Thursday 26 June 2014

Teriyaki tofu with brown rice and kale and Sylvia's dinners

A while back, I borrowed Gwyneth Paltrow's Notes from My Kitchen from the library.  It has lots of great simple recipes in it.  I bookmarked lots to try.  I made her gorgeous apple muffins and then I cooked up a batch of teriyaki tofu and rice with kale before having to return to the book.  The tofu was sticky and delicious but the rice wasn't quite right.

As always I made changes.  The original recipe was for teriyaki salmon.  A version of the recipe is at (Chef)uality).  Gwyneth said that you could substitute tofu.  She didn't give much more information.  I decided to fry the tofu because my oven is slow and frying is quick.  According to Wikipedia this means that my tofu was not actually teriyaki because it is a grilling/broiling cooking technique rather than a sauce.  No matter, it tasted amazing.  I used garlic instead of ginger in the hope that Sylvia would eat it.

Gwyneth wrote about the kale and rice that she is proud of her kids because they love this.  Sadly I wasn't able to enjoy the same pride.  Sylvia gobbled up the tofu but was not keen on the kale being mixed with the rice.  I insisted she ate a few mouthfuls and was pleased to see some bits of kale hiding in her spoonfuls.

It is a while since we had the teriyaki tofu but I keep trying now and again to challenge Sylvia's separatist food tendencies.  Last night I made some fairly plain fried rice for her.  She ate about a third of a bowl.  She does not like onion so I cut it small but she tried to pick it out of every spoonful so maybe next time I will cut it big.  She also protested that there were too many vegetables and she would prefer them on the side.  At least she accepts I will put some vegies in the rice and she loved the tofu bacon in it.  Baby steps!

I took the above photo of it and it does look like a lot of vegies, even though when I made it there didn't seem to be that many vegies.  Also in the photo are some of her favourite things at the moment.  Loom bands, a comb for hairdressing and gloves that she wears to be Elsa from Frozen.  (And if you are as fascinated as me by the popularity of the movie, ie the little girls belting out the song 'Let it Go' everywhere, check out this New Yorker article on Frozen.)

As for the teriyaki tofu and brown rice and kale, I loved the meal.  It had less variety of vegies than I usually serve up for dinner.  E thought the rice dish lacking oomph.  Perhaps the spring onions might have made a difference.  So while not perfect (and I think I have missed the point of teriyaki altogether because apparently it is usually broiled or grilled food), it is a healthy quick meal that I am sure I will make again.

I am sending the teriyaki tofu with brown rice and kale to Healthy Vegan Fridays #2.  Kimmy of Rock my Vegan Socks is keeping on with it but has farewelled 2 co-hosts and welcomed a new one - Robin of Vegan Dollhouse.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Q is for Quinoa pizza balls, quitting parliament and the picnic game
Two years ago: Yoghurt pastry, flatbreads, cakes, knitting, aquarium
Three years ago: Marshmallow Weetbix slice
Four years ago: Nigella’s potato bread
Five years ago: Pleasing pumpkin muesli slice
Six years ago: Philip Island Pleasures
Seven years ago: Red Rascal Burgers

Teriyaki tofu
Adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's Notes from My Kitchen Table
Serves 2-3

Teriyaki marinade
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey (Gwyneth used 3)*
2 tbsp mirin
2 large garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp oil
300 - 500g tofu, diced (I used 300g)

Mix marinade in a small bowl.  Toss with tofu chunks until well coated.  Marinate for an hour if you have the time (I didn't).  Heat heavy bottom non-stick frypan over medium heat and fry until marinade is absorbed, stirring frequently.  Tofu will be sticky and golden brown.

*Use another sweetener for vegan marinade.  Sugar or agave would work fine.  Wonder if coconut sugar or coconut nectar would work?

Fried rice with kale 
Adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's Notes from My Kitchen Table
Serves 2-3

175g dried brown rice (or 3 cups cooked rice)
225g kale (3 to 4 large stems)
3 spring onions, sliced (I didn't have these)
1 tbsp oil
2 clove garlic (I used 1 because enough in teriyaki)
1 to 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

Boil rice for 30 minutes or until cooked.  Drain rice.  Meanwhile prepare kale by removing stems if curly kale (I don't remove stems from Tuscan kale) and finely chopping.  Steam kale (over the cooking rice) for 7 minutes.  Once rice is cooked, fry garlic in oil in frypan over medium heat for about 2 minutes.  Add kale and spring onions and fry for about 2 minutes.  Add rice and stir for about 2 minutes.  Stir in soy sauce to taste and remove from heat.

On the Stereo:
Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 2: Social Music, Disc 1: Various Artists

27 comments:

  1. I'm on a tofu kick lately so I will be making this sometime soon I'm sure. I bought my daughter the loom band thing and had to confine it to her room because I got tired of finding loom bands everywhere!

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - I have recently bought a box to store the loom bands in because we have had a few spills and once you spill them they just keep turning up no matter how much you clean them

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  2. I don't know what it is, Johanna, I just never remember to pick up Tofu! I should, I love the stuff! I had to think a minute about the teriyaki conundrum. But yes, I do believe it is a form of cooking rather than a sauce.

    No matter, your dish sounds amazing and I;m sure I would love it. It took me a while to get use to Kale mixed in with other vegetable or starch but after a while, I did get use to it and learned to actually enjoy it. Perhaps the same will happne with Sylvia.

    I'm delighted to tell I totally enjoyed the Frozen movie. I'm not much of a movie buff but when my grandkids "made" me watch it, I was pleasantly entertained. I think it's adorable that Sylvia has Elsa gloves:)

    Thank you so much for sharing, Johanna..."See" you at the picnic!

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    1. Thanks Louise - I like to have tofu in the fridge - occasionally I don't manage to use it but mostly I do and it is useful for the tofu bacon I make a lot. I talk to sylvia about needing to taste something many times before she likes it - poor kid being told she just has to keep eating something she hates and one day when she least suspect it she will love it :-)

      I put on frozen when my dad was here and he really enjoyed it - I think it has made more sense for him of sylvia singing let it go in the car :-) The "elsa" gloves are just regular winter gloves but she seems to feel like else when she wears them and must have them pulled right up her arm like elsa.

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    2. Tofu Bacon? That's sounds interesting, Johanna. Have you posted a recipe for it?

      I use to tell my kids "you don't have to eat it, but you have to taste it because, tastes changes" Of course now there are lots of things they "got use to" and now enjoy:)

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    3. I sure do have a recipe blogged for tofu bacon - it is http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/ww-tofu-bacon-briliant-in-fried-rice-or.html - this is one of sylvia's favourite things for dinner - I had hoped putting it in the fried rice would make it more attractive to her. I often say you have to taste it or "just a few mouthfuls" - I like your idea of saying that tastes change.

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  3. Looks divine! I'm sure my Sylvia would be the same- picking out the tofu and leaving the kale. I might try the tofu using rice malt syrup, which is quite honey-like...

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    1. Thanks Kate - would be interested to hear if you try this with the rice malt syrup - I don't use mine nearly enough and it is less cloying than honey can be.

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  4. You're doing a great job with all the variety you give Sylvia. Even if she doesn't love everything, at least she's being exposed to all these different foods.
    I'm sure I'd have loved the meal. Maybe with more vegetables though as I think more veg is almost always better!

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    1. Thanks Emma - I feel like it I keep presenting sylvia with different options she will eventually get used to them. I agree that more veg is always better.

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  5. I'm totally not a parent, but from my own history and working at a parent magazine, I think it's safe to say that Sylvia will simply have a lightbulb moment where she realises that food tastes awesome when mixed together. AND THEN SHE'LL PUT HOT SAUCE ON EVERYTHING wait that's me

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    1. Thanks Hannah - if she put hot sauce on everything she would be like her dad - argh! I look forward to Sylvia's lightbulb moment (don't tell me it will take 20 years!) but meanwhile I continue to give her some gentle nudges

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  6. I love the sound of this and the simplicity of the ingredient list. I also love that Mr B would (should!) like it too. As for Sylvia, I agree that exposing her to different foods is lovely even if she doesn't like them all yet. I suspect she still gets more nutrition and variety than the average child! I am also interested to see she's into loom bands as I've seen them here and find them oddly fascinating.

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    1. Thanks Kari - I think Sylvia does get nutrition than most kids - I sometimes thinks her simple meals are healthier than mine. Having grown up in a family of 7 and seeing how differently we each eat as grown ups I guess there are no guarantees but I hope that exposing her to different foods helps. The loom band craze is quite fascinating - and it seems it is frustrating for teachers - some schools have even banned them.

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  7. This sounds really good - I think tofu is much maligned, but unfairly. LOL at Sylvia's "separatist" food policies.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - tofu does get a lot of flack from both the junkfood set and the health-conscious set but we love it.

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  8. I still haven't seen Frozen but I've heard how obsessed kids are with it!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - Frozen is a really interesting movie where they were going to make one sister the evil one and instead turned her into someone who was misunderstood - it is a larger than life story that you might enjoy

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  9. This is making me soooo hungry!!! Great blog! I can't wait to read more.

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    1. Thanks Robin - great to have you hosting Healthy Vegan Fridays

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  10. Johanna - this looks delicious! I think I will make it this week. I love tofu, kale & rice and seem to make a lot of dishes revolving around those main ingredients.
    And thank you for the shout out to Healthy Vegan Fridays =D
    I love the recipes you share and will be pinning this on our Pinterest page. Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - great to see you continuing the Healthy Vegan Fridays - and thanks for your kind comments - hope you love the meal.

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  11. These are some of my favourite ingredients - I'll have Sylvia's kale next time if she doesn't fancy it! I love teriyaki - I use brown sugar for sweetener. So good.

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  12. Nice simple dinners that sound so tasty - exactly the way I like it! :-)

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  13. Hi, visiting you via Healthy Vegan Fridays, that looks absolutely delicious!

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  14. The bowl of teriyaki tofu, rice and kale looks and sounds delectable! Sorry to hear about the rice and the kale - I would actually finish her bowl, haha! I absolutely love tofu drenched in sauces or fried, so good! It’s great that you’re exposing a variety of different ingredients to Sylvia, but there are just so many more to explore and that she might like! I think she might like any kinds of veggies - ingredients are endless! :)

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  15. That looks and sounds absolutely delicious!

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