This afternoon I wanted to make up some quick lunch, and use up some leftovers we had in the fridge.
Finding some rice, a half pound of tofu, celery and some green onions, I decided to make some fried rice.
Instead of some soy and sesame, I thought I would try making it with curry powder instead.
This turned out great, so I thought I would share. Tweak the recipe to what you have in your fridge.
- Yellow curry powder
- 1/2 lb tofu
- Vegetable/Canola oil
- 2 cups rice (day old or more)
- 3-4 Green onions
- 1-2 Celery ribs
- Raw, unsalted cashews
Heat up a couple tablespoons of your oil over medium-high heat. Add two teaspoons to the oil while it’s heating and stir it in. Use as little oil as you think you can get away with, we want to crisp up the tofu but not have greasy rice.
Cut your tofu into 1/2″ thick slabs and dry well, then cut again into 1/2″ cubes. Toss these in and stir to coat on all sides with the curry powder oil.
Let the tofu brown for a few minutes, then cut the green onions into about inch long strips and add those along with a handful of the cashews if you have them.
Cook and stir until the green onions start to wilt, then add and break up the rice. Two cups is a rough amount, add more or less depending on what looks right to you.
Give it a taste, and optionally add some more curry powder, about a teaspoon, and stir in to distribute it evenly over the rice.
Add the celery, cut into short 1/2″ pieces (or smaller if you like) and stir it up, then cook until the celery gets bright green and soft.
Enjoy!
“sufficiently advanced trolling is indistinguishable from thought leadership”
– Cliff Moon
This year we planted mini-cucumbers, and got quite a few off the vine already. I decided to pickle some. For my first batch I used this recipe by Alton Brown. I didn’t have fresh dill, I used sea salt, and I don’t think my water was fully de-chlorinated, so they came out tasting way too garlicy, weird and inedible.
On the second try I modified it a bit, found pickling salt and used store-bought distilled water. They turned out much better, though not perfect. I think my flaw is not having fresh dill, and I was afraid of the garlic on the second go round, so I think I under did that too.
- 5.5 ounces pickling salt (just under 1/2 cup)
- 0.75 gallon CHLORINE FREE water
- Pickling cukes (supposed to be 3 lbs, didn’t weigh mine, I had 6 medium)
- 1/2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
- 1 clove garlic, crushed (I would go with 2 next time)
- 1 tsp dill seed
- 2 tsp dried dill weed (I’ll try fresh next time, otherwise I would make this 3 to 4 tsp dried)
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
I’m not sure the coriander or mustard seeds added much flavor, I didn’t add much and they were overpowered by the peppers. Next time I’ll up the mustard and drop the coriander, I think.
You dissolve the salt in the water, put the aromatics on the bottom of the crock, place the cucumbers on top, and pour in most of the water. Then place the rest of the water in a gallon bag on top of the cucumbers to hold them down. Wait three days and then skim off the scum daily as needed for another 3-5 days. Eat.
“Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness;”
– Tim Kreider
The ‘Busy’ Trap
“We used to design ways to get to the moon; now we design ways to never have to get out of bed.”
– Mike Monteiro
Design Is a Job
