Tuesday 26 June 2012

Sweet and Tangy Tofu Stir-Fry

Stir-fry's are awesome. That is a fact. Anyone who disagrees simply hasn't tasted one of my stir-fries. There, that's my bragging, now here's the recipe.

All my stir-fries (and all good ones I think) have a base of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. This makes them salty, tangy, and sweet. The best.

I'm sorry, I don't measure, so I'll try give you a bit of an idea how much of each ingredient I used, but it's really up to your taste buds, just keep tasting as you go  :)

Ingredients:

garlic, ginger, onion, mushrooms, brocolli, carrots, lemon
soy sauce, vinegar
herbs of your choice, brown sugar, salt, cornflour, chilli
tofu, cashews


1. Dice up some garlic (I used 4 cloves) and roughly chop up an onion. (Also grate up some ginger unless your using jarred stuff like me).


2. In a pan put approx a cup of water, 1/4 cup of white vinegar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, the garlic, ginger (1Tbsp), and the onion.


3. Add some herbs (I used sweet thai basil, mint, and coriander) and chilli (flakes/ground/fresh), and cook until it reduces down quite a bit and starts to get sticky.


4. Add about 1/3 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup of water, and the veges you want to use (I used brocolli, carrots, and mushrooms). Cook until the veges are tender and the sauce has reduced down again.


5. While the veges are cooking, cut up some firm tofu into approx 1cm cubes. Put them in a plastic bag with some cornflour and salt. Toss to cover. Fry in a pan on high heat with a decent amount of oil until browned.



6. When the veges are nearly ready add in the tofu and some lemon juice, cook until combined and the tofu has taken on some of the flavour of the sauce.


7. Serve on white rice with cashews sprinkled over it. Yum!




Wednesday 20 June 2012

Knitted Cushion

I'm desperately in need of some cushions for my couch and as we recently got new pillow inners for our bed I thought I could use the old ones for cushions. Knitting a cushion cover is super easy, it's as simple as casting on enough stitches to cover the width of the cushion (I'm halving the pillow inners), deciding on a simple pattern, (I did some cabling, but a plain knit would look equally lovely and homey) and knitting until it can fold over and fit the inner. Sew together two sides, so it's a pocket, slip in the inner, and sew it in. Easy peasy. It's pretty quick and satisfying.

I doubled the wool to give a chunkier knit, and I also ran out of yarn so I just made the front, and sewed it onto a cushion cover I made out of fabric. I also intend to make many more, and shall post when I do. :)  So here's the steps in photographic form:

1. Cut up the pillow inner into the size you want.


2. Sew up the fabric to cover the cushion, into a pocket, leaving a strip unsown (I used the fabric that was on the inner as a lining, and to show me how big to make it)


3. Turn inside out and stuff with pillow inner piece.



4. Hand sew up the opening carefully.



5. Pin the knitted front onto the cushion, stitch on carefully.




6. Have a super-duper enjoyable time with your new cushion. I had a photo-shoot to celebrate :)