Recipe 3 Cooking with Tofu, Eggplants, Mushroom and Carrots

Welcome to another one of my two RWA videos to make cooking spontaneous, fun and simple. I’m going to cook this tofu dish with eggplans, mushroom and carrots in 6 minutes with no recipe from beginning to finish in real time.

Why You’ll Love This

On my meaning of recipe free cooking is when I open the refrigerator, I’m able to make a tasty meal with whatever I have in it.

This is exactly what I did in cooking this dish and you should be able to do the same.

I want cooking to be fun and satisfying by using several basic cooking principles, following recipes is not fun for me, but I do borrow ideas when I see something I like.

This is the beauty of recipe 3 cooking.

I’m a firm believer that cooking is an art form, you create as you go along, you may not work out every time, but it’s more fun to try.

This video is intense to offer you ideas and inspiration to create your own version.

Well, this is example of recipe 3 cooking, and the creative aspect is an important attribute of my perfect cooking system.

Give it a try, I think you will have fun.

Ingredients

• eggplans
• mushroom
• carrots
• firm tofu

Universal Mix:

• 20 spoon mushroom seasonings
• half teaspoon garlic powder
• half teaspoon cumin
• half teaspoon onion powder
• half teaspoon paprika
• one 30 spoon ginger powder

Other Flavorings:

• white rice cooking wine
• Chinese fried chili in oil
• paprika
• dark soy sauce

For Thickening:

• one tablespoon of cornstarch

Instructions

1. Fry vegetables (eggplans, mushroom and carrots) in half of first whenever possible.
2. Cut up your vegetables thinly in bite size.
3. After still frying the vegetable for about 45 seconds, steam the vegetables by adding water to the wok.
4. Add seasoning to the vegetables.
5. Add some white rice cooking wine.
6. Season to dish with a Chinese fried chili in oil.
7. Add some parabella mushrooms.
8. Add some more wine to the wok.
9. Add the firm tofu (cut into cubes).
10. Add a whole bunch of paprika.
11. Add some dark soy sauce.
12. Sprinkle one tablespoon of cornstarch over the ingredient, mix the contents up quickly without breaking off the tofu.

Cooking Tips

What you see here is my first cooking principle, fry vegetables in half of first whenever possible to generate flavor through the malar reaction.

The second principle is to cut up your vegetables thinly in bite size to maximize the surface area for fast cooking.

Of course, prepping in advance is essential to recipe free cooking.

The principle is that you want to add enough water to steam the vegetable and by the end, you should have just enough water left to create a sauce.

The basic idea is simple, is that you want to concentrate a flavor on the ingredients rather than in the fluid.

I call this the universal mix, because it works to elicit the natural flavor of the food. It does not overwhelm.

You might not like it, but it could be a place for you to start, in time you will find your perfect mix.

I don’t normally like to drink wine, but I love wine and cooking.

Here I add some white rice cooking wine, which is a very dry wine, and it’s wonderful for cooking.

There’s also a brown rice cooking wine with a slightly different flavor.

I like the white batter.

You should try both to see which one you prefer.

You can find both in Asian supermarkets.

My next season to dish with a Chinese fried chili in oil, which is not too spicy, with a subtle flavor, unlike other chili sauce such as sriracha or black bean chili sauce.

We just have to try it to see whether you like it or not.

I have a collection of different chili sauces, but quite often I use different chili powders, as well as paprika to season my dish, depending on my mood.

I added a mushroom last, because it cost much faster than carrots and eggplants. I do not want them to be overcooked.

Wine schools particularly well with mushroom, well it’s not an excuse, but you should try it, and you would probably agree with me, without any doubt.

I get a firm tofu into cubes, although sometimes I also cut them into strips, again depending on my mood.

Remember, this is recipe 3 cooking, everything goes, as long as you like it.

I generally also have soft tofu, as well as soup and tofu on hand.

I also add some dark soy sauce, not too much, but to add some color to the dish, however I was careful not to add too much, because I don’t want the dish to be too salty.

You can see how the cornstarch thickened the fluid into a sauce, the longer I stir and the thicker the sauce become.

You might want to experiment with the amount of cornstarch to add.

So you can cook this dish from scratch in about 6.5 minutes, it is recipe 3.

Give it a try, I think you will have fun.