Yummy and healthy soy

Ingredients - Serves 2
1/3 (400g) finely chopped cabbage
1/2 (100g) finely chopped onion
1 firm tofu
1/2 egg
A: 1 Tbsp flour, 1 tsp mayo, 1 tsp miso, salt and pepper
A bit of: watercress, flour, olive oil, soy sauce

Directions
1. Rid water from tofu.
2. In a bowl, mix cabbage and onion, and heat in microwave (500W) for 5 min; drain water.
3. Add egg, tofu, and mixture A, and knead. Divide in half and form into hamburger shape. Sprinkle flour on surface.
4. In a frying pan, spread olive oil, and fry the hamburgers at medium heat. Once the surface is fried, lower the heat and fry for 2 min.
5. Serve on a plate with watercress and some soy sauce.
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Cravings of Vancouver.

Ingredients - Serves 12
320g cake flour
225g white sugar
5g salt
10g lemon zest
20g poppy seeds
300g unsalted butter, softened
5 eggs
150g white sugar
180ml lemon juice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2. Stir together the flour, salt, lemon zest and poppy seeds using a wire whisk. In a medium bowl, cream together (WELL!) the butter and 225g of sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Then stir in the dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. To make the syrup, combine 150g sugar with the lemon juice in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then remove from heat and set aside to cool. When the cake is done, place the pan on a wire rack with a cookie sheet underneath. Prick the top of the cake several times with a toothpick or fork. Brush the top of the cake with the syrup, allowing lots of it to run down the sides and soak into the cake.
5. Allow cake to cool slightly before removing from the pan to the wire rack to cool completely. When completely cooled, wrap the cake if foil or heavy plastic wrap and let it sit for 1 day before serving.

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com
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Homemade gnocchi

Ingredients - Serves 4
250g potatoes
60g flour
0.5 egg
salt
6 asparagus stems
300g shaved parmesiano cheese

Gnocchi:
1. Mash potatoes: boil peeled potatoes until soft and evaporate all water.
2. In bowl, add some salt and egg to potato; mix evenly.
3. Add flour.
4. Knead dough and roll out to 1 cm thickness.
5. Chop into bite-size.
6. Boil gnocchi and chopped asparagus in slightly salted water. Strain water when gnocchi rises to surface.

Sauce:
1. Boil cream in saucepan until half its amount.
2. Add salt.
3. Add gnocchi and asparagus.
4. Throw in shaved parmesiano cheese, mix quickly.

Picture courtesy of A.M. Volpi.
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Cream stew: the Japanese version

Best served on a hot bowl of rice, or if you prefer, a toasted piece of french bread. Stews and curries are relatively easy to make here, because the main ingredient--the sauce--comes prepackaged, and all you really have to do is cut up the veggies and meat. A simple recipe for cream stew, Japanese style, follows:

Ingredients - Serves 2
Half a box of stew sauce 'cubes'
1 small onion
Half a carrot
2 small potatoes
1 Chicken breast (or sliced pork, etc.), bite-sized
2.5 cups (500 cc) of water
0.5 cups (100 cc) of milk

1. Find the sauce packaging in an Asian food store (see photo).
2. Cut carrots, potatoes, onions, and a choice of meat.
3. Stir-fry carrots, potatoes, onions, then meat, in that order.
4. When potatoes are half-cooked, pour in water.
5. When potatoes are cooked, turn off heat, and throw in sauce cubes.
6. Let cubes dissolve, turn on the heat, and add milk.
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