Monday, October 06, 2008

Tofu Meatballs (You read it right, TOFU)


Been few days since I blogged last. I don't know how most of food bloggers can post everyday..hats off to you guys! :) Work has been up to my neck lately, I love my job very very much (thus, I will never complain about work load) and love food and cooking. However, these past few nights, by the time I hit home and done cooking, eating and cleaning up - and sometimes work for couple more hours. I just want to crawl under blanket in my pjs and not to move a single finger. I want to blame the weather. Yet, I secretly love cold weather. Odd, huh? Anyhow, I am truly impressed with fellow bloggers who manage to blog everyday.

Well, so I was doing some fridge purging over the weekend. With Thanksgiving coming, I got to empty up my fridge so that I have space you know..to put Thanksgiving related food. Been thinking about whipping up Derby Pie. Though it is way up there on 'too sweet, too sugary' stuff for my taste buds, Derby Pie has such a special place in my heart. Growing up, we made apple pie and some savory pie but that's basically it. It never occurred to me that there were gazillions different pie out there. Long story short, the family I stayed with during my early years in the States always make one or two home-made pie a week. Derby pie was 'our' first pie together. That was my first time even seeing pecans!!! Derby pie just brings back good memories.

Anyway, not sure why I am rambling about Derby Pie!! Maybe because I want a slice at this very moment...

So after major wiping, disinfecting, et cetera - there were not too many random things actually, but enough to make couple meals. I have half block of tofu and some 1/4 cup of ground chicken in freezer, yeap..1/4 cup, it was a leftover from some dumplings I made last week. Almost sad looking chives. Few packets of plum sauce - from those Chinese take out joints. 2 wrinkly looking long red chillies. Hmm...Vik is not a huge fan of tofu. I LOVE tofu, it's one of very few things I can eat in daily basis. However, I long learned that if I mix up the tofu with something spicy and almost like hiding it - he would not mind as much. Tofu meatballs then!! My gradma used to make a version of this with shrimps and we'd dunk these meatballs to sweet sour sauce. It was so good that we would keep counts on how many the other person has eaten, just to make sure it's all fair and square!! Hey, we were kids!!

What:
Tofu meatballs
- 1/4 cup ground chicken
- 1 cup of tofu, mashed
- 5 sprigs of chives, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp five spice powder
- 1 small egg, lightly beaten
- salt and pepper

Spicy Sour Sauce:
- 1/2 small onions, chopped
- 1 tomatoes, quarters
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 red chillies, slit to half
- 1/2 " ginger, julienne
- 4 packets of plum sauce
- 1 tbsp hot sauce/ sambal ABC
- 1/2 cup of pineapple nectar
- dash of sugar
- salt and pepper
- 1 green onions, chopped (for garnish)

How:
- Make meatballs by mixing all the ingedients together, shape into small balls. Either deep fry it, or panfry with little oil. It will be okay to bake them, but for not having no fat in this meatballs mixture (tofu and ground chicken), baking may dry them up pretty badly.
- While frying up the meatballs. Pour 1/2 tbsp oil in another pan. Toss in garlic, chillies, tomatoes, and onions. Stir until they get all soft and nice.
- Add in plum sauce, hot sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir and let it gets to quick bubble. Pour in pineapple nectar.
- Toss in tofu meatballs. Stir and when it starts to boil, turn off heat. Garnish with chopped up green onions.

We opted to sit outside on our balcony for dinner - regardless it was about 11 celcius. Told ya I love cold weather. It wasn't too bad with such spicy hot dish and steaming bowl of jasmine rice. Oh, and I made quick broth (tips: when making home-made broth, always always freeze them in ice cubes tray, they work wonder!) with some random chopped up veggies. Soup slurping, spicy tofu meatballs. 11 celcius...was alright. Though few minutes after we done eating and all the heat from chillies were all gone, we literally pushing each other trying to get back inside. Hee..

19 comments:

Dewi said...

Cecil,
This is an interesting recipe, I am sure taste really good.

tigerfish said...

I'm not surprised that tofu make good meatballs, you know. With the moisture in tofu, it's one of the juicy factors in meatballs, yes?

Anonymous said...

Blogging daily is an impossibility for me too; every other day is almost impossible too, hehe... how nice and creative to sneak in tofu into meatballs, the dish looks great =D

Unknown said...

i love tofu...especially if they are in the form of meatballs hehehe

i can't blog every day too...i might bore the heck outta everyone hehe

Adam said...

Thanksgiving? Wha... oh you mean Canadian Thanksgiving... wow I'm slow :)

I really like tofu too, it's very versatile stuff, which is why these meatballs sound delicious. Not bad for fridge cleaning, if I may say so. Oh, and the sauce is outstanding!

Alexa said...

I feel the same way you do about tofu. It was too funny to see your post because I woke up this morning with an idea for tofu meatballs but without the meat. I am going to create it today. If it works, I'll post about it.

Esi said...

Nice alternative to regular meatballs!

Precious Pea said...

I don't mind having bland tofu your style! Looks really good, bet the gravy really tasty with rice.

Prudy said...

That looks amazing-especially with the sauce. Tell me, do you think I could swap out the chicken completely for tofu. My vegetarian sister is coming next weekend and I know she'd love a "meat"ball. Let me know.

Natalie Que said...

I honestly don't know how YOU do it! I don't post everyday either, but it still feels like it is quickly becoming a full-time job. How do you work AND blog!? I haven't posted in 4 days and I'm STILL trying to reply to all of the comments from the last posts before I post again...

These look great, and how healthy to use tofu! Good on ya mate!

Natalie Que said...

PS -Yes, I should have mentioned marinara sauce as Number 1! It is SO confusing! Think they call it Napoletana sauce here or something. Too funny, thanks for your input!

Dee said...

I'm making this for sure. Me + Tofu= zzzz... did you use soft tofu or firm?

Can't wait for your Derby pie - don't know what that is, but if it's got pecans in it, I'll love it!

You blog often enough :) Get some rest, girl!

Deborah said...

I've never heard of tofu meatballs - how interesting!! And I don't know how people blog every day - I'd probably run out of things to post!

Anonymous said...

very creative with the tofu and ground chicken! what a combo!

Dwiana P said...

very interesting recipe, never heard about tofu meatballs before. But anyway tofu is my fav!

Erica said...

Those look just like regular meatballs- amazing! What a clever idea !!

Indonesia Eats said...

I love this as my husband is a pesco-vegetarian.

Yasmeen said...

Tofu meatballs! its amazing how tofu can blended delicious in any food.

Anonymous said...

This looks like a good combination! As for blogging - I am not able to blog on a daily basis. Just don't have the time to do that on a daily basis I guess.