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!

Find Mastertofu in Facebook!

Hi!

I haven't been updating the blog for a while now, so sorry for that. I have been busy organizing my wedding.. So yes i just got married! I will be adding new recipes soon, since i just got a new computer, so it will be easier to work with the pictures and update new stuff to the blog. So just be patient for a little while, new stuff coming up soon ;) Meanwhile go like my Mastertofu Facebook page, i will be updating that also along with the Blog! Find it here: Mastertofu

Here's some pics of my recent foods:

Farang -Stockholm-

Couple weeks ago, i took my fiancee to eat in this new restaurant in Stockholm Sweden, called Farang. It's a cosy restaurant where you can taste flavours from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, all mixed together. I knew this restaurant already earlier, since i am originally from Helsinki, Finland and the first Farang was opened there in 2011. The co-owners of Farang Stockholm are Tomi Björk, Matti Wikberg and Kim Öhman. Tomi and Matti are also the Co-owners of the Farang Helsinki. Tomi is also famous in Finland of being the head judge in Master -and Junior Masterchef Finland. He also has his own Tv cooking-show called "Tomin keittiössä". Well there was a little backround to you about the place, you can read more from their webpage www.farang.se. 

We booked a table and were lucky to even get one, since this place is newly opened, so it was fully booked. The atmosphere was really open and spacy. I liked that you could actually see in the kitchen and see the chefs working there. I was happy to see also Tomi Björk in the kitchen preparing meals.

In Helsinki i had already tried out the "Vegetarian Tasting Menu", which is served at least for two persons, but mostly for the whole table. I can say that, that was probably the best food experience i had ever had, when i ate that in Helsinki, so i was really exited to taste another tasting menu here in Stockholm.

We tooked the first menu which was 690kr /person that included vegetarian/fish and meat dishes, but since i don't eat meat i asked them to change mine to fish or vegetarian versions and they were happy to do that. We started up with a drink called "Ladyboy". It was a coctail mixure of : Beefeater Gin, ginger, mint, lime, lychee & ginger beer. Tasty & good kick start for the meal. The first tasting dish came really quick after the ordering. The first dish was "Cha  Plu Leaf with smoked salmon, roasted peanuts & trout roe". It was a perfect little piece of delicious flavours. I might think it was the best thing actually in the whole menu. I could have eaten just those! So fresh, full of flavours that it felt you had a party in your mouth. Seriously. SO DAMN good!








The next dish was "Pike Perch Sashimi, Vietnamise style" with asian herbs& black vinegar dressing. OH MY GOD! This was yet again 10/10 points. The fish just melted in my mouth and the flavours were so good. People often say, that why spend so much money on fancy food when you get so little on the plate? I mostly also agree with them, but i have to say, that this whole menu was really worth of every penny.  And it was plenty of food, i was so full in the end i could not eat even a little bite more.

The next dish was "Softshell Crab with green mango, mint, pomelo, green nahm jim and peanuts". I must say that i was really waiting to get this dish, since i just LOVE crab meat. But i must say, that the crab was not the star of this dish. It was actually the green mango salad. The salad was so delicious, kick of mint and acid, it would just have been perfect like that, without the crab. The crab was a bit dry and little over salty, but whatta heck, It still was good! If i have to give critic a bit, so there it came. I would have served that salad with fresh crab meat rather than the fried one. Anyway the pace of dish after dish was perfect, you really didn't have to wait to get the next little dish.





The next dish was called "Crispy pork with palmsugar caramel" so it contained: crispy fried braised pork, rice vinegar, roasted onion. My boyfriend Modde, ate that, but since i do not eat meat, i got my own dish with Fried fish and somekind of sweetsour sauce. And of course they served rice with all the dishes.

Modde said, that the pork was good, but he would actually prefered vegetarian or fish dish. He felt that the meat dish was too heavy after having so light and fresh start. I myself enjoyed once again my dish. It was crispy white fish, i forgot what fish was it, or there was a bit translation error, since the waiter spoke swedish and i do not understand everything in swedish. Anyway the fish was good, but nothing really that special, what the dishes before had been. But i'll give them a big credit for creating a dish just for me, that was not one the menu in the first place.

