Cookalong thread

[Anonymous No.16496950]

Sup /ck/, we're gonna cook some fucking FOOD. And I don't mean ask your mum to stick some tendies in the oven, I mean cook. Post ur cookings, post ur cats, post whatever, let's just cook.

Today I'm gonna me making some PRIME sloppa with a bunch of leftover ingredients I've got: Tomatoes, chickpeas, some old chili peppers that dried before they went moldy, some marinated tofu (I'll get into that), some frozen 'rahmspinat' (which I guess is creamy spinach, idk german I just live here), some bhuna curry paste and a few other bits and bobs.

Let's go!

[Anonymous No.16496958]

First up is the tofu - gotta get that marinated. It claims it's firm, but it's never firm enough so I actually set it in a teatowel and loaded a bunch of weight on it to squeeze out excess moisture, for about an hour. Then got it all chopped up. I don't cook with tofu much, but it was cheap at the shop and I'm trying to eat a bit better, idk.

[Anonymous No.16496970]

Once it's all chopped up, I put it in a bowl with the marinade. My marinade was made of soy sauce, lemon-drop chili puree (a quite fruity and fairly spicy chili), fresh mashed garlic, apple-cider vinegar, tiny bit of water cause the soy sauce was extra dark and a bit too much

[Anonymous No.16496984]

It was marinated for about 2-3 hours I think. Whenever I remembered, I'd go and mix it up a little (gently, the tofu was a bit crumbly after the squeezing). And holy shit it ended up pretty dark. Tasted really good, and I'm glad the kinda bland taste of tofu managed to nullify the soy sauce, which I expected would end up a bit too overpowering. Now we can actually start cooking

[Anonymous No.16496999]

I chopped up the tomatoes you saw in the OP and got started with the next important task. Can't cook without 5eur vodka

[Anonymous No.16497004]

>>16496958
How do you get tofu to not taste like mud and also nothing?

[Anonymous No.16497015]

Get that tofu into a hot pan with a bit of peanut oil - or any neutral oil... y-you're not using *seed* oil in your cooking are you, anon? I had the pan on high, cause I'm wanting to get some nice semi-crispy edges on the outside so at least it will end up with something akin to 'texture'

[Anonymous No.16497017]

>>16496950
Why does the chickpeas can have "ceci" (the italian translation) on it?
Anyway, nice recipe this one is looking anon. I'm vegetarian and want to eat tofu but it's not easy to get it here and marinating seems to take a long time

[Anonymous No.16497029]

>>16497004
>>16497017
yeah idk, I don't feel like it's worth bothering with tofu desu. like I said, I only got it cause it was cheap, and the amount of effort involved to actually make it good doesn't seem worth it. textured soy protein would actually be better cause it more readily takes on the flavours of whatever you're cooking in a few minutes, has a better texture, and is still vegan (if that's something you care about)
After the tofu got to my desired level of doneness (kinda hard to tell cause it was already so dark), I chucked in the bhuna paste, kept the heat on high and cooked it for about a minute to get the spices going

[Anonymous No.16497031]

>>16497015
>y-you're not using *seed* oil
Peanuts are the seeds of the peanut plant. Related to peas and beans.

[Anonymous No.16497037]

>>16497017
>>16497029
Yeah like he said I'd definitely recommend TVP over trying to cook with tofu. It's a much better texture and as far as I know similar nutritionally.

[Anonymous No.16497057]

>>16497031
ah shit you're right. guess I'll die
Add the chopped tomatoes and a Knorr™ Stockpot (I did the vegetable one but I reckon the beef would've ended up better)

[Anonymous No.16497071]

I waited only a few minutes for everything to get back up to temp before I added the rest of the ingredients - the drained chickpeas (I reserved some of the water, cause if it dried up I'd want to add some a bit later), the old chilis, and the frozen spinach. I like my ceramic pan and use it all the time, but it *does* suck that due to the non-stick, I never have to deglaze and get to tell people 'right now you need to deglaze the pan'

[Anonymous No.16497093]

True apex sloppa.

[Anonymous No.16497118]

>>16497057
knorr stockpot

[Anonymous No.16497123]

we REAL sloppa hours now lads

[Anonymous No.16497165]

My wife got these weird italian nesting pan lids and I gotta tell you, they're next-level. If it doesn't quite fit, you can flip it over and it will likely fit. I think there are 4 of them, maybe three. But they fit everything, even weird amazon warehouse ceramic pans

[Anonymous No.16497173]

>>16497165
No handle. No vent. No good.

[Anonymous No.16497174]

>>16497165
Can they be used as a comal without them warping from the heat?

[Anonymous No.16497198]

>>16497173
It's got the handle at the end, can't you see? Yeah no vent is a bit of a pain tho
>>16497174
Oh shit I hadn't considered that. Idk if the heat would transfer too much to the plastic handle either... maybe I'll give it a go with one of the rarely-used smaller ones, good idea anon!

