Spicy Tofu with Snow Peas

Let the joyous news be spread! After years of fighting with the Lords of the Tofu, I have finally defeated them. Good grief, for the life of me I could by extra firm tofu, extra extra firm tofu or a frickin' cement block, and if I put it in my wok the damn thing would break apart and become tofu dust.

But today, by merging wisdom found on the Internet with wisdom found in the head of my friend Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, I finally succeeded in making tofu, that kept its shape, and was so damn good that David and I cleaned out the wok, and there wasn't a bit of roasted garlic or a fleck of tofu essence left in the pot.

I had to summon massive self control to not lick the wok before cleaning it. It was just that damn good.

So here is this weeks HIGHLY nutritious and HIGHLY delicious from The Fairy Chef, who shall also be known as Emperor of Tofu, Defender of the Bean Curd, Lord of Soy.

Spicy Tofu with Snow Peas

1 package of extra firm tofu (I bought the package with garlic and black pepper in it already)
2 tbsp peanut oil
Non-Stick Veggie Spray
1/4 lb Snow Peas
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsp Brandon's Shut Your Mouth Sauce (optional--recipe can be found on this blog)
Seasoning Salt

First of all, open the tofu package and drain out all of the liquid. On a cutting board, first cut the tofu into thin strips, then slice those strips into squares that are roughly 1/2 and inch on each side.

Next, lay out the pieces of tofu, closely together side by side, on a clean dish towel. Next cover the tofu with the other the other half of the dish towel. Place a heavy glass baking dish on top of the towel containing the tofu. This will soak up extra moisture from the tofu. Believe me...this made all the difference in the world. Leave it covered and pressed for about 10 minutes.

While all that business is going on, pre-heat your oven to about 450 degrees. You can also mince the garlic and wash your snow peas and set aside.

After about 10 minutes, uncover the tofu. Spray a large baking pan with your non-stick vegetable cooking spray. If you don't have the spray, you can grease the pan using butter or olive oil that you dab on a paper towel. But, you will cut down on fat and calories by using the spray.

Lay the tofu in the pan. Next sprinkle the tofu with seasoning salt. Then, sprinkle the tofu lightly with Brandon's Shut Your Mouth Sauce.

Place the tofu in the oven, uncovered for five minutes. Flip the tofu and let bake for another five to seven minutes.

After you've turned the tofu, place your walk or large skillet on the stove. Heat the peanut oil in the wok until it is piping hot. Add the garlic and let it caramelize (don't add anything else to the wok until you see the garlic start to brown around the edges). Then, to the oil and garlic add your tofu. With a spatula flip the tofu as it fries in the oil. Do this for about three minutes and then add the snow peas. Continue to flip the mixture (DO NOT STIR...FLIP LIKE PANCAKES!) for about five minutes. I like my snow peas still kind of crunchy, if you like yours less crunchy, then fry for about eight minutes.

Remove the stir fry from the heat and serve with brown rice. If you want to take up the heat a notch, set out a bottle of Sri Racha sauce, or, as I recently learned that some people call it, "Rooster" Sauce because of the rooster on the bottle.

It is damn good, and you can make this entire dish, that fed two voracious people or non-gluttons for $5-$7.

Stir Fried Pork in Black Bean Sauce Boricua Style

So this is the poor man's version of a quick stir fry with a "black bean" sauce. It's real good like. Now, if you are allergic to MSG or just don't like it...you can axe the GOYA Seasoning I include in the recipe. But let me tell you, we called this stuff "yum sauce," when I studied abroad at the UPR. It was also at the UPR that I discovered my love of Puerto Rican/Asian fusion style cooking. This is a rather quick recipe...I got home at 7:15 tonight, and I was eating by 7:50. To make the recipe go faster, before you start prepping the stir fry, start your rice cooking. By the time your rice is done (I used medium grain white rice tonight), your food should be done. If you are using brown rice, then start your brown rice, and wait about 15 minutes before starting to cook the stir fry...otherwise the stir fry will be done way before the rice is.