At this point we started to get quite full already, but there was still couple dishes and the dessert to go. The next two dishes came at the same time. Other one was "Thai Roti bred with Mussaman Curry"and the other one was called "Morning Glory, ‘Salt & Pepper’ Tofu" contained: watercress, bok choy& crispy fried silken tofu. The Curry was again, really tasty, but i just wanted to jump to the Tofu dish, that i had been waiting for the whole night. First mouthfull of that heavenly dish, oh, i just could have died. If i would have, i would have died happy! It really was the best dish with the two first dishes, of the whole menu. The watercress, Bok choy, crispy tofu and the broth all together were so damn delicious. Again party in my mouth. Modde, who by the way is an old vegetarian, but eats meat nowdays, thought this was the best dish of the night.

We were really full allready, but there was one more dish left before the dessert. I actually had tried to change all the meat dishes away to a fish or vegetarian dishes, when we ordered the whole menu, but i guess there was a missunderstanding with my crappy swedish and with the waiter, so that's why they just changed my dish. But it was ok, since Modde eats meat anyway. Modde got dish called: "Veal Cheek ‘Serembam" which was slow braised veal cheeks, aromatic chili broth & mint-sprout salad. I got the same, but without veal and with salmon. I have never in my life even eaten veal and i think it's horrible to eaven eat that, a little baby cow. Buhuu. Modde said that it tasted good, but the texture was really weird. It was so soft, he said. He tasted my salmon and said that weirdly the salmon felt like same kind of texture, so i guess it was the point of me also having it with salmon then. My salmon was perfectly cooked, soft and the min-sprout salad  and the broth was delicious. I think anyways the salads were exellend on all dishes. So overall both dishes were good.

We were so happy and satisfied of the menu already so, i think we were kinda high off the food, if you know what i mean. Hah! At this point the waiter asked if we wanted to wait for a bit to "let the food go down", before we get the desserts, so we said yes. It was nice to take a little break, since we were so full. So we had time to chat a bit and i was compering the experience in Helsinki Farang to this one. I actually like the Stockholm restaurant as a place a bit more. It's a bit bigger than the Helsinki Farang, but overall i think the food is as good as it is in Helsinki. The staff was really friendly and they came right away to the table to serve you. Really nice experience and we will defenetly go back again...as soon as we get more money hah!

Last but not least, the dessert. It was called: ‘HOLA HOLA 5’ and it contained: thai style marinated fruits, sweet peas, lime, vanilla coconut stock & guava watermelon sorbet. DE-to-LICIOUS. The coconut stock was so soft and creamy, fruits were delicious and the flavours were great. Only thing that i did not get in the dish was the sweet peas. But  F* that, it was still good!

So i can definetly recommed this restaurant for all food lovers all around the world. If you want to taste a little piece of Asia, in the middle of Stockholm, Farang is the place to go. It's not the place, where you eat quickly or cheaply, but it is all worth it. So take time, sit down with your friends and have a great experience of flavours and food. Overall an exellent service, Exellent food and Great experience. Thank you Farang!

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!

Vegetarian Noodle soup with Tofu

I have made this type of dishes a lot lately, just because i love noodle soups. Especially here in Sweden, there is lot's of Thai/Vietnamise restaurants that have exellent noodle soups on their menus. So i have got my inspiration of these from those restaurants. This is quite basic soup, lot's of differet veggies and tofu stir fried in oyster sauce and served with rice noodles and vegetarian broth. Here is a recipe how to make this delicious dish:

You need lot's of vegetables, you can choose what you want to use,  but here is a list what i used:

• Zuccini
• Carrots
• Fennel
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Fresh champions/shiitake mushrooms
• Leek
• Cabbage
• Garlic
• Bamboo shoots
• Fresh Coriander
• Chili
• Mixed salad ( i used mixed salad bag with fresh spinach, lettuce, etc)

You also need: 

• Rice noodles 
• Tofu ( i used the ready fried one)
• Oyster sauce
• Salt & Pepper
• Vegetable broth
• About 1/2-1 liter of water
• Ginger 
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil

First prepare all the vegetables, wash well and chop to pieces. Boil some hot water on a tea boiler and also measure about half or one liter water on a pot on a stove. Add vegetable broth in it, some fresh chili, garlic and graded ginger. Add Some pepper and salt. Taste that has enough taste. Let it come to boil and after that put a side to wait. Same time that you are making the broth,  the tea boiler is also ready, so add the rice noodles in a big bowl with a lit. Pour the water in so that it covers the rice noodles. Add lit and let it stand there about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile start preparing the stir fry. Add some olive oil, sesame oil, fresh chili and garlic on a pan, heat up and add tofu. Fry it like a minute or so. Then add carrots, cauliflower and broccoli.  Add some salt, pepper and oyster sauce. Mix well and cover with lit for 1-2 minutes. After that add rest of the chopped vegetables (not the salad and coriander). Pour some more oyster sauce in, add oil if needed. Add again some pepper and salt. Mix well and cover with lit like for 3 minutes. Then mix again. Keep the heat enough down, that the vegetables don't go too soft. They need to be still a bit crispy.

Then pour the water out from the ricenoodles. Add some noodles on a deep plate.First add some salad on top, then some stir fried vegetables on and  last pour some broth in. Sprinkle some coriander  and little bit oyster sauce on top and enjoy. So "Helvetin Hyvää" as we say in Finnish ( which means so "F*king good, haha)

Clams with creamy Fennel and Parsnip sauce

This one i made yesterday for the first time. I really like Clams, but i have never made them myself like this before. This is really fast and traditional recipe, exept i made my own little twist on it.

Here's how to make this:

• One bag of clams 
• About 4-5 dl cream
• About 1 dl white wine
• One bunch of Fresh parsley
• Salt & Pepper
• Half small Fennel
• One Parsnip
• One small Onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• Olive oil 

First wash the Clams well. Soak and twirl them in cold water for a while so that the sand will get well off from the Clams. Then Cut the onion, garlic, parsnip and fennel to small pieces. Pour some oil on a hot deep pan and add the veggies to the pan. Fry the mix until veggies look soft. Add some white wine on the pan, put the heat a bit down. Add cream, salt and pepper. Spice up the broth until you think it's tasty enough. Add the parsley. And last add the clams. Shake the pan that the clams get mixed well with the broth. Cover with lit and let it boil on a small heat for about 3-4 minutes until the clams have opened up. Serve with some fresh white bread and enjoy!

Finnish Style Cabbage dish

I haven't updated my blog since November so i had a lot of pictures in my camera. I have made lot's of Finnish traditional dishes lately, maybe also because have missed Finland so much. And yes i am a Finn, living in Stockholm now thou. Anyways back to business. This is a really traditional old school food from Finland. It's Finnish name is "Kaalilaatikko" and normally it's made with minced meat, but i have again made my vegetarian version of it. This dish is really good when it's made well. Some people hate it, but it think it's because they have got the bad version of this at schools in Finland. Here is a recipe how i make it delicious!

• Half of a Cabbage
• One onion
• Minced soy meat
• 3-4 Garlic cloves
• About 3-4 dl porridge rice 
• Oil
• Butter
• About 3-5 dl Cream
• About 3-4 dl Vegetable broth
• Salt & pepper

First boil the rice until it's allmost soft. Heat up the oven to 225 degrees. Fry some soymeat with onion on the pan. Add spices and garlic. Put a a side to cool down. Fry the cabbage on pan in oil just like about 5 minutes, until it's shiny. Don't fry it done, cabbage needs to be crispy.  Add some salt and pepper. Spread some butter on a flat long oven bowl, that the butter covers all the inside of the bowl. Pour the rice and the soymeat mix on the oven bowl and mix it until their mixed together. Add the vegetarian broth and cream on the bowl. Pour it all over that it fills up the bowl with liquid. Cook the dish in the oven about 30-40 minutes, until the surface looks golden brown. Serve with some Cowberry jam 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!

