Fresh Summer rolls with Tofu

This one i also made a while ago. Fresh summer rolls are so good and to make them, is not so complicated either. This recipe is with marinaded and fried tofu in them and also couple of sauces to dip. It takes a while until you learn how to roll a perfect roll, but it's not rocket science so anyone can do it! You can basically put anything inside the rolls, what you feel like. Here's a recipe of how i made these ones.
You need:

For Rolls:
Rice paper
Firm Tofu
Glass noodles or thin rice noodles
Carrots
Paprica
Iceberg salad
Cucumber
Sprouts
Fresh Coriander

Spices for Tofu:
Sesame oil
Chilipowder
Soy sauce
Salt
Pepper

First cut the Tofu on long slim slide cubes ( see the picture) and marinade the tofu for about 15 min with the spices listed above. Then fry the tofu on oil in a hot pan. Set a side when the tofu has golden brown skin. Prepare the vegetables and the glass/rice noodles. Chop the vegetables also long slim slides. Boil some hot water and put the noodles in for about 10 min to them to get soft. Pour out the water and rinse some cold water thru the noodles. Let them cool down. Meanwhile you can do the sauces, so jump in the sauce recipe. After the noodles and tofu has cooled down a bit you can start making the rolls. First put some warm water on a deeper plate and dip the rice paper in. Set the wet rice paper on a clean cutting board and start piling stuff in, salad first, then tofu and vegetables, noodles and some fresh coriander. Then roll it once forward, turn both sides (left and right) on top of the roll and roll the rest paper over. The roll should just close by it self since the rice paper is sticky. Set the ready roll on a plate and cover it with wet towel. This prevents the roll to get dry. Keep on rolling the rest same way, probably the first ones don't go so well, i messed up some in the beginning too, hah!When you're done, take the dips out from the fridge and dip rolls into them. Enjoy!

Coconut-Curry sauce:

You need:

1 can of creamy coconut milk
Salt
Curry powder
Hint of pepper

Just mix about 3 tea spoons of curry powder in to a bowl with the creamy coconut milk. Add salt and a hint of pepper. Taste that has nice and smooth curry flavor. Put to fridge to spice up for a little while.

Sweet chili sauce: 

You need:

Fresh coriander
Garlic ( one small clove)
Fresh Chili ( as much as you like to heat it up)
Ginger ( tiny piece)
Fish sauce (optional soy sauce)
Honey (running)
Sugar
Salt

Add a hint of warm water in a bowl, about 1/5 dl.  Add some sugar and honey. Mixx well to make them melt in the water. Add thinly chopped chili, garlic and ginger in. You can also mash those in a mortar if you want to make more like a pasty to add in. Add fish sauce and hint of salt. (optional soy sauce), Add fresh chopped coriander. Taste that has enough sweet taste and also same time a bit salty from the fish sauce. Add more if needed. The sauce is supposed to be sweet but also a bit salty at the same time.

Smoky Soy File & Tabasco Potatoes

I haven't been publishing anything for a while, since i've been really busy but now i will start doing it again! Here's a recipe for a dish i did a while ago. I try to remember all i added in, since it's a while ago and i always cook from my head, hah! I was in a mood of making barbecue flavored food, so i made up this great recipe!

You need:

Dried Soy files
1 can thick Tomato sauce
Tabasco ( hickory and normal)
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Chili powder
Bacon salt or smoke salt
Potatoes
1 bottle of beer
Oil
Vegetarian broth cube

First put the dried soy files boiling in a vegetarian broth. Peel the potatoes and heat up the oven up to 225 celsius degrees. Chop the potatoes on half thin pieces and place them in a bowl that has some space for broth too. Add salt, pepper, 3-4 cloves of garlic (chopped), Tabasco (hickory and normal), chili powder and in the end beer and a bit of water. Put the potatoes in oven and cook about 30 min, until they are soft and you can smell the delicious spices. Meanwhile pour the water out of the files and squeeze the extra liquid out. Heat up a pan and add some oil. Fry the soy files on the pan until they get nice crispy skin. Then add tomato sauce and a bit of beer. Add Salt, pepper, chili powder, tabasco and my key spice in this dish is "Bacon Salt". You can find that in extreme food stores or online, just google it, but it's damn good stuff! I used the normal and the Hickory bacon salt. This stuff does not contain bacon, only just artificial flavors. So it's suitable for vegans too ( and makes everything taste like bacon, haha! If you don't have that stuff, you can use smoky flavored or hickory flavored salt too. Let the soy "suck" all the flavors in for about 10-15 min with a small heat. Taste that there is enough flavor and serve with the potatoes and some apple-radish salad. DE-Licious!

Stir fried Tofu Wok with Sesame sauce

As most of my Blog readers have allready probably notised, i really like Asian food. Just because they are full of  great and delicious flavours and actually quite simple to make. This dish i made couple weeks ago, just from some stuff i had in the fridge. Turned out to be really delicious dish! This dish is completely vegan, if you use the vegan oyster sauce. You can also make this ofcourse without the oyster sauce. Here is a recipe how to make this dish:

You need:

• 1 package of firm Tofu
• Half Zuccini
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Leek
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• About 3 Garlic cloves
• Sesame seeds
• Sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Chili oiil
• Sunflower oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Jasmin Rice

First put the rice on boiling. I have a Rice cooker, which is really handy, since you can just let the cooker cook the rice and you don't have to stir or watch after the rice. But if you don't have a cooker, just prepare the rice fist, since the rest of the dish comes ready really fast. 