Stir Fried Pork in Black Bean Sauce Boricua Style

1 package pork chops
1/4 red onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can GOYA black beans
2 cups fresh green beans
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
3 jalapeno peppers
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 package GOYA Sazon con Azafran (Saffron)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil


First slice your pork into strips and set aside.

Break the tips off the green beans, then snap beans in half. Set aside.

Then dice your onion, garlic, cilantro and jalapenos. Heat the olive oil, add the onion, garlic, cilantro, and peppers and stir fry for about two minutes.

Add the pork to the mixture. Stir fry for about one minute.


Add the soy sauce, red pepper, and Sazon packet to the mixture. Stir fry for about 10 minutes. Open the can of black beans and dump the contents into the wok. Cook for another five minutes.

Add the green beans to the concoction, and let cook another five minutes.

Slap that deliciousness over some rice, and serve it up!

Depending on the cut of the pork chops you get (I got thick center cut tonight, which was a little more expensive), this whole gourmet explosion should run you about $6-$9 and feed two to four people.

Caribbean/Asian Fusion Shrimp Stir Fry with Fried Mushroom Appetizers

So, last night, David and I stayed in and had a movie night. We finally have the apartment to ourselves as the "roommate" finally moved out a couple of days ago (for more on the "roommate" check out my post the Ex Files at My Feet Only Walk Forward). And I decided to do a little fusion experiment in the kitchen.

Our friend Karlo Karlo was a gem super star and stopped by last week with a whole mess of freshly made sofrito, I had some shrimp thawed out, and I had purchased a beautiful finger pepper from the Amish Market near our apartment. I decided to build a recipe around these three items. I also had a package of button mushrooms, and since we were having a special night in, and both David and I were starving after having just come from the gym and gongyo, I thought appetizers were in order. Here is the menu from last night.

I will be uploading photos of the cooking process in a bit.

Lightly Fried Mushrooms

1 package button mushrooms
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tablespooon seasoning salt
1 tsp black pepper
two cups vegetable oil


In a medium size mixing bowl, mix flour, seasoning salt, and pepper. Set aside. In a separate small bowl, crack the egg, and mix it together so that the yolk and egg whites mix up.

Over a medium-high heat in a medium size sauce pan, heat your vegetable oil. After cleaning the mushrooms to make sure that all the dirty is off of them, roll each mushroom in the egg and then roll in the flour so that the mushroom is covered in a light layer of batter. Then drop the mushrooms into the oil. Fry the mushrooms for about seven or eight minutes. The crust should turn a golden brown and be very light and flaky. Make sure to move the mushrooms around while they sizzle.

Remove from the pan and lay on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up some of the extra oil. Sprinkle with salt and enjoy.

This tasty little treat feeds two people with about four to six mushrooms each and will cost you $2 to $3.

And now on to the main event.

Fusion Shrimp Stir Fry

1 lb frozen or fresh uncooked shrimp
1 finger pepper
1/8 cup shredded fresh ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup sofrito
1 tbs garlic pepper sauce (optional)
1/2 soy sauce
20-30 pieces of okra chopped up
1 large sweet red bell pepper
6 scallions
1/4 cup Goya olives with capers
1 cup white wine (cooking wine or Sauvignon Blanc)
1/4 cup olive oil

So, first things first, make sure that you thaw out the shrimp (once again, Trader Joe's has GREAT large frozen shrimp, pre cleaned with only the tails on). Remove the tails from the shrimp. They should just pull right off. Set the shrimp aside.

Mince your garlic and the finger pepper. If you have a cheese shredder, use that to shred the ginger. And then chop up your scallions. Make sure you chop up a part of the darker green leafy section of the scallions as well.

Also, make sure your okra and sweet red bell pepper are chopped into bite sized pieces and set aside.


In a large wok, heat up your olive oil. Once the oil is nice and toasty, add in the ginger, garlic,scallions and finger pepper. Let these sizzle and pop for about four or five minutes. This allows the flavors to mix with the oil. It also allows the garlic to carmelize, which brings out a fuller flavor.