Finnish style Vegetarian Macaroni dish

This is really typical Finnish style homefood. It's called in Finnish "Makaronilaatikko". Finnish people make this often and it's again simple and easy to make. Normally it's made with minced meat, but instead of meat i use minced soybeans. Here is the recipe how to make it:

• about 4 dl Macaroni
• About 3-4 dl minced soybeans (fake minced meat. You can find this in almost all local stores. I used Hälsans Kök frozen sojafärsh)
• One Onion
• 2 Carrots
• 3 Eggs
• about 4 dl Milk
• Breadcrumbs
• Salt & Pepper
• 3-4 cloves of Garlic
• Mixed spices like paprika, chili, herbsalt etc.
• Oil

Heat up the oven about 225 degrees hot.  Boil some water and add the macaronis and carrots in the water. Add some salt in the water. Boil them until macaronis are half soft. Pour the water out. Put a side to cool down. Add some oil on the pan and heat it up. Chop the onions and garlic. Fry the minced soy on the pan with the onions and garlic. Add salt, pepper and other spicies, like paprica and herbs. Thyme is good herb for this too. Spread some oil on a big oven bowl that it covers all the insides of the bowl. Pour the macaroni, carrots and minced soy in and mix util everything is mixed together. Then pour the milk and eggs on a separate bowl. Whip well until the milk and eggs are well mixed. Add some salt, pepper and paprica spice and additional spices like herbs if you want to. Pour the milk-egg mix on the bowl with the macaroni-soy mix. Pour it all over. It should come up almost to the top, that the macaroni is fully covered with the egg-milk. Sprinkle some breadgrumbs on top and cook in the oven about 30 minutes until the cover looks crispy and golden brown. Enjoy with some ketchup on top and sprinkle some cheese on top too if you like.

Finnish style Egg Butter

This simple and delicious butter is my favourite stuff from childhood. It is really traditional Finnish delicasy that we normally eat with another Finnish delicasy called Karelian Pies.

Here is how you make this simple litte dish:

• About 4-5 hard boiled eggs
• Butter
• Salt & pepper
• On top some spring onions (optional)

Boil the eggs hard. Chop them to tiny cubes or mash them with a fork in a bowl. Add about 2-4 spoons of butter, some salt and pepper. Wola, ready! Eat on top of Karelian pies or some toasted dark bread.

These are Karelian pies. I am gonna make these soon in the future by myself and put a recipe here. Meanwhile you can google the recipe. In Finland you can buy these ready cooked in every food stores.

Creamy Salmon Soup

This is quite basic scandinavian style salmon soup and easy to make. I really love creamy fish soups. My granma used to make the best fish soups. This one is warming at the cold winter days. Cheap, quick and easy to make. Takes about 30 minutes to make.

Here's what you need:

• About 6-9 potatoes
• 3 Carrots
• Celery
• Dill
• Fresh or frozen Salmon. 
• One onion
• 3 dl whipped cream
• Allspice (Jamaica pepper)
• Fish broth
• about 8-10 dl water
• Salt & pepper

First peel the potatoes, carrots and onion. Cut the celery. Measure water in the pot and put all the vegetables in the boiling water. Add fish broth & some Allspice (Jamaica pepper). Cut the fish into cubes. Let it boil until potatoes are getting softer. Add the fish cubes into the boiling pot. Put the heat lower. Add the cream and the dill. Add some salt and pepper. Taste that has enough spices. Enjoy with some dark break and glass of cold milk.

Tofu steaks, Creamy Garlic Potatoes & Fennel sauce

I was on a experimental mood couple days ago. So i wanted to try out to make my own recipe of tofu steaks. I also love the taste of fennel so i decided to try out to make a sauce by using it, and damn it was good! Here is a recipe how to make this delicious dish:

Tofu Steaks

• 1 packet of Tofu ( i used the ready marinated one)
• About 3 dl Frozen Spenach
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• 1 Onion
• 2 eggs ( i used one for these, but i think it wasn't enough)
• About 1 dl bread grumps
• About 2 dl Flours
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Chili powder
• Santamaria Roasted Cummin-Pepper mix
• Santamaria Garlic & Pepper mix

First chop the tofu on small cubes and  melt the spenach. Chop the Onions and garlic too. Add everything in a big bowl. Use Hand plender to chop the mix down to almost like a puree. Add the spices and eggs. Mix with using a spoon. Add the bread grumps and the flours (not all at one time) and some olive oil (about 1/2 dl). Mix until it comes more stiff. Add more flours, if it looks too soft. Add some Olive oil on pan and heat it up. Make flat handsize steaks with your hands and put them on the hot pan. Fry both sides until the steaks get colden brown. Ready to serve!

