Ok, the TTT name is my invention, but the recipe is really Taiwanese. Several years ago I had a Taiwanese baby-sitter, she was also vegetarian (in Taiwan there is a strong vegetarian Buddhist tradition) and she didn't cook with garlic, onion, chives and leeks (this is the old Buddhist tradition). She taught me a lot of recipes... no, not recipes, maybe I should say 'ways of cooking'.

This recipe is so basic that I almost thought of not putting it on the blog, but the fact is that it is quite amazing!! In my Italian brain I never thought of combining tomatoes with tofu and soy sauce this way, it didn't feel right, and I was quite skeptical when she showed it to me. And then I tasted it: WOWOWOW, it works!

And not only it works, the kids love it, and it is so easy and quick... and in a way it feels so ... ethical!
Yes, just a few low cost ingredients, not much time or energy needed, and lots of proteins.

I usually used some red ripe tomatoes, but I had some ripe little orange tomatoes to finish, and so they went: cut and placed into the frying pan/wok/pot with a little vegetable oil (olive oil works well) and a small pinch of salt. Of course you could also add garlic, but the original recipe, as I said before, doesn't allow for allium of any type. Cook on high, stirring constantly, when the tomatoes start to mush into a sauce add the cubed tofu, stir and then add one or two tbs of soy sauce (I use only Japanese soy sauce, Kikkoman or Yamasa) and stir until the tofu is really hot (a couple of minutes only). Top with fresh chopped coriander if you like, and serve immediately with rice or noodles.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

 I like cooking with ginger, especially now that the weather is getting colder. Most of my Chinese style dishes are very simple, I usually make a tofu or a gluten (seitan) dish, and a side vegetable dish, to serve either with plain rice, or noodles.


Both these recipes have ginger (in summer I tend to use fresh coriander instead). To use fresh ginger I cut a piece from the root, peel it, and then grate it using the ginger grater that I got in Japan (Italian bloggers, you can use the apple grater designed to grate apples for baby food).


 Drain the tofu but keep the sauce and all the chili pieces aside: they will be used later. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (I use rice bran) and lightly fry the tofu on all sides. Lift the tofu from the pan and set aside. Add one tsp of cornflour to the marinade, and a couple of tbsp of water (if it looks too thick), mix well and then put into the same frying pan (or wok) where you fried the tofu. Do not rinse the pan, usually some pieces of tofu get stuck there (they are the best!), but scrape them all up while stirring the sauce. The sauce will thicken immediately, add 1 tbsp of tomato ketchup, and then the tofu. Stir and serve immediately.







The bok choy comes from my garden, is growing well now, one of the easiest brassica to grow, in my opinion. It looks great if you cook it whole, but for a family meal it is easier to cut it into pieces first. Wash well and cut into big chunks. In the meantime in a bowl mix 1 tsp of cornflour with 50 ml of water, 2 tbsp of soy sauce (as always, I use Japanese soy sauce), and half a tsp of grated ginger. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) in the pan and add the white stalks of the bok choy first. Sizzle for a couple of minutes, then add the green leaves. Cover for a couple of minutes and let the greens wilt in their own steam. Add the sauce and mix until the sauce thickens. Serve immediately.