Little Dishes #6

 

Here's something different (for me) but quite fun: Miso tahini green beans (recipe from Sift & Simmer), steamed rice with Everything Bagel seasoning, tofu wontons in chili broth (largely, but not entirely, following a recipe from The Foodie Takes Flight), carrot-cucumber salad with "honey" sesame dressing (my own recipe), and ketchup-coated yellow and red bell peppers (recipe from the Just Bento Cookbook (2011)).

I had wonton wrappers left from my adventures in ravioli-making, so I wanted to make wontons. They were easier to make than ravioli for whatever reason, but also I think I'm more experienced with them and that might have helped. I could be persuaded to make wontons again...but I probably won't, because that's another thing I think is worth buying in the freezer section, as life is short. But if I couldn't get vegan versions of either, I'm glad to know I don't have to give them up altogether.

I didn't have garlic chives, so I cooked some chopped onion and garlic before adding crumbled tofu (which I hadn't bothered to freeze and thaw, so I just pressed it and cooked it a bit longer to get more of the water out). Once that was cooked down, I added the seasonings and corn starch, and realized how infrequently I use both oyster sauce and five spice powder. I make Korean food a lot more than I make Chinese food. So either I need to make more Chinese food, or accept these realities and not buy these things. But it was a tasty filling.

I don't think the broth was really intended to be so thin, but it didn't matter. It was a really nice foil for the slightly sweet filling in the wontons. I liked it with the rice, too, when I ran out of wontons.

The green beans were good--very unusual, but really great flavors. I would make these again.

Of course I love my carrot-cucumber salad, and will always highly recommend it!

I've made the ketchup-coated peppers several times before, but not recently. They were the perfect balance for this meal.