Fennel Sauce

• About half of the Fennel
• Half Onion
• 4-5 dl Cream
• Salt & Pepper
• Santamaria Cummin-Pepper mix
• About 2 tablespoons of flours
• Olive Oil  

Chop the fennel and onions in to a small cubes. Pour some olive oil on a pot and heat the fennel-onion mix in it. Let it cook until the fennel gets smooth and soft. Put the heat down to smaller heat and add the cream. Mix the flours with a hint of cold water in a mug, until it's liquid. Pour it into the the pot. Sterve well until the the sauce starts to get thicker. Add a hint of salt and pepper( I use mixed black and white pepper roast). Add also some roasted Cummin ( I used Santamaria Roasted Cummin-pepper mix). Ready to serve!

Creamy Garlic Potatoes

• About 10 potatoes
• 5 Cloves of Garlic
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive Oil
• Santamaria Garlic-Pepper mix 
• Santamaria Barbeque & Grill mix
• About 4-5 dl cream

Peel the potatoes and chop them into small cube shaped slices. Heat up the owen to 225 degrees. Pour some olive oil on a flat oven bin. Add the potatoes, chopped garlic and spices. Mix well and then last add the cream. Let it cook in the oven about 30-40 minutes, until the surface looks colden brown. Ready to serve!

"All you can Find"

I made this veggo-plate one day when i was too lazy to go to food store and just crabbed stuff that i had at home and made food from them. I cook like this quite often, haha! So i found some dry soyballs, green longbeans, beetroots and full grain couscous. Here's how i made this delicious dish:

• Dry soyballs/Soy bites (about 2-3 dl is enough for two people)
• Beetroots 
• Green beans ( i used frozen ones)
• Couscous
• Butter
• Garlic 
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive oil
• Spices like, garlic-pepper mix, grilling spice and cummin-pepper mix

First peel the beetroots, cut them in cubes and put in a boiling water. Add a hint of salt on the water. Put the green beans on a bowl to melt. Boil some water on a waterboiler and pour it into a bowl, where you add the dry soyballs and cover it with the lit. Let them stay covered for about 10-15 minutes, until they are soft. (Optional: You can also boil them in a pot). Then when the soyballs are soft, pour the water out, run some cold water on top of them (to make them cool down quickly) and squeeze the water out of the balls with your hands. Add the balls into a bowl, add olive oil and the mixed spices. You can use your own imagination to spice them up. I always mix different spices.After that pour some olive oil on pan and heat it up. Fry the balls until they are crispy. Put them on side to wait. Add some oil on the pan and fry the green beans. Just add hint of salt and pepper. Put them on the side to wait. Meanwhile boil some water with the water boiler again. Add about 3 dl couscous into a bowl. Pour about 2 dl water in and mix, add more water if looks too dry. Add some salt and a big chunk of butter. Mixx well, cover with a lit and put a side to wait for about 3-5 minutes. The beetroots should be ready at this point. Pour the water out, add some butter, chopped garlic, salt & pepper and mix. Serve everything together and enjoy. This was 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!

Palak Paner And Tomato-Physalis salad

I made some basic Palak Paner last sunday. It's my favourite indian dish, that you can get probably in all the indian restaurants here in Scandinavia. It's simple and quick to make and really delicious! Here is what you need to make it:

• Basmatin rice
• 2 bags of fresh spenach 
• 1 package of Ricotta cheese
• About 2 dl Cream
• 1 Onion
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• Salt & Pepper
• Chili powder
• Ginger powder
• Roasted Cummin ( I used Santamaria roasted Cummin & Pepper mix)
• Olive oil

First put the rice on a rice boiler or boil it it a pot. Meanwhile start cutting the onions and garlic to small pieces. Wash the spenach and cut it in to small mince. Cut the Ricotta cheese in cubes. Pour some olive oil in cooking pan. Let it come to heat and add the cheese on the pan. Fry the cubes on both sides, until the surface is golden brown.  Put the cheese on the side and start frying some onions and garlic in the oil. When the onions are glazed, add the spenach. Cook until the spenach is soft. Add some salt, pepper, chili powder, ginger powder and roasted cummin. Mix well. Add the cream and  the fried cheese. Mix softly that you don't brake the cheese cubes. Taste and add more spices if needed. Serve with some basmatin rice and enjoy!