Then chop the Tofu on cubes. I like little smaller cubes, but it's up to you what size you prefer. Prepare the rest of the vegetables. For this dish i chopped the cabbage and carrot as a thin slices. After you have chopped the veggies, heat up the pan. Pour some Sunflower, Sesame- & Chili oil on the pan. Add the Tofu and Garlic. Add some salt, pepper and soy sauce. Let it fry for like 5-10 minutes, depending how crispy you want the tofu to be. Add then all the vegetables. Add some oyster sauce, soy sauce and more sesame oil.  Mix well and stir fry about 5-7 minutes until veggies get more softer. In the end sprinkle some seseme seeds on top and serve with Jasmin rice. Enjoy!

Warm Quinoa salad with fried Tofu

This is a salad i made a while ago. Really refreshing, filling, tasty and healthy dish. People who say, they hate salads, have propably always eaten tomato-lettuce-cucumber salad with some crappy dressing or without anything.. and that's all. I have heard so many times from peoples mouth, SALADS are BORING. Honestly, i just think people are ignorant and not willing to try out stuff. I really believe in the saying "Better food, Better mind" and i think people should really start thinking what they put in their mouth. Not eat the same crap all the time like most people do. Try out something new, live out a bit! You could be suprised how much you actually might enjoy things more!

Well back in business, here is how to make this delicious, fast and easy salad!

• 1 packet of Firm Tofu
• 1-2 dl Quinoa 
• Celery (fresh not the root)
• Cucumber
• Chickpeas ( i used the ready canned ones)
• Some mixed salad ( I used salad mix with lettuce, carrot, cabbage etc.)
• Sunflower seeds or seed mix. Pine nuts are exelled too!
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• Herbsalt ( I use Herbamare)
• Salt & Pepper
• For dressing i used some Fig balsamic vinegar dressing which goes really well with this

First cut the tofu on cubes. Heat up pan and add olive oil & sesame oil on the pan and the tofu cubes.
Add some pepper & salt ( or mixed up spices if you want to spice up the tofu some more). When the tofu is fried nice and crispy, put it a side to cool down a bit. Prepare the salad. Wash salad mix, cut the celery and cucumber on small pieces. Put them on a bowl. Add some chickpeas, sunflower seeds or pine nuts. Mix well and add some herbsalt and pepper. Boil some water and add the quinoa in the boiling water. Let it boil about 5 minutes until the quinoa is soft. Stir all the time while boiling. Pour the water out from the pot. Add the warm quinoa and the fried tofu in the salad. Mix well and serve. Add some Fig balsamic vinegar dressing and enjoy!

Minced Soybean sauce

Another typical Finnish food is "Jauhelihakastike", which is a creamy meat sauce made from minced meat. And again really simple and fast to make! Ofcourse i make my own vegetarian version, since i don't eat meat. This is the kind of food i like to make when i am tired after work and really don't have any energy or time to make any complex food. And this is really delicious too!

Here is what you need:

• Minced fake meat (minced soybeas, i used Häslans Kök frozen Sojafärsh)
• One onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Cream (optional Soy cream if you want to make a vegan version)
• Fresh Thyme
• Salt & pepper
• Paprica spice
• A hint of soy sauce
• Olive Oil

Fry the soymeat in oil on a pan with the onions and the garlic. Spice up well with salt, pepper, paprika and hint of soy sauce. Add cream and thyme, mix well and taste that you have enought spices. Serve with some boiled potatoes and steamed vegetables like cauliflower. Easy, fast and delicious!

Potato-Leek soup

I eat soups often. You can make them normally quite fast and simple. There is so much great options for delicious soups! This on is one of my favourite soups, that my mom always made me when i was sick. It's fast and simple to make and really good. Here is a recipe for you to make it:

• About 8 potatoes (normal size)
• One Leek
• 1-2 Vegetarian stock cube
• 3-5 Garlic cloves
• Salt & pepper
• Some mixed herbs like thyme, tarragon, oregano ect. 
• About 1 liter water
• 1 dl cream (optional soy cream if you want to make it vegan)
• Couple drops of Olive Oil
• Some grated cheeze on top (optional)

First you peel the potatoes and cut them on small cubes. Add  the potatoes, water and the vegetarian stock in a pot, let it come to boil. Meanwhile cut the Leek and garlic. Add them to the boiling water. Let it boil about 20 minutes or so, until the potatoes are soft. Pour the stock in a bowl, leave about 2 dl on the bottom of the pot. Use a hand blender to mash the potatoes and leek into a smooth puree, add the stock a little bit more to make it more like a soup, but not too much. Save space for the cream. Put the pot back on the stove and add cream, hint of olive oil, some salt & pepper and some herbs. Sterve well. Serve with some fresh bread, sprinkle some grated cheese on top and enjoy. So good!