I decided to jump right into the Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet challenge but chose a simple salad recipe as my first attempt. Above is my attempt at Pomelo Salad. I subbed grapefruit for the pomelo and scallions for the shallots but stuck to the rest of the recipe. I thought this would be a simple recipe to start out with but it is actually a bit difficult because I didn't quite pull off the whole sour, salty, sweet combo. The salad takes a lot of balancing at the end and mine came out too sour ... due to the lime and probably grapefruit. In general, I really love fruit in salads so I think this has potential. Do try if it is on your list.
I paired the salad with a curry dish, which I found in a German cooking magazine called, Lecker. This is a new recipe and I was interested in it because I love curry dishes, but try to indulge in them sparingly as the coconut milk is pretty high in fat. This recipe uses a roux of flour, milk, and broth to get the creamy curry mixture instead of coconut milk. I would like to try this recipe again ... another one that has potential ... but I think I rushed it and half heartedly measured and ended up with a slightly runny curry. Here is my translation of the recipe:
Sesame Crusted Tofu with Vegetable Curry (although I had to sub turkey for Tofu)
1 small head of cauliflower
1/2 lb snow peas (I had to sub green beans)
2 t. vegetable bouillion
3/4 lb. tofu (or, I subbed turkey cutlets)
1 egg
2 T. soy sauce
salt/pepper
4 T. flour, divided
6-7 T. sesame seeds (use 1 t. black sesame seeds if you can find it)
1 med. onion
1 T. curry powder
1/2 c. milk
2 T. oil
Wash cauliflower and seperate into florets. Wash beans and trim. On the stovetop, dissolve the bouillion in 1/2 liter boiling water. Add the cauliflower and green beans to the broth and cook gently for 10 minutes. Take out the vegetables and save the veggie broth.
Cut the tofu into cubes ... or if using turkey, I cut each fillet into 3 smaller fillets. Combine the egg with the soy sauce in a shallow dish (for dredging) ... and season with pepper. Put 3 T. flour into another shallow dish for dredging. First, dredge your tofu cubes or turkey cutlets in flour, then the egg mixture, then sprinkle or dredge in your sesame seeds so they adhere well. I found sprinkling the seeds worked better than dredging. In a saute pan, with 2 T. oil cook your tofu or turkey until golden brown, 5-6 minutes. Remove from pan and continue below in the same saute pan.
Cut your onion into fine slices. In a saute pan with 1 T. oil, cook the onion until tender. Add 1 T. flour and the curry powder to the onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the vegetable broth and milk and cook for 5 minutes to thicken. Add the vegetables and tofu/meat back to the curry mixture and toss to combine. Serve with rice.