I made also this Tomato-Physalis salad on a side dish. Just cutted some red onion, different types of cherry tomatoes and added some Physalis to the mix. Last i added just a hint of sea-salt and some gurmee balsamic vinegar and mixed it well. Simple and so good!

Fried Salmon with oven Potato, Thyme sauce and Pizza salad

This one i made couple days ago. Here in Sweden, you always get this delicious Pizza salad in all the pizzerias when you order pizza. It's really simple and delicious, so i decided to make it as a side dish with this fried Salmon. They worked well together! The buttery thyme sauce goes well with fish too. Here is a recipe for this dish:

You need:

• Oven potatoes (2 big ones for two portions)
• Fresh salmon files
• One lime
• Fresh Thyme
• Fresh Cabbage
• Butter
• Cream
• Flours
• Salt & Pepper
• White vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Sugar or Honey
• Lemon pepper ( I used Santamaria Lime&Peppermix)

First wash the potatoes and roll them in the folio and let it cook in the owen in 225 degrees for about 1 hour. Don't start cooking the fish untill the potatoes are about to be ready, because the fish and the sauce takes only a short time to cook.

Then make the cabbage salad. Boil some water on a tea boiler. Grade or cut the cabbage in thin slices and wash the slices well. Put a big bowl under the strainer and the cabbage on top the bowl. Pour the boiled water on top of the cabbage, so that it strains into the bowl under it. Pour the hot water again on top of the cabbage so that it goes a bit soft. Then run cold water thru the cabbage so that it cools down. Pour it to a bowl, add some salt and pepper, white vinegar, olive oil and sugar or honey (i used honey). Mix it well and taste that it has enough vinegar and spices. Put the cabbage salad covered in the fridge and let it spice up there for an hour or so too. This salad is even better, if it has been standing in the fridge for a day.

Prepare the fish. I bought ready cutted files, without the skin. Just added some salt and peppe, fresh thyme and lime pepper on top of the fish. Squeeze some fresh lime juice on top just before you start cooking it. Add a good piece of butter in the pan and fry the fish from both sides that it comes nice and golden brown. Use a spoon to scoop the butter on top of the fish while you are frying it. Put the fish on a plate and cover it with a lit.

Make the sauce. Add some butter (about 60 grams)  in a sauce pot, let it melt, then add some freshly cutted  thyme in it. Add about 1 tablespoon of flours, keep the heat low. Mix the flours well on the butter and when it's all mixed add just a half or one dl water and then about 1 dl cream. Mix and let it come to little boil. Add more cream if it's too thick. Add some salt and pepper and taste that it has enough flavour.

Serve the fish with oven potato, pizza salad and the buttery thyme sauce and enjoy. Simple and so good!

Beetroot Risotto with fried Tofu & Eggplant

I love Risottos. This one i tried out, since beetroots were in the season and really cheap at stores. They give a lovely color for the risotto. Normally my favourite risotto is basic mushroom risotto, but this one simply got one of my top lists! I served it with fried tofu that i just marinade with soy sauce, pepper, garlic and some herbs and fried it in pan. Also served it with pan fried eggplants and some salad. Here is a recipe how to make this delicious risotto:

• 1 pack of risotto rice (Aborio is good one for risottos)
• About 2- 3 small beetroots
• 1 onion
• Pecorino cheese
• White wine
• Vegetable broth
• Water
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil

