The Sugar Bar

If you’re Chinese, Korean or Japanese, you’ll definitely have had tofu as a kid in loads of stuff and told it was good for you. Or at least, that’s what I think. Tofu for me, since childhood, has been a roller-coaster journey — a very tricky bumpy love-hate relationship. It was only until I’d just about hit teenagehood that I started liking tofu and bean curd and soybean milk. Not only is the soybean extremely good for your bones and skin, it apparently has loads of other health benefits too. The humble soybean became one of my favourites, along with the green mung bean and red bean. Black beans were still slightly dodgy for me. Shame isn’t it? They’re such cute little things.

Anyhow, tofu is great in soup or whipped with eggs into a steamed egg dish, or fried with pork and mushrooms, and this list will just keep going on forever. My mum is a genius with tofu. Using an egg tofu which usually comes in a plastic tube, she fries it in a tomato sauce with minced pork and potatoes. It’s just about the best comfort food I’ve ever had since primary school. I remember the times after house practise, just struggling to get home with books and a heavy school bag. Sweaty and grimey. All you really needed then was food. Like awesome, hearty food best prepared by who else than your mum? A bowl of fresh steamed-to-perfection rice and among other dishes, a plate of that tofu minced pork glory and oh bless my Mum’s heart!

Here’s a quick to throw together salad that’s great as a light lunch or an appetizer. I love this because it’s so easy and you hardly need fancy pants ingredients to pull this off. One word of caution, however, if you’re not a garlic fan you can cut out the garlic clove or use garlic flakes instead. If you’re not too bothered like me, you can stick with having the world’s best garlic breath afterwards like I do now. It’s really not that bad. I merely exaggerate.

This recipe is perfect for 2 servings.

Tofu Salad with Oriental Sesame Dressing
Ingredients

1 1/2 cup silken/firm tofu (that’s about half a packet), cubed
1/4 cup shredded carrots
a good mix of watercress, baby spinach leaves
2 stalks of spring onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs dark soy sauce
white sesame seeds, for garnish

This is easy as heck. In a bowl, take 3/4 of prepared salad leaves, 1/2 of spring onions, carrots, garlic and tofu. Toss it with the soy sauce and sesame oil. If you want this dish to stay firm and not go all sloshy and sloppy, make sure to use extra firm tofu. I prefer the texture of silken tofu, commonly used for steamed dishes and soups, so I chose that over an easier-to-handle firm tofu. When all of the ingredients in the bowl are nicely mixed up, serve onto plates or into bowls with the rest of the salad leaves as a base. Garnish with rest of the spring onions and a good pinch of sesame seeds.

Before I round this up, check out what I bought yesterday at Topshop (you’d be silly to think that’s all I bought)! Yes! Strawberry Sour Ribbons. Although Topshop’s had their SWEETSHOP since ages ago, the only thing I ever get from it is Mint Poppets. But at (nearly) a pound for every thing available, it’s honestly hard to resist adding a little bag of sugary treats to your overall purchase. A very sneaky marketing move seeing as most girls find it difficult to say no to sugar, especially if it’s coated in pretty, shiny sugar crystals. After deliberating between the Flying Saucers (oh these guys are as good as freak) and Strawberry Sour Ribbons, I settled on the latter. Call me sentimental but the first time I had these in a Pick & Mix was in primary school.

Sugar and spice and everything nice. That was my motto back then I reckon (might still be, who knows). I used to grab a pick&mix with the pals after school and then pop ‘em whilst catching up with everyone as we waited for our buses home at the bus stop just outside the pick&mix shop. Of course we all had our hidden agendas. The pick&mix was our weapon to look cool and cute, and to calm the nerves! Give them hands something to do! This all happened while we waited for our crushes to get to the bus stop after school. Awww. Weren’t we so cute then? The strawberry ribbons were always the first to get thrown into my pick&mix bag and the last to get eaten. Save the last for best is what I say. But honestly, it was just too much of hassle to eat them and look cute at the same time lest I get sugar all over my face in front of my crush.

It’s great to see sweets that mean so much to you now and again. Brings back some amusing and ridiculous times. The bag of ribbons is laying there on my desk. I reckon I’m going to have a guilty pick at it later tonight and have a good laugh about the olde dayes! Jokes!