Dinner Thursdays: East Meets Further East
This week for Dinner Thursday, Jeff and Vivian came up with the recipes for dinner while Kyle put in the hard work to make it happen. I was more of the camera man this time around but I didn’t mind because I learned to make 2 new dishes that tasted so good. The menu this week: Freestyle Stir-fry Chicken and Ma Po Tofu accompanied with Prosecco Strawberry Lemonade.
The ingredients for the stir-fry were chosen on the fly at the local Asian super market (Uwajimaya in our case because it was the most likely place to carry the Black Bean sauce). So if you feel like it, you may choose the vegetables to your liking, but we found these went well together. The sauce itself is vague for a reason haha, Jeff made the sauce up on the spot and is the result of his last few years of cooking for himself. I’m glad I was able to reap the benefits. Very tasty.
The Ma Po Tofu was Vivian’s creation and is not as ’saucy’ as the traditional Ma Po Tofu dishes that you will find in a restaurant. Like her beau, Vivian is a natural in the kitchen and kind of magic’d the thing together. From watching Kyle do the cooking, it’s a good idea to taste the dish midway through after the pork has cooked before adding in the tofu. It will taste a little over-salty before adding in the tofu, but once that is in the mix, everything evens out nicely. Personally, I’m a fan-boy for spicy foods and this had the right amount of heat to it. Eating this with Jeff’s dynamic vegetable dish was too good for any 1 word to describe.. so maybe 2 words: crazy delicious. After I was done the plate, my mouth was tingling and my stomach was full.
Lastly there was the Prosecco Strawberry Lemonade. This was a good refreshing drink and I was a little skeptical at first when I saw the basil in the mix but after it was all blended together, the taste wasn’t as overpowering as I thought it would be. I think this would be a great drink to have on a hot summer day, but since we live here in the Seattle area, that’s just asking too much haha.
All in all, could I ask for more from Dinner Thursdays? Narp. I barely had to lift a finger tonight and it was spectacular. Thanks for hosting this week Jeff.
Notes:
- Kyle, you’re on your way to being a celeb chef man.. but you freak me out with your cutting skills, dude. You may not agree with me but your finger tips define you so you want to keep those =)
- You will also likely need to cook some steamed rice, this is what we ate with the dishes with (4 cups).
What we made:
Link to Ma Po Tofu Recipe by Vivian S.
Freestyle Chicken Stir-fry by Jeff L.
Prosecco Strawberry Lemonade by Television and Vivian S.
Tags: chicken, Chinese, Cocktails, Dinner Thursdays, Pork, Recipe, Tofu
