Toasty withdrawal..

I tried and tried and tried some more.. but alas I have failed.  I promised myself that I would stay away from posting until finals are over.  Evidently, it's not going as I've planned.  Me and distractions go together like, chocolate and peanut butter, I tell you that much.  Just the other night my friend, Adhit, came over on what was supposed to be a study date.  It lasted for all of about 15 minutes.  Somehow we ended up having tea, honey toast, and watching a documentary about how the word "fuck" came to be.  Good news: I  actually did learn something that day. Bad news: my system design professor disagreed.

Alright, I probably didn't do terribly well the next day, although quite a bit better than I expected, but is it my fault that this semester has bored me into the land of the heedless and wayward? I think not.

At least the sun was being kind that day, making my long walk of shame back home seemed less, well, long.

Anyways, life goes one, and so will I.  As my last post indicated, I have just recently renewed my bat-sh*t crazy love for toast.  Normal meals are but a distant memory now as I go on my 5th day on toasty goodness. I am addicted.

Yoghurt and grapes, quick and so delicious..

Scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese. Yes, again, but I dare you to find a tastier breakfast.

Packed lunch : Toast sandwich.

Part of the reason I love toast so much is that it's so quick to prepare and you can literally put whatever you want on it. It's a blessing I tell you.  As a lowly college student, I'm pretty much almost always in a rush so this is a great alternative to all the fast food I'll otherwise be eating.  

Having said that however, I feel I need a break from all the toasty madness, after all a girl can't live on toast alone (believe me, I've tried), I need me some variations, the sweet and spicy kind. So to facilitate me withdrawal from toast, enter, my super soy stir fry. 

What you need:

• 1/4 of a large cabbage head, chopped
• 100 grams firm tofu
• 75 grams tempe
• chili pepper (I used 1 large chili pepper, and 2 bird's eye chili or cabe rawit as it's known locally, but I like my stir fry really hot, so adjust accordingly)
• 2 large garlic, crushed into mush.
• cilantro, chopped
• soy sauces, both kind, sweet and savoury
• oyster sauce (optional)

First thing you need to do, and this is a little secret I learned when I was living in some remote village in Java for a school thing, is to marinade both the tofu and tempe with the one mushed garlic, salt, pepper and a couple tablespoon of water.  They'll soak up all that flavour almost instantly but you want to leave them at least 10-15 minutes in the marinade.  I suggest preparing your other ingredients in the meantime.
At the end of the 15 minutes, get the tofu and tempe out of the marinade and into a hot frying pan until they're golden brown.  I fried them using peanut oil, but vegetable oil will do just fine.  Drain the fried tofu and tempe on a paper towel and set aside the tofu to cool.  Get the tempe, toss them with some chilly and 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce while it's hot.

Now we wanna get started on the actual stir fry.  Lightly oil your pan or wok (in my case) in medium heat, toss in the crushed garlic then the chili and stir quickly (10-15 seconds, you don't wanna burn the garlic) before adding the cabbage.  Stir fry for a while until the cabbage is well cooked, now your pan is probably looking a bit dry at this point, add just a couple tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and sweat the whole thing out.  This will give the cabbage that melt-in-your-mouth texture.

When the water has all but disappeared, turn the heat down, toss in the fried tofu and the cilantro and just gently fold the stir fry.  Take the whole thing off the heat and in a plate.  Get your sweet tempe, sprinkle on top of the stir fry, along with more fresh chili and cilantro. Serve with rice or as is, and it'll be one of the easiest, cheapest, tastiest stir fry you'll ever have, I guarantee it.

Yield: 2 serving.