Last night I tried my hand at making ma po tofu on rice. It's a very spicy, intense Sichuan pork-and-tofu dish that requires a bit of finesse and a handful of prayers. Unfortunately I didn't have all the authentic ingredients for it, but it was good enough that hubby says he'll endure the hour-long drive to the Asian supermarket for the real deal.

Hmm. I didn't know what that was, Nini, so I googled it. Found this recipe, and now I really want to try it. (The riesling nailed it for me, though. )

Ma Po Tofu



This simple Chinese stir-fry uses tofu, the food touted by Susan Love. In addition to its potential health benefits for women, the soy in tofu may help protect against prostate cancer. Depending on how much chili garlic sauce you use, you can customize the heat in this mix of lean ground pork, tofu, and Asian spices. Add a side of chilled melon and a cold glass of dry riesling for a satisfying supper.



Ingredients

1 (1-pound) package reduced-fat firm tofu, cut into 6 slices
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (such as Lee Kum Kee)
4 ounces lean ground pork
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups hot cooked long-grain brown rice
1/3 cup chopped green onions

Preparation

Place tofu slices on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels. Place a dinner plate on top of covered tofu; let stand 30 minutes. Remove plate; discard paper towels. Cut tofu slices into 1/2-inch cubes.

Combine broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili garlic sauce, stirring with a whisk.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; cook 4 minutes or until done, stirring to crumble. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add tofu; cook 4 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently. Add broth mixture to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.

Serve tofu mixture over rice. Sprinkle with onions.

Mmm, that looks about right, but I think I used the high-fat version I recommend using silken tofu and letting it braise in the mixture with the pork, but that depends on how comfortable you are with cooking tofu. Silken tofu is extremely squishy, for lack of a better description

Once I refine the recipe, I'll be sure to post it though!

Does anyone have any Mennonite recipes they would like to share?

Okay, change of plan. Am in the process of making the Ma Po Tofu. Didn't buy the silken tofu... bought the firm. I find the silken tofu too squishy. Will let you know the verdict.

Looks to be a few good sites with some. If you try some, come back and let us know your thoughts. There's probably a lot of regional differences too. Depends what you're looking for. It's sometimes hard to substitute American ingredients for Canadian ingredients because they're just not the same, so I tend to stick to American recipes... unless I have the Canadian ingredients, then I go with that.

Mennonite Recipes - Manitoba

Amish-Mennonite Recipes - Pennsylvania

Oliver will be making steaks tonight

He doesn't know that yet

we had chicken and fried rice for dinner/lunch today...

i am hungry... I don't know what to eat though.. maybe grilled cheese.. i love grilled cheese...

I (in Canada) had three hot dogs and a salad... yep, that's right. Now that I'm working out I get extra hungry.. which makes me wonder why I bother working out!?

My SO (in USA) had....oh God, I almost don't want to say. She had Vanila Cake with Chocolate Chip Icing and a glass of Milk for dinner! lol Good ol' American diet! And I'M THE ONE THAT HAS TO WORK OUT!!!

Ohmygosh, I see four -- count em -- FOUR new Canaliens in our forum! WHOO! Welcome Wookie!

Our Ma Po Tofu was FABULOUS, dahlinks, faaabulous. We gave it two thumbs up.

Yeah...welcome all new Canadian posters!

I made chicken calzones last night, they had some bbq sauce inside with the other "stuff". They were quite good. Made a large leaf lettuce salad as well. Banana spice cake for dessert with some soft banana butter frosting.

No idea what to make tonight. Maybe it's time to go out?

Well we ordered dinner last night, I had the french dip (they forgot the 'dip' - so basically it was a roast beef sandwich )

Husband had the chicken fried steak, which he has never had before and doesn't like.

For breakfast I have ordered ..... oatmeal and toast!

I think I have some Mennonite recipes.. need to dig them out...

hubby said he wants breakfast burritos this morning so I guess we are going out to eat... he has to be at work at 12pm...

YAY!! Levi's mom is getting me a cookbook too but its on backorder and would like to surprise him with something

I know I have a recipe for borscht and one for perogies...

