Tofu banh mi tacos

08 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by Zoli in gluten free, healthy, Mexican, quick and awesome, spices, Street food, tacos, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

banh mi tacos, bánh mì, tofu, tofu tacos, veggie tacos, vietnamese tacos

banh mi taco close up

I’ve been experimenting with flavorful (flavorsome?) tofu tacos and this combination of Vietnamese flavors with the corn tortilla works really well. You can even prepare the filling ahead of time as these are delicious at room temperature–no need to keep the tofu warm. For a vegan version, leave out the mayo or use a vegan mayo of choice.

Ingredients
Prep and cook time: 20 minutes
Makes 4-6 banh mi tacos
soft corn tortillas
1 block firm tofu
1 large jalapeno, thinly sliced
4-6 radishes, thinly sliced
2 small persian cucumber, sliced
1 carrot, julienned (or pickled carrots and daikon radish)
thinly sliced red onion
mayo (optional)
fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped
2-3 limes
sriracha or other chili sauce

For the tofu marinade:
good quality soy sauce (or mushroom soy sauce, found at Asian market)
1 stalk lemongrass
2 birds eye chilies
1 tbs fresh grated ginger
2 fat garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
sesame oil
olive oil
pinch of sugar (optional)

tofu

tofu with carrot and cucumber

banh mi tacos from above

1) First, prepare the marinated tofu. Cut the tofu into small cubes or strips and set aside.
2) Peel the outer layer off the lemon grass stalk and then whack it a few times with the back of a knife or a wooden spoon. Cut the lemongrass into 3 or 4 pieces. Cut a slit into the birds eye chilies.
3) Add the lemongrass pieces, chilies, garlic, ginger, and pinch of sugar to a large bowl. Whisk in 1 tbs of sesame oil, 1 tbs of olive oil, and about 3 tbs of soy sauce (or 1 tbs of mushroom soy sauce, which is stronger).
4) Mix in the tofu strips. Stir a few times and leave to marinate while prepping the other veg.
5) Prepare the vegetable toppings. If you don’t have pickled carrot and daikon radish, mix julienned carrot with a splash of rice vinegar and set aside. Mix the sliced cucumber and radish with a 1-2 tbs of mayo.
6) After the tofu has marinated for 20 minutes or so, heat up a wok and fry the mixture (including the marinade) on a high heat. Stir frequently to keep anything from burning, but long enough to give the tofu a nice color. When cooked and heated through, discard the stalks of lemongrass. They are tough to chew on!
7) Assemble the tacos. Fry each corn tortilla till golden on both sides (no oil is necessary) and fill with the fried tofu, the cucumber and radish with mayo, the pickled carrot, a bit of red onion and sliced jalapeno (if you like spice) and the fresh cilantro.
8)Top it all with a splash of soy sauce, a drizzle of sriracha and a generous squeeze of lime.

Homemade flour tortillas

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Zoli in bread, flatbread, healthy, kids, kids lunchbox ideas, Mexican, quick and awesome, Street food, tacos, tex mex, the basics, vegan, Vegetarian

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

flatbread, flour tortillas, homemade tortillas, tortillas de harina, white flour

We’re all brainwashed in various ways until some stimulus comes along and opens our eyes. Sometimes we fight change and sometimes a lightbulb just turns on above our heads.
I make an Indian-style dinner about once a week and usually include a homemade bread such as naan, chapatis or puris. I plan the kneading, rolling out and frying into my mealtime cooking and it’s never any trouble. So why then have I only been making tacos when I have tortillas from Trader Joes? Tortillas are just as easy to make as chapatis. I’d just never thought of making them by hand before. And now I feel like a dunce. But no time like the present to break a bad habit. Also check out the strangely lengthy ingredient list on a store-bought packet of tortillas. Especially those El Paso brand ones. Yuck.
I tried a few recipes before I landed on this one. Simple, tasty and easy to make—especially if you’re not precious about perfect circles. Sure a tortilla press would be handy but once you get into the rhythm of rolling out and frying it’s kind of fun (especially with good music or a cool podcast to listen to).

Ingredients
makes about 12 flour tortillas
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 or 1 1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

1) Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt.
2) Pour in the olive oil and mix with your fingers until the flour has a crumbly texture. This is the fun part. The flour feels velvety soft.
3) Add in the water (I heated up water in a kettle and poured it in after it boiled). Start with 1 and 1/4 cups and add in another 1/4 cup if you need it.
4) Mix the dough until it comes together and then dump onto a floured work surfaced and knead for a few minutes.
5) Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into about 12 dough balls. Flatten them slightly with your fingers (not your palm) so they are like little thick discs. Cover with kitchen towel or tea towel so they don’t dry out and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
6) To cook, heat up a cast iron skillet if you have one or a heavy bottomed frying pan like me. Roll a dough ball out as thin as you can (paper thin) and as evenly circular as you can. I find that roll, turn, roll, turn, etc. works well.
7) Place the thin tortilla in the hot frying pan (no need to oil the pan) and push down gently on any big air bubbles. Cook for about 30 seconds, then flip over and cook the other side. Flip again and cook the first side a little more if you need to. Place the cooked tortilla under a tea towel so that it stays soft and doesn’t get dried out.
8) While it is cooking, start rolling out the second tortilla. Continue piling the cooked tortillas under a tea towel.
9) Serve straightaway or store in a ziploc bag when they have cooled down. Reheat gently in a frying pan just as you would store-bought tortillas.