ie. refried or black beans, veggies, etc.

How tofu in terms of taste? Is it just as comparable? Economically, it makes total sense, since tofu is so affordable. I will try it and let you know what I think!

Here's an extremely easy and healthy fish recipe.

Broil a piece of salmon (fillet? For some reason, my mind is completely blank on what the proper term is) until it is cooked through, flipping it over once. Then simply top it with a mixture of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar or fresh lemon. You can also garnish with parsley or green onions and pepper.

Maybe I'm a bit biased because this is the way my mother always cooked it, but it's the best way to eat salmon. This is the way I've been eating salmon since I was a kid, and there's nothing that can beat it. I never eat salmon at Western restaurants because it's always covered in some heavy cream sauce or stuffed with something very salty. To me, simpler is always better.

I have two ways I cook salmon.

One isn't Asian, but who cares. It tastes good and it's easy. Just go to Trader Joes and buy the lemon dill sauce, pour it over salmon pieces and bake it at about 400 for 15-20 minutes depending on how thick the pieces are.

The second way is to steam the pieces, cover it with black bean sauce, olive oil, ginger slices, and green onions. Also yummy, but the first way is easier.