First mesure about 1 liter water in a pot and add the vegetable broth into it and some pepper and salt. Taste that it has enough salt. Let it come to boil and keep in small heat. Meanwhile peel the onion and beetroots. Cut them both in small cubes. Add some oil on the convex shape pan and add the beetroots in. Let it heat up about  5-10 minutes that the cubes start to get a little soft. Add onions into the mix. Then add the rice. Pour some more oil and start turning the rice over and over until it gets "translucent gloss". Start adding the vegetable broth little by little, that the rice is covered with the broth. Add some white wine, about 1dl is fine, depends how "winy" you like it to taste. Put a lit on and let it boil. Stir the risotto often and add broth when the rice has sucked in the last added broth. Let the risotto cook in medium heat about 30-40 minutes, depending how good stove you have. Remember to stir it a lot, that the rice don't burn. When rice starts to be soften add some grated Pecorino, salt and pepper and stir again. Serve with the tofu or what ever you like, or just eat it like that. Grate some Pecorino on top before eating. Enjoy!

Cloud Nine

 This is going to be my first restaurant review. I'm just going to explain the food and my experience of the restaurant in my own way. So here's a story of my Birthday dinner, hope you enjoy reading it!

Yesterday was my 33rd  birthday and my lovely fiancee took me out to eat in a nice restaurant in Stockholm called Cloud Nine , the Dim Sum room. Click the name, to see the website. It was really cosy and nice place, quite prizy thou. The place had cool interior too, decorated little bit like hiphop style. So if you feel like eating delicious asian style food, drink tasty drinks and just chill, this is a place for you.

We started with drinks. I ordered a class of white wine and my fiancee ordered some Orange alcohol drink. Then we decided to start with a big Sashimi plate and share it together. The plate included: "Salmon Sashimi" Salmon with sesame seeds, gari, pea sprouts and warm sesame oil. "Tuna Cheviche" Tuna with avocado, yuzo, soy, nori and taro root. "Pacific Scallops" Scallops marinaded in tryffel oil and yuzo. The last set I think was Black Fish with green chili and some oil, I forgot what it was thou. The Sashimi set was Exellent! Fish tasted fresh and melted in mouth. My favourite was the Tuna and the Salmon Sashimis. The price for the Big Sashimi plate was 285,00 kr but it was all worth of the flavors!

Next we ordered some Dumplings. Both decided to take the same dish "Steamed Seafood Dumplings" which included four dumplings filled with fish, seafood, shiitake mushrooms and spring onion. They were served with two delicious dip, the other tasted like ginger & lemon and the other sweet soy & spices. Dumplings were soft and melted in the mouth. Really tasty! The price for two dumpling sets were 230, 00 kr. We also ordered some Edamame beans on the side. They had sprinkled some Togarashi on top, which make the edamames really spicy! After a while, maybe little bit too spicy! Our mouths were on fire! The Edamames cost 55,00 kr and it was a big portion, enough for two.

 

After the dumplings, we ate some Crab Salad. We were supposed to order Crab cakes, but they were out of them, so instead they had another dish, so we tried it out. The Crab salad was served with some papaya, fresh spinach, tomato sauce and spices. It was good, but i think it would have been better without the tomato sauce. Just with ginger and lime would been enough for taste. But it still was good! The price for the salad for two was 220,00 kr.

Because all the portions were quite small, we still were a bit hungry. We decided to order some sushis. We took some Nigiri with Salmon Caviar, rolled within cucumber. The Nigiris were good, but didn't neet a dipping in soy sauce. The caviar was salty enough. We also took some "Alaska Rolls" filled with salmon, avocado, cucumber and sesame mayonnaise. These were really delicious! The price for Nigiri was 100,00 kr and the Alaska rolls were 110,00 kr.

For last, we ordered some desserts. Even thou i started to be quite full already, my fiancee insisted that we get some desserts too. So i took the basic, Creme Brulee and he took Chocolate mousse with some cranberrys on top. The price for Creme burlee was 85,00 kr and the Mousse was 95,00 kr. Both were delicious!

In total we both ate gourmet food with 1361,00 kr including the drinks. Not so bad for exellent experice on different flavors! The serving was really friendly and they explained all the dishes to us what they included. I highly recommend this restaurant for all asian style food lovers. Such a great experience! Definetly going to try this out again some day!