TOFU: So nutritious, so healthy and so versatile and so many varieties - Firm Tofu is great for stir frying, and marinating and a delicious topping on pizza also. Silken Tofu best suited to soups. Fried Tofu crispy salads with a good dressing, amazing with curries!
The best thing about Tofu is that it loves flavour of any sort, be adventurous, you won’t be disappointed!

TOFU WITH CRISPY FRIED BASIL AND CHILLI SAUCE
5 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup either basil or Thai basil leaves
500g firm tofu, cut into thick slices
6 cloves garlic, sliced
6 red chillies, seeded and finely sliced
3 Tablespoons oyster sauce
3 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 Tablespoons chopped palm sugar or honey
1 Tablespoon corn flour mixed with ½ cup water

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or large pan. When hot, fry the basil leaves until crispy and remove. Add the remaining oil to the pan, fry the tofu until brown on both sides. Remove the tofu from the wok and then add the remaining oil if needed. When hot, fry the garlic and chillies until golden brown. Reduce the heat and add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar or honey; then gradually stir in the corn flour mixed with water. Stir well too thicken and then spoon over the tofu and sprinkle over the crispy basil leaves.

TOFU, HERB AND NOODLE SALAD

300g deep fried tofu (buy already fried from Jia He-Asian Food), cut a bit smaller
100g vermicelli, cover with boiling water for 10 minutes, drain and cut into thirds.
2 cups bean sprouts
4 leaves Chinese cabbage, thinly sliced
Large handful Thai basil leaves, mint leaves and coriander leaves - roughly chopped
2 heaped Tablespoons chopped peanuts
3 spring onions, finely sliced
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds dry roasted
¼ cup lime juice
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons chopped palm sugar or honey

In a large bowl add the cooled noodles, tofu, sliced cabbage, spring onions, sprouts and herbs
In a separate bowl add the lime juice, soy sauce, chillies, garlic and palm sugar or honey until dissolved, then pour over the salad. Scatter over the sesame seeds, chopped peanuts and perhaps a few more herb leaves. Serve immediately!


CALDO VERDE - CHORIZO, POTATO AND CABBAGE SOUP
Makes 1 good size pot

2 large onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
60ml olive oil
1- 2 chorizo sausage (Fat Albert’s Smoke House)
6 large potatoes
1.5 litres good stock -chicken or vegetable
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 bay leaves
Large bunch of greens or cabbage
Smoked paprika and olive oil for dressing (optional)

Sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent.
Chop the sausage into small chunks and add to the onion.
Sweat the onions and sausage for a few more minutes (you want the lovely paprika infused oil to seep from the sausage, it is where the flavour is).
Add the diced potatoes. They will absorb all the flavour from the sausage.
Transfer the mixture to a large pan, add the stock, seasoning and bay leaves. Cook until the potatoes are soft.
When the potatoes are ready, mash them into the broth to make a thick base. Blanc the greens in boiling water for one minute to take off any bitterness, drain then add to the simmering broth.
Add as much cabbage as the broth will support - if you want heavy soup add loads of greens, if lighter, add less.
Simmer for a few minutes the soup will go the colour of jade.
Mix the smoked paprika with some olive oil to make a dressing, and swirl this red magic into the vibrant green soup.


CHORIZO, POTATOES AND EGGS - great for breakie
Serves 4

3 good sized potatoes, cooked till tender and roughly cut into chunks
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 chorizo sausages, sliced (Fat Albert’s Smoke House)
Good handful roughly chopped parsley or coriander
4 eggs - free range
Olive oil
Salt and cracked pepper

In a oven proof fry pan, add a generous glug of oil, add the chorizo and cook gently to crispin slightly but more importantly to extract the beautiful oils and flavour from the sausage. Add the onions and cook until softens and starts to go a sweet brown. Add the cooked potatoes and fry them in all that lovely flavoured oil. Add the garlic and season well. When the potatoes have soaked up some of that oil and started to go crisp, add the herbs. Make four indents with the back of a spoon, break an egg into each indent and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and bake in a preheated oven until the eggs are just cooked. Serve in the pan with some good quality bread.


DRIED FRUIT AND APPLE CRUMBLE
Serves 4

4 - 6good size apples
150 g dried fruit - apricots, prunes, pears etc - soaked in 1 cup of boiling water
100g sugar

Topping
100g plain flour
50g butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
50g brown sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
40g porridge oats
Preheat oven to 190`C
Have your dried fruit soaking whilst you begin your preparation. Peel, quarter and core all the apples. Cut into chunks about 2 cm thick.
Heat a fry pan until very hot. Toss the apple with the sugar and add to the pan in a single layer. If the temperature is right the sugar should start to caramelise almost immediately. Leave for a couple of minutes, add the soaked drained fruit, then turn the apples carefully as you want the fruit to stay intact.
Continue cooking for a further 3 minutes or until the fruit starts to feel tender when pieced. Remove from the heat.
Put the flour and butter in a food processor and process briefly until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the brown sugar and whiz for a few seconds more. Grate the nutmeg straight into the mixture, add the oats and blend again briefly.
Scatter the topping over the fruit - don’t pat it down or level it! Bake the pudding for 20 minutes until the topping is nicely browned. Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Delicious with vanilla ice cream, custard or crème fraiche.

Alison and the Farmers Market would like to thank the following vendors for their beautiful products

FAT ALBERT SMOKE HOUSE
BRIDGE HILL (dried fruit)
JIA HE-ASIAN FOOD MANUFACTURER
ETTRICK