Main Courses
Salad of Tofu with Baby Tatsoi & Cranberry Chilli Jam
Chilli Jam
| ½ kg | long red chilli, chopped |
| 2 | large brown onions, chopped |
| 5 cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 300ml | vegetable oil |
| 160g | dried cranberries |
| 160ml | cranberry juice |
| 150ml | tamarind water (made by kneading tamarind pulp with warm water and straining) |
| 80g | shaved palm sugar |
| 1½ tablespoon | sea salt |
- Roughly pulse the onions, garlic and chilli in a blender.
- Transfer to a heavy base pan with the oil and cook on a very low heat until the mixture has started to turn a dark red hue.
- This can take up to 2-3hours.
- Meanwhile, reconstitute the dried cranberries in the cranberry juice.
- Add to the pan and continue cooking until most of the moisture has evaporated.
- Add the tamarind water, shaved palm sugar and sea salt, cook for a further ½ hr and check seasoning.
Salad
| 200g | beansprouts |
| 60g | baby tatsoi leaves |
| ½ bunch | chinese broccoli, blanched and refreshed |
| 1 | shallot, julienned |
| pinch | picked coriander |
| 1 | long red chilli |
| 100g | snow peas, sliced |
| 400g | tofu, cut into rectangles |
| 2 tablespoon | corn flour |
| 1 teaspoon | salt |
| ½ teaspoon | crushed white pepper |
| 50ml | fish sauce |
| 2 teaspoon | caster sugar |
| 2 tablespoon | fresh lime juice |
| 1 clove | garlic, finely chopped |
- Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix the corn flour with the salt and pepper.
- Coat the tofu pieces evenly with this mix and deep fry until crisp.
- Drain and coat in 3 tablespoons of the chilli jam.
- Place in the salad mixing bowl.
- Combine all dressing ingredients thoroughly and toss everything together.
- Divide onto four plates with extra chilli jam on top for garnish.
Cooking with Cranberries - preparation tips
Always remember to:
- Cook frozen cranberries just until they pop. Longer cooking brings out their bitterness and makes them mushy.
- Do not use aluminium cookware when cooking cranberries as the berries' acid reacts with aluminium and causes it to discolour. Use stainless steel, glass or porcelain.
- Eliminate foaming and over boiling when cooking frozen cranberries by adding one teaspoon of butter.
Preparing cranberries:
- Chop cranberries in a food processor, using quick on/off pulses, to save time.
- When cooking, add a little salt or ¼ teaspoon baking soda or baking powder to cranberry sauce to reduce the amount of sugar needed and bring out the cranberry flavour.
- Soak dried cranberries in warm water, orange juice or a liqueur for 20 to 30 minutes to get plumper berries which can be used as a substitute for frozen or fresh cranberries in many recipes.
- For baked goods (i.e. muffins, cakes or slices), chop frozen cranberries and toss them with sugar before stirring into the batter to improve sweetening.
