Sesame Tofu + Egg Fried Rice

Today I want to share a recipe with you. I hadn't planned to share it, but last night's dinner was so delicious that I feel it deserves its own post! Of course I didn't realise that until after I'd started eating it so I don't have a huge amount of photos for you...I guess that just means you'll have to go make it yourself right?! ;)

Sesame Tofu with Egg Fried Rice
(serves 3)

• 225g rice (I prefer brown, but for Liam this I used white basmati)
• 1 block tofu (I use Cauldron which is just under 400g)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp tahini
• sesame seeds
• oil
• 150g frozen peas
• 4 eggs

1. Start by preparing the tofu. For this I sliced it quite thinly (into about 10 slices) and then cut each slice in half. Next press the tofu to get as much of the excess water out as possible. I do this by placing the tofu in one layer between two chopping boards, both with tea towels on the inside of them, and then putting heavy things - a full kettle, bottles of squash etc - on top! Leave the tofu to press for about two hours if you have time.
2. Next make the marinade by mixing 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp tahini and a little hot water to thin. Place the pressed tofu in a dish (I find a baking tray easiest so the tofu can stay in one layer) and cover with marinade - leave for about half an hour.
3. Cook the rice according to the instructions. My white rice takes about 12 minutes so that is what the following times are based on, but if your rice takes longer to cook then wait a while before following the rest of the steps.
4. Once the rice has started cooking, place the tofu in one layer on your grill pan. Sprinkle sesame seeds over each slice of tofu and grill under a high heat for 8 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't burn too much!
5. Flip your tofu over, sprinkle sesame seeds onto the second side and grill for another 8 minutes.
6. This is a good time to make your sauce. Really simple - just mix 1 tbsp honey with 2 tbsp soy sauce and enough water to thin it down. Set aside until ready to serve.
7. When the rice is cooked, place a little oil in a wok and heat to medium high. Add the rice and the peas and stir fry for a few minutes.
8. Move the rice/peas over to one side of the wok to make space for the eggs. Scramble the eggs into the wok and let them start to cook. Once they are about half way cooked stir them in through the rice and continue cooking until the egg pieces are set.
9. Serve the egg fried rice onto three plates, top with the cooked tofu and pour over the sauce. Enjoy!

Despite the slightly lengthy instructions, this isn't actually difficult to cook. The egg fried rice is something I cook regularly as an easy Friday night meal. It is also good with garlic/sweetcorn/spring onion added in, I just was all out as we were doing a food shop today. I also usually cook my tofu under the grill, but I've never added sesame seeds to it before and they went fantastically - Liam and I both agreed that I will be adding sesame seeds every time I cook tofu from now on! The honey sauce was also a winner - it brought the whole dish together and added a sweet touch to an otherwise savoury dish. This was loved by all of us - clean plates all round!

What is your favourite way to cook tofu? When I first started cooking it, I would stir fry it, but I never do that now. I do occasionally bake it, which I suppose is easier as you don't need to stand over it watching to make sure it doesn't burn, but I definitely prefer the texture when it is grilled. I always try to set aside time to press it first too - makes such a difference!

Hope you're all having a nice weekend! :)

Making the most of the sunshine...

So, despite the sudocrem incident this morning, today has actually turned out to be a really great day! :) When baby woke up from his nap, I decided we needed to get out of the house and make the most of the lovely sunshine!

We went for a walk along by the river...

stopped off at the park for baby to stretch his legs and go on the swing and slide...



before heading on to the seafront...

it was so nice that I decided to buy some lunch to eat on one of the (many!) benches. I had a red pepper wrap filled with falafel, houmous and salad...

and baby had my leftovers plus some dried fruit!

The wrap was nice, but quite stodgy, I'm glad the guy remembered (at the last minute!) to ask me if I wanted any salad in it! It would've been nice with sliced peppers too, but they didn't have any.

I can't complain when I got to eat with this view though...

I'm loving the weather the last few days :) it's still cold, but so nice to see the sun a bit more often!

After lunch, we had a quick wander through town before heading home...

where baby immediately fell asleep...fresh air = tired baby!

Which meant I got to enjoy a coffee in peace, yey!

Not quite the coffee whilst sitting outside a seafront cafe that I would've loved (not a good idea with a bulky pushchair to manoeuvre and only me to carry drinks!), but a coffee in peace nonetheless...

Delish! :)

I also had a Geo Bar mid-afternoon to "fuel me" before the gym (any excuse to eat!!)...

I really like these, not the healthiest (full of sugar!) but nice and chewy...a good treat.

Later this afternoon I went to the gym with my Mum, it was nice & quiet when we got there but got so busy by the time we left! I did 50 minutes cardio, plus 10 minutes arm cycle and some leg weight machines...pretty standard except I didn't get a chance to do any free weights as the tiny weights area was so crowded, and I would've gone back on the cross trainer (12 minutes max when busy so couldn't do my usual 20 minutes) but they were both constantly busy too. Ah well, still a good work-out.

