Thai Glass Noodles

This is our second Asian meal of the week. It was taken from About.com, Thai Food. I chose this because we had stocked up on glass noodles and I didn't know what to do with it.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. glass noodles
• 1 package firm tofu
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1+1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 bunches bok choy
• generous handful fresh coriander/cilantro
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Stir-Fry Sauce

• 1/3 cup stock
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1+1/2 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• chili flakes to taste

Method:

1. Slice tofu into bite-size pieces and set in a bowl.

2. Combine STIR-FRY SAUCE ingredients in a cup and drizzle 2 Tbsp. over or tofu. Stir and set in refrigerator to marinate until ready to stir-fry.

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and dunk in the noodles. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until glass noodles are transparent and soft enough to eat.

4. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water. Drizzle 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil over noodles and toss to keep from sticking.

5. Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat.

6. Drizzle in vegetable oil and swirl around

7. Add garlic and shallots. Stir-fry 1 minute

8. Add the tofu. Stir-fry until tofu is braised, about 2 minutes. If pan dries out, add 1-2 Tbsp. stir-fry sauce.

9. Add mushrooms, bok choy and bell pepper and 2-3 Tbsp. stir-fry sauce. Stir-fry 1-2 minutes.

10. Add noodles and 3/4 of the stir-fry sauce.

11. Use two utensils to lift and toss the noodles with other ingredients.

Tip:To make this easier, use a pair of clean kitchen scissors to cut glass noodles in a couple of places, as they get very long and hard to turn.

12. Serve immediately with fresh coriander sprinkled over.

Benjarong

Went to Benjarong today.

Although it's sad that Transylvania had to close, we really enjoyed what we had today:

The Drunken Stir Fry Chicken;

The server was kind enough to ask if we wanted mild, medium, or spicy. I can take only a little bit of spice, and the medium was perfect. Spicy enough to heat your lips and tongue, but not so spicy you can't eat it.

And the Roasted Duck Red Curry.

The curry came with some rice, but it wasn't enough for the amount of sauce in the curry. We ended up ordering another one. It was supposed to be medium spiced, but it wasn't spicy at all. The curry was sweet, I could have drunk it as soup.

At the end, we didn't have to order dessert as they gave us complimentary taro and tapioca with coconut milk. Delicious! It was salty and sweet at the same time so that it wasn't overwhelming at all.

Overall, well worth a visit!