Were going out for Bolivian! If your in the DC area. Victors grill is a great Bolivian restaurant. Meg and her family have spent a fair bit of time down that way, and they enjoy the food!!
http://www.victorsgrill.com/

ok so we go out for breakfast... I guess it was closer to lunch.... and hubby had said earlier that he wanted a breakfast burrito so we get to the place and he orders a burger and fries i had a breakfast burrito though.. it was good

If I don't stop eating these Gummie Bears, that will be my dinner tonight when I get home cause I'll be too full to eat anything decent.

Hate to tell the wife she's on her own cause I stuffed myself at work with gummie bears though...

I have no idea what to make for din din... I was thinking pizza but I forgot to take my cheese out of the freezer (yes, I keep cheese in the freezer )

I don't know if I posted it before but I found a pretty good recipe for tartar sauce...

1/4 cup relish
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp lemon juice

mix it all together.. it is better if you let it sit in the fridge for awhile....

We have ordered pasta from pizza hut, plus a salad, it is taking a longggggggg time and we are now very hungry, should be here soon.

i am starving.. i have no idea what to make

ok I made sgetti... but I didn't make it with ground beef... I just fried up some onion, bell pepper and mushrooms and then added the sauce... I didn't feel like waiting for the ground beef to thaw...

We went out to a nice supper because today is my hubby's birthday. he had chicken and tortellini, and I had Italian sausage and onions and peppers with penne in a spicy marinara sauce. Yummy!

We had hotdogs and baked mac and cheese. I wanted some comfort food. Plus I didn't feel like cooking. I'm not sure if I feel like cooking tonight or not, yet. We'll be going into Sanford to pick up my husband's tux.... he had the pants hemmed.... otherwise, fits great.... so I'm thinking we'll maybe stop at Pollo Tropical again.

Sounds like it was pasta night last night (except for the hotdogs and mac and cheese which sounds so good!).

Mac and cheese is pasta! Can I still be in the club?

Of course, what was I thinking?

Hubby is gone tonight for his going away party with all the guys from work..so Im on my own for dinner..think Im going to make beef fajita salad...forgot to buy tortillas..oops...

still making our way through our freezer trying to clean it out before we leave in 12 days!!... we seem to have alot of shrimp..so thinking of some sort of pasta salad to throw together...and maybe some garlic parmesan shrimp...hmmm

the closer we get to moving the more interesting the dinners will get.. LOL...not doing any major shopping anymore..except for things we will be taking with us...will put in a picture of our couch full of Canadian goodies...LOL

we are having chicken and rice again... for the chicken I used this recipe called Brown Sugar chicken in the crock pot..... it smells pretty good in here now...

heres a pic of all the Canadian goodies we have SO FAR...LOL...our couch looks like were getting ready to open a Canadian favorites store..LOL

Thin Addictives (Cranberry, Chocolate, and Pistachio/Almond)
Great Value (Walmart brand) Ketchup Chips
Lays Curry Chips
Presidents Choice Butterfly Wings
Box of Wunderbars
2 Mega boxes Passion Flakies (Apple Raspberry)
Passion Flakies Patisserie Collection ( 1 Chocolate, 1 Maple Butter)
Heinz Ketchup
Macintosh Toffee
Cheez Whiz
Second Cup Cafe Delight Bars
Trophy Praline Nut Mix
Alpha-Ghetti (for my niece and nephew)
Wine Gums
HP sauce
HP Indian Curry sauce
Swiss Chalet Dipping Sauce, Homestyle Gravy, and Chicken marinade packets
Loneys onion soup mix
Bisto Gravy Mix
Knorr Veloutine Gravy mix
Kernals Ketchup shaker
RW Knudsen Strawberry Spritzers (weve read you can get them in the US but theres only 1 store in Nevada that sells them..so were stocking up here)
and a Tim Hortons coffee mug

still have to buy Vernors Ginger Ale, Dare cookies,Tim Hortons coffee, Buckleys and go the local British Market to grab some chocolates, Sarsons Malt Vinegar, and Walkers Crisps...

some of the stuff my husband knows that weve bought, some Ive purchased by myself and will surprise him with..

crappy pic, my husband has the good camera at his going away party..LOL

THAT is flippin hilarious, Kimm. We can get Vernor's down here in FLA. Maybe you can get it in NV?

