Hawaiian Tofu

After seeing the recipe for Hawaiian Tofu in VegNews magazine I knew I had to try it. The whole idea of the shallots and red bell pepper mixed with pineapple sang to me. I'm sad to say that I was pretty disappointed.

I should start by saying that I found some monster shallots. They were 3 times the size of regular shallots. I used three of them as the recipes calls for, but obviously mine were bigger. My first bite of the dish was a total shock. I expected so much more flavor. Even with my extra shallots there wasn't a whole lot of seasoning flavor. There was just a pineapple juice flavor to everything.

The texture of everything was wonderful and I liked the way the tofu turned out. The tofu was rolled in cornstarch and then pan fried. There was a nice chewiness to the tofu. I would like the sauce to have thickened up more and have a little more substance, it would have been nice for the rice.

I can't decide what would have made the seasoning better. Positively some red chili pepper flakes. It needs something more, though. Maybe some vegetable broth in place of half the pineapple juice. I just don't know. I'm not sure it's worth my time to really experiment with this recipe.

The next night I was feeling very lazy and I realize this isn't a very healthy dinner. I asked Isaac what he wanted for dinner and he said pancakes. So, I asked if he'd rather have pancakes or waffles. He decided waffles.

I mixed up the waffle batter and Joe asked if I would put chocolate chips in his. Of course, the kids decided that they wanted chocolate chips also. I have to point out that my batter is whole wheat and there were probably only 10-15 chocolate chips in each waffle.

While the waffles were cooking I heated up some maple syrup on the stove and threw in some frozen raspberries. I let that simmer until the raspberries had fallen apart. That was it. Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Waffles with Raspberry Maple Syrup. That's a pretty long name!

Everything was gobbled up and true to form, my last waffle was the best. (not pictured) The last one was the perfect golden brown and the best crispy outside and tender inside. I'll know next time to crank the heat a little more. That was our quick and easy not so healthy dinner.