I got home to find that yes, Liam had bathed the children without being asked, but no, he hadn't put dinner on as he'd lost track of time! So a quick change of plan, dinner was rice fried with eggs and frozen veg...

topped with grated cheese...

a throw-back to my student days when I used to think that buying a tub of ready meal egg fried rice then grating some cheese on top was "cooking"!! This was really good though, nice and simple but by the time it was ready I didn't care - I was starving - the downside of cooking your own brown rice instead of using a ready meal is it takes so much longer!!

Today has been a really good day! Not what I was expecting after such a bad start - the treat bowl of cocoa porridge was obviously a good idea to turn the day around!! That and the sunshine definitely helps, makes me feel so much happier! :)

Smoked Tofu...

... is divine! But more on that later.

First up, exercise (I nearly forgot about this and jumped straight to breakfast!) Today I managed to get to the gym first thing (well, ok, after dropping daughter off at school at 9am...but before breakfast counts as first thing, right?!!) It was so much quieter than when I last went, only 3 other people in there, bliss! I warmed up with 10 minutes on the rowing machine, then did 20 minutes on the cross trainer, changing levels up and down every few minutes (is this like interval training or is that the wrong word?! I'm so clueless! Definitely made the work out harder though!) and then 10 minutes on the arm cycle machine before some free weights and stretches. Not the longest work out ever, but having not really eaten much since yesterday's big lunch. I was hungry!

So, home for breakfast. Porridge made with Kara coconut milk and frozen blueberries, topped with peanut butter and flaked coconut...

excuse the slightly grey colour...

this was really tasty! I didn't feel the need to add any extra sugar either which was a bonus considering my sweet tooth. Good start to the food-day :)

I didn't end up having lunch today. I'm not really sure why. A big dose of laziness really - because I went to the gym, I therefore had breakfast late, so wasn't hungry when Liam and baby had lunch, and then couldn't be bothered to make myself anything when I did get hungry later!

I had a huge latte mid-afternoon though, my new pear mug holds almost twice as much liquid as my normal mugs! One of the things we bought yesterday was some coffee syrups - caramel for Liam, cinnamon and gingerbread for me...

so I decided to try out the cinnamon one this afternoon...

when I smelt this syrup, it smelt way too strong, I can't remember what it reminded me of, but not overly pleasant! Weird because I love cinnamon. Luckily the taste was surprisingly mellow, providing sweetness more than anything, with just a hint of cinnamon. I like it :)

Having read about it on other blogs, I have been wanting to try smoked tofu for quite a while now, but the price has always put me off! Today was my lucky day though - my Mum asked me to make a couple of batches of cupcakes for guests she's got coming on Sunday, and as a thank you she bought me a pack of almond & sesame seed smoked tofu! :)

I did point her in the right direction, she's not psychic! Great present though - I get to enjoy it without the guilt of having spent yet more of the food budget on "my" foods!

I had half of it with tonight's dinner. Rice fried with egg, peas and sweetcorn, topped with the tofu that I had sliced and fried separately (mainly so I didn't have to share it!!)

This was gorgeous! I love egg fried rice as it is but the tofu made it extra special! A much firmer texture than the regular tofu I have bought previously that comes vacuum packed with liquid...this one, not surprisingly I suppose, was much firmer and less prone to falling apart! (that may just be my cooking with regular tofu though!) I love the nutty taste it had too, and no need to add extra sesame oil to the dish, bonus!

Do you like the new plate/bowl?? Another purchase yesterday, I also got small plates in purple and blue...yep, I've got to the stage of buying things based on the hope that they will look better in photos for my blog!! I always find white crockery catches the light really badly. Also, how long can I store the other half of the tofu for? It's currently in the fridge, still in its (now open) vacuum pack, and also in a sandwich bag to try to keep the air out...

To make up for my lack of lunch, I treated myself to a portion of Jemma's chocolate pudding again tonight...I love this! It was also great motivation as well - normally I just slump on the sofa/in the bath on Friday nights when Liam's at work, but tonight I put the children to bed, whizzed up the pudding in the blender then tidied and did the washing up while it chilled in the fridge for an hour. Then it was time for my "reward"...

Delicious! I think I liked it even better tonight than the first time I made it! Slight changes - last time I used smooth peanut butter, whereas this time I used Meridian crunchy peanut butter...my blender obviously wasn't given enough time to work it's magic as there was still the odd peanut bit in it, worked really well and gave a bit of variety to the texture! I also put it in the fridge with cling film on it this time (no idea why!) so it didn't set as hard as last time, still rich and fudgy but with a more gooey texture to it...a perfect healthy but delicious treat! :)

Right, off to read my Kindle now, I love the peace of Friday nights to myself! Hope you're all having a good evening! :)