Finally, let's get this sloppa into the bowl. It ended up pretty spicy, and really savoury. Some good shit. Oh I also added some creme fraiche cause I think the stockpot & soysauce ended up providing too much salt (there was no additional salt). Mellowed it right out. All in all, a solid 7/10 sloppa in my opinion, would eat again. Didn't serve it with anything but vodka & tonic - the chickpeas provided enough carbs and it didn't feel like it needed anything

[Anonymous No.16497203]

>>16497123
Based MSG is so good I always use it

[Anonymous No.16497214]

>>16497198
Oh and finally... don't forget to clean your workstation.
So anons, what have you been cookin, drinkin, preparin, sauteein, fryin, dare I say... sous videin?

[Anonymous No.16497235]

I am hungry now :(

[Anonymous No.16497300]

>>16497174
Yeah you can. Only for warming though, i wouldn't want to do proper cooking in them as they're a bit too thin.

[Anonymous No.16497307]

I seasoned some chicken, covered it in picked banana pepper spices, baked it for about 15 minutes, then put a bit of ranch on it and baked it for another 5. Nice snack

[Anonymous No.16497324]

>>16497307
ask me how I know you're from the midwest

[Anonymous No.16497330]

>>16497307
>pickled banana pepper slices
fixed

[Anonymous No.16497335]

>>16497324
I'm not. Guess again.

[Anonymous No.16497361]

Made some TKG

[Anonymous No.16497424]

>>16497361
what is TKG?

[Anonymous No.16497429]

>>16497424

[Anonymous No.16497435]

>>16497361
the shape of this """bowl""" upsets me greatly

[Anonymous No.16497521]

>>16497429
That looks fucking good. How did it taste?

[Anonymous No.16497727]

>>16497307
Shoulda added some mozzarella my guy

[Anonymous No.16497728]

>>16497214
Clean as fuck, nice cutting board.

[Anonymous No.16497747]

>>16497424
Tamago Kake Gohan
Raw egg mixed into rice with soy sauce and a dash of msg.
>>16497521
First time making it and it’s a new favorite. Super quick and easy to make

[Anonymous No.16497755]

>>16497123
based and sloppapilled

[Anonymous No.16498513]

>>16497727
>Shoulda added some mozzarella my guy
Indeed, I would have but I ran out of cheese last night and didn't want the go to the store hungry

[Anonymous No.16499793]

Might cook something today, not sure. If not it'll just be a drunken picture of a Doener kebab at about 2am

[Anonymous No.16500129]

>>16497004
There's two important factors:
Sourcing and preparation. Do not do it like >>16496950 who bought it at Kaufland (grocery store). The western grocery store default tofu (almost always labeled "firm" or not even specified what type) is, without exception, shit. Go to an asian grocery market. From there what tofu you get depends on what you want to cook it for, I tend to use firm as allrounder, fried or marinaded for stir frying, soft for soups or mapo tofu and silken for desserts.
As for preparation look into asian recipes, I like chinese preparation methods. "raw" tofu has a slightly grassy taste which isn't for everyone, but I like it (similarly to how good quality olive oil has a grassy taste). If you prepare it it tends to lose what little flavor it has. Thus it's best to think of tofu as a flavor vehicle, rather than something that has flavor itself. Soft tofu in stuff like mapo tofu can also help soothe the palette from the heat. Therefore you should concentrate on texture and on making a good sauce/coating. Check out chinese cooking demystified on youtube for some tofu ideas, the book "the food of sichuan" by fuchsia dunlop or any other recipe with tofu that is somewhat authentic. You can of course also prepare it according to other asian cuisines, tofu curry, japanese tofu recipes and korean all do well with tofu. I used to hate tofu as a kid, but it was because when it was made by someone they basically replaced the meat in a recipe with it. Tofu is not a meat replacement, it's an ingredient of its own, with its own texture and taste. If you want a meat replacement use seitan.

[Anonymous No.16500149]

>>16497017
>but it's not easy to get it here and marinating seems to take a long time
You don't need to. Cube it, give it a toss in some cornstarch, fry till brown and take out. Make a typical chinese basic sauce in the pan, add a little starch to thicken (not too much, the starch coating from the tofu will further thicken it), then toss with the tofu cubes. Done in a few minutes without any long prep, tastes good and is easy. If you are vegetarian also consider seitan, which is imo a better meat replacement. Tofu is its own thing and needs to be prepared as such.

[Anonymous No.16500157]

>>16497118
Based.

[Anonymous No.16500459]

>>16500129
>Do not do it like >>16496950 (OP) # who bought it at Kaufland
Fuck lol, called out

[Anonymous No.16500512]

>>16500459
I started the same way kek, it's why I used to dislike tofu.

[Anonymous No.16500654]

>>16496958
>>16496950
>>16496999
>yaaaass lets drink liquor and eat soi to become a cute femboy
not reading your gay walls of text