sweet and spicy

the older i have gotten, the more my eating habits have changed. gone are the days where i ate meat almost everyday of the week like everyone else i knew. i guess i could say i have become a part time meat eater, indulging maybe 2 or 3 times a month, at most. do i miss it? i think the answer to that is .... only when i'm eating it ;) admittedly, trying to come up with decent non-meat dishes to take the place of what i used to eat is sometimes a pain in the assparagus :o — many of the things i make requiring a a fair amount of preparation and cooking time, since most of the foods i exist on do not fall into the "throw pasta in water and boil" plan.

while i enjoy cooking and making things, i HATE all the prep work, especially when it comes to vegetables. as i am standing there busy cutting, trimming, peeling, coring vegetables, i start to understand why people are paying double the price for pre-prepared vegetables at the grocery stores!

the following tofu dish is a very simple dish to make for lunch or dinner which requires little work on your part. it is low in fat and high in protein and very flavourful due to the ingredients used. the best part is there is no vegetable chopping involved except for some ginger and garlic!

if you keep kosher, mitoku sells a variety of kosher asian products. check the links ... and even if you don't, they have a wide variety of interesting products which are both organic and macrobiotic.


sweet and spicy ginger baked tofu

ingredients:

1 lb (454 g) extra firm or firm tofu

2 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
4 tbsp japanese soy sauce (shoyu)
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp honey or brown rice syrup
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil + 1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes

chopped green onion ('shallots') for garnish


method:

preheat oven to 350 F.

cut tofu into 1/2 inch slices. place them flat in a pyrex.

make marinade — chop garlic and ginger finely and place them in a bowl with the oil.

add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

pour the marinade over the tofu slices.

bake everything for 1 hour.

serve either hot or room temperature with rice.

enjoy!