PRINTABLE RECIPE

My mother gave me two of the biggest red onions I'd ever seen in my life. They each weighed just short of 400g and I could only hold one in my hand at a time. I only needed to use half of one for a pasta sauce and I cried the whole time I was chopping it up.

You could never call a red onion subtle, but it can be subdued with heat. And once onions are tempered, they show a whole different side. An onion jam is the perfect dish to make and can be eaten in many ways ­­– spread on toast, tossed through pasta, baked in a tart...

ONION JAM

Makes 1½ cup

1 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable/sunflower oil

4 cups red onions (about 400g), sliced thinly

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

¼ cup dark brown sugar

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Melt butter and oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion slices and cook, stirring occasionally until they soften and begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, reduce heat to low and simmer until the mixture becomes thick and all the liquid is gone, about 25 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

* * *

Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for aubergine kuku in The Guardian inspired me to try a similar dish since I needed to use up some aubergine I had fried up. I also had some dried barberries which I'd got a while ago for an Iranian rice dish I was cooking and writing about ("1,001 bites", Don't Call Me Chef, Oct 2009) ­­– I've kept the berries in the fridge so they're still good. If you can't find barberries, Ottolenghi says to add lime juice to the mix. I've adapted the Iranian kuku to include cubes of fried potato and onion jam.

It's basically a load of vegetables held together with a little egg. I used four medium eggs but I think even three would have been sufficient. I wish I could be more precise with the quantity of aubergine and potatoes ­­– how big is "medium" or "large", right? ­­– but if you have about 2 cups of each after they are fried, that would be about right.

VEGETABLE FRITTATAServes 4-5

2 medium aubergine, cut into 2cm cubes and pan-fried/baked until golden
2 large potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes and pan-fried until golden

3 tablespoons onion jam (recipe above)
4 medium free-range eggs
1 tbsp plain flour
½ tsp baking powder

2 tablespoons dried barberries, rinsed and dried
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
Large pinch of saffron strands, mixed with 1 tbsp of hot water
Salt and black pepper

• Beat eggs, flour and baking powder together. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and season to taste. Pour mixture into a greased 21cm tart dish and bake in a preheated 190°C oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and cooked through ­­– test the centre with a skewer to see if the egg has set. Serve warm or at room temperature.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

For the January 2010 issue of Don't Call Me Chef, our challenge was to make a dish using a cooking technique, ingredient or appliance we had never used before.

I had decided on cooking with smoke, but after doing the research, I wondered if I was perhaps taking on too much, especially being an apartment dweller. All the articles I had read pointed out quite clearly that there would be a lot of smoke, and if you can't do it outside, you need an industrial-strength extractor fan, or you should dismantle your smoke alarm before attempting this. 

I went ahead anyway and happily discovered that it wasn't as bad as those writers made it out to be. There was a little smoke in the beginning when the fire was on high to start the ball rolling ­­– it looked like like wisps from a mosquito coil ­­– but most of it was well-contained in my wok smoker. (During the process, a car siren went off, however, and I was jumpy for a moment!) If I had known all of this sooner, I wouldn't have waited so long to try this technique.

Smoking gives flavour ­­– and what flavour! ­­– to food and cooks it as well, but with the quantity of smoking mixture used here, the smoke will only last about 25 minutes. For foods that take longer to cook, such as chicken, duck or ribs, you can start off with a larger amount of tea, but the meats will probably still need to be cooked completely under the grill, in a frying pan, or in the oven. Even the salmon above can be seared briefly in hot oil to caramelise the skin after smoking, and the smoked tofu below can be used in stir-fries and even as a substitute for meats.

I was warned that I might ruin my wok in the smoking process, but since I used a double layer of foil to line the wok first, it survived. I like my cast iron wok and would have been very sad if I couldn't use it for anything but smoking after my first attempt at it.

A block of flavour

My recipe for the column was for tea-smoked salmon but I smoked a block of tofu with the salmon and that is the recipe that follows. This cooking method infuses a lot of flavour and for everyone who has complained about the blandness of tofu, this is the recipe for you. It develops a meaty texture, but it doesn't taste