Add to the wok your shrimp, soy sauce, garlic pepper sauce, and olives with capers. You can find the garlic pepper sauce in most grocery stores these days in the Asian section. It's a clear bottle with a rooster on it and a green cap. It's great stuff. Also, in that same section, you can find the Goya Olives with Capers. Be careful, the olives still have pits, but they have a great flavor. Then add your sofrito. You can buy sofrito from the store, but I do not recommend it. It isn't difficult to make, and you can freeze it. There are many good recipes for making sofrito on the web. Make sure it is Puerto Rican sofrito with recao.

Keep the shrimp and the mixture moving in the pan to ensure that all the flavors are mixing and the shrimp are coated. After about a minute add the okra, sweet red bell pepper and the white wine. Keep stirring the food for about five to six minutes. Once the shrimp have turned pinkish/orange, cook for another minute or two, and then remove from the heat. You don't want to overcook the shrimp or they will be dry.

This stir fry makes a rich sauce that is a little thicker than other stir fries. Serve the stir fry over brown rice and enjoy. The mixture of Caribbean and Asian flavors in this dish are pretty damn stupefying. So good.

This dish will comfortable serve three to four people and will run you $9-$16. The price range spread is based on your access to large uncooked shrimp. Again, Trader Joe's is your friend.

Brandon's Pork Chop Ramen Fabulous

Any of y'all that grew up broke or went to college or went broke in college or went to college broke or broke down while broke in college cuz you had to grow up...will know of the great and powerful $.25 meal called ramen.

Now when I was a kid...all I knew about was Top Ramen and Smack Ramen and Cup-o-Noodle Ramen. By adulthood, I had discovered an entire world of imported ramen from China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. I once believed that ramen came only in pork, chicken, beef, oriental, and shrimp flavors. Only to discover, thanks to many an Asian grocer, that there is roast duck flavor, hard boiled egg flavored, and some flavors that don't even have a translation in English.

Now that I am officially too old to actually eat a package of ramen as a meal. And, considering I personally made several ramen manufacturers extremely wealthy as I packed away two packages of ramen AS A SNACK through most of my teen years, I thought I would combine my love of ramen with my love of half-way good for you food.

So, I created this recipe, and let me tell you...it is so good that I am going to ask the Ramen Gods to include it on the backs of all my favorite brand's packages.

Brandon's Pork Chop Ramen Fabulous

3 Packages Chicken Flavored Ramen
3-4 small to medium sized pork chops, lean cut, with some marbling
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
1 tsp salt
1 bunch of scallions
1 large sweet red bell pepper
1 large jalapeno
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

First, lay the pork chops in an oven safe cooking pan. Sprinkle the seasoning salt and salt on the pork chops, then pour the soy sauce over the pork chops. Cover the dish with tin foil and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30-45 minutes. Turn once about half way through cooking.

Once the pork chops are done, remove the pork chops from the pan but SAVE THE JUICES in the pan. Slice the pork chops off of the bone and then dice into strips or bite size pieces. Set the bones aside.

In a sauce pan, bring six cups of water to a boil. When you put the water on to boil add the pork chop bones to the water. Once the water begins to boil throw the ramen noodles into the water and let them boil up for two minutes or until al dente. Drain the noodles into a strainer, and then remove the bones from the noodles in the strainer.

In a large wok, heat olive oil, then add garlic (minced), jalapenos, and onions, allow to sizzle and snap and fry up for a good three to four minutes. This allows the onions and garlic to caramelize and sweeten. Then add the noodles. To this add TWO of the three chicken flavoring packages from the ramen....DO NOT use all three or it will be tooooo salty. Stir the noodles, onions, jalapenos, and garlic together. Then pour the juice from the baking pan into the mixture. To that add the sweet bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces, and the chopped pork chop meat to the mix. Keep the dish stirring for about 3 minutes, just enough time to let the bell pepper soften up a bit...and then get you a bowl, put some of the food in it, and eat it up. Lemme tell you...you ain't NEVER had ramen like this before.

With pork prices at an all time low (thanks H1N1 virus!), this dish is mega cheapy. You can put the whole thing together for $6-$7.