With or Without Cholesterol

The first 3 photos are a typical non oil food, most suitable for those concerned about cholesterol. Left: Sweet tofu cooked with shitake mushroom. Middle: sashimi salad consisting raw tuna, raw squid, lady's finger, yam sliced thinly, with "soy sauce and bonito flakes" as dressing. Right: asparagus cooked with crab meat.

Night dish: easy to prepare and this one reminds me a lot of my dinner in Australia ... without the rice though :)

Left: potato soup mixed with freshly picked parsley from the garden

Right: tuna & potato salad, honey sweetened carrot, broccoli with garlic sauce and my favorite, Australian beef sirloin steak!

My girl always wants an extra mayonnaise on her potato salad, while daddy insists i put less.... ugh! (headache :)

Tofu, Natto & Chinese Chive

Serve 1 person

Ingredients:

1/4 of block tofu (hard type)

1 small pack of natto

40 gr of Chinese chive

1/4 Advocado 

Warm rice (freshly cooked)

Sauce:

2 tsp of soy sauce

1 tsp of white sesame

1 tsp of mirin

Alternative of mirin is a mixture of sake + sugar, where you heat the mixture to get rid of alcohol in sake.   Mirin has somewhat more flavor than the mix of sake and sugar, simply because the sugar in mirin is produced naturally during the making of mirin.

How to make:

1. Drain water in tofu by putting the tofu on a strainer and lay a bowl on the top.

2. Boil the chinese chives for a 1-2 minutes, when it changes color, take it out and rinse it with cold water.

3. Slice the advocado and tofu into 5mm cubes

4. Prepare natto by stirring the natto well using a chopsticks or fork.   Natto actually tastes better after stirring as it becomes more sticky.  This sticky substance contain a lot of amino acid, which is good for our taste bud and our health

5. Mix the sauce with the other ingredients. 

6. Pour the mixture of a warm rice ready to eat.

If you have dry "ready to eat" seaweed (=nori) you can cut it into thin slices and use it as toppings.

Tofu Salad With Sesame Dressing

Another easy to make side dish, tofu salad with white sesame dressing.   Check older post (January 20, Sesame 4 Breakfast) for health benefits of sesame.  Serve 2 persons

Ingredients:

1/2 tofu (well drained)

1/2 advocado

1 tbsp of sesame powder

1 tsp of grated ginger

1/2 tsp of salt

How to make:

1. Drain tofu by laying the tofu on a strainer and if the tofu is firm enough, you can put a bowl on the top for a faster result.  Leave it there for 20-30 minutes.   It is best when the tofu is fresh as you will not boil it.

2. Slice advocado into cubes

3. Once drained, you can cut tofu into cubes (you will find less water dripping from tofu this way) and arrange them into a bowl.

4. Put the other ingredients and mix well gently or the tofu will crumble.

My other favorite dish to eat along with this tofu salad:

Chanko Nabe (ref. VisitJapan)

Ingredients:

chicken meat (breasts) 2 pcs

white cabbage  1/4

Welsh onion 2

Tofu (white) 1

Deep fried tofu (thin sliced type) 1

carrots 1/2

konyaku* (if available)

Fish balls/other meat balls 1 pack

1200 ml of soup made using fish stock or chicken stock

Sauce:

*sake 200ml

*mirin 3 tbsp

salt 1tsp

soy sauce 2 tbsp

ginger slices 10 grm

How to make:

1. Make sure that all ingredients are in appropriate sizes, so first slice all vegetables, tofu (cut into 8 portion - not too small or it will break) and chicken into smaller pieces easy to eat

2. Prepare 1200ml of soup with fish stock/chicken stock (you can use cube stocks or powder)

3. Prepare the sauce in a separate bowl

4. Bring the soup to boil

5. Put into the soup, all ingredients meat, vegetables and tofu in order, followed by the sauce, and turn the fire into medium 

6. Continue to cook until they are well cooked.  Taste and adjust with soy sauce and salt.