Thai Honey Peanut Tofu

You can snack on it or make a wholesome meal out of it, in less than 30 minutes !

Ingredients :

1 Block of extra firm Tofu - cut in cubes  

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

1/4 cups Soy Sauce* (use naturally fermented soy sauce)

3 Tablespoons Honey

1 Tablespoon heaping Peanut Butter (I used the crunchy PB because I love its texture)

2 Teaspoon Sriracha (add more if you like your food hot)

1 Teaspoon lemon juice

1 Teaspoon cornstarch 

2-3 Tablespoon water

1/2 Tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds

Directions :

1. In a non-stick pan heat oil. Keep it on medium heat. Add tofu. Let it sit for about 2-3 minutes before and tossing the pan. Repeat this until tofu is crisp and brown on all sides. (It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes)
2. Meanwhile in a medium bowl, add the peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, Sriracha, lemon and juice. Whisk until well combined. 
3. Make a paste of the cornstarch and water. Keep it aside. 
4. Once tofu is done add the peanut sauce prepared in the step 2. Mix well. Add cornstarch paste. Stir till the sauce thickens.  Turn off the heat.
5. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

*I used Kikkoman's All-Purpose Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce. This is Japanese soy sauce, it has a less harsh flavor and it tends to be thinner and sweeter compared to the Chinese soy sauce. Therefore, if you are using a Chinese soy sauce, you might want to reduce the quantity a little. And you must absolutely avoid using the chemically made soy sauces. They are cheap but the taste is awful. Switch to naturally brewed soy sauce and you'll see a huge difference in the taste.  

Tips :

1)  Press Tofu to remove excess water. Pat dry with paper tower or dish cloth.
2) Sriracha can be replaced by red chili sauce

3) Instead of honey you can use brown sugar. (3 teaspoons of brown sugar + 3 teaspoons of water.)

I often pair this tofu in thai peanut sauce with rice and steamed broccoli. It make a perfect meal -sumptuous and health. As you can see in the picture below, the peanut sauce is a little more opaque than that in the pictures above. This is because I absolutely love peanut butter and end up putting more (almost double) in the recipe especially when I am pairing the tofu with rice. The texture of this tofu-rice combo is mind-blowing :D.

Killer Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes

Made these cupcakes for my bestie on Friendship's day. The recipe was pretty experimental, but my bestie absolutely loved these cupcakes. She's is a damn fine chef herself , so I'd say that they turned out fine ! Give this recipe a shot if you are in a mood to bake from scratch or else you could just use a chocolate cake mix. This is an egg-less-recipe, so I know a lot of my blog-followers will be happy, especially my mom ;) .

Ingredients

For the cupcakes :

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup melted butter / vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup milk at room temp
1/4 cup hot water ( or hot coffee -1 tsp of coffee in ¼cup hot water)
1/4 cup greek yoghurt at room temp

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup peanut butter ( nutella or almond butter or jello instant pudding mix)

12 oreo cookies

For cream cheese frosting (optional) :

16 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1-1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
5-6 oreo cookies for decoration. You could use mini oreos as well.

Directions :

1) Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Line the cup cake tin with a liner. Place a oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner. (I used silicon cupcake molds, they are fantastic. You don't need to grease them or line them and still the cupcakes pop-out very easily.) 
2) In a large mixing bowl sift together all the dry ingredients.
3) Make a well in between and add the wet ingredients one by one. Mix until well combined and smooth. Do no over stir the mixture.
4) Pour the batter in the cupcake mold/tin.
5) Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

The frosting is completely optional, the cupcakes taste great by themselves. However , I never mind extra frosting so I went ahead with it anyway.

 For the frosting just beat all the ingredients till smooth. Let the cupcakes cool before you apply the frosting. Decorate with Oreos. Dig, crush, sprinkle, whatever you like .. just be creative :)