We had NY strip, broccoli, roasted organic beets, baked sweet potato, and mushrooms and onions for dinner. It was deeleeshus.

Kimmbo, that is awesome Good job!

I planned on making burritos .... I was going to throw a roast in the crockpot and use that, plus make rice and beans and all the fixings. However, I was not feeling like moving much (damn this $#&$#&$ sciatica), so we had a frozen pizza instead Hubby was happy, he loves it when I don't make a balanced meal

Good food tonight! We walked across the parking lot from our motel (we are in Murdo, South Dakota - home of the Pioneer Auto Show) to this diner and I see a grilled cheese on the kiddies menu, so I ask if I can have one, she said sure! So I had that and a baked potato and a small salad

My Husband had sirloin tips, fries and green beans.

We also got a piece of apple pie to share, which I am now off to eat!

Road food is fun. But..... omg.... the Pioneer Auto Show!!!!!!!! That picture of a parking lot is awesome.

Tonight we are having vegetable biryani and madras chicken. There are a few things in the fridge I need to use up before they start turning.

tonight we are having pizza using those gorditas again.. maybe I can convince hubby to barbecue them again.... he should be home early today...

I am thinking ham and pineapple pizza with some sauteed onions and bell peppers... and bbq sauce instead of tomato sauce...

Yum

I'm going to make burritos tonight ... I just threw the roast in the crockpot and will have nice yummy shredded beef for the burritos (I prefer that to ground beef).

My husband is working late this evening so I think I'll just make soup and ham and swiss toasties.

i am making sweet and sour pork in my crock pot today .. one of hubby's favs..

I put a roast on the rotisserie last night, some baked potatoes and asparagus. The roasted beef was kinda tough though. Don't know what I'm going to do with the left overs. I'm thinking that if I stewed the left over meat in gravy or sauce of some kind it might tenderize it, and then I'd maybe julienne it for fajitas? I don't know...any help is appreciated on what to do with leftover roasted beef that's tough!

warlord...you gummi bear king!

I was going to do chicken something, but wife chose Kraft Mac and Cheese (Kraft Dinner) so she gets Sponge Bob Mac and Cheese and I get Kraft Spirals yum...

I think the meat in gravy is a good solution. You can add a few tomatoes, garlic, and onions and serve it over rice too. The acidity in the tomatoes will help break down the fibres. Braise at 350 for about an hour. You could also cut some up and make a beef barley soup with it. Or use it in a chili recipe. Bring it over, Carla. I'll transform it for you.

We had sonic burgers for dinner last night, because we have never had them. The buns were kind of squished, but the burgers were good!

Anyway, back to normal food! Even had cereal for breakfast (my Brother in Law made us French toast yesterday morning - it was really good).

I haven't eaten at a Sonic, yet, so I've no idea what that's like. The couple of times I've mentioned it to my husband he's kind of made an it's-not-worth-going-to sound..... kinda like an "unh".... but he did mention that their hotdogs are good.

I have no idea what we're having this evening but I don't really have to put much effort into that thought. My husband is working late this evening, so it'll probably be soup and a sandwich again or something. Unh.

Meatloaf with tomato sauce, mashed potatoes and fresh broccoli:-). Had fresh asparagus last night with the roast chicken, shells and cheese and salad. Love fresh asparagus- our patch isn't doing so well this year - it got hard hit last year with a freeze and again this year. The 4th year is supposed to be when it starts to pick up, not when it gets less and we have been so judicious in harvesting the last 3 years so as not to impede its' growth. Ah well.

Mmmmmmmmm. Both those meals sound good, Kathryn.

Next time he's working late go to Sonic!

Tonight we went to Applebees. Had the Bourbon Street steak and garlic mashed potatoes and caesar salad. It was pretty good, lots of food, didn't eat all of it.

Then went to Walmart! Nice and friendly, then to sonic for a cranberry juice slushy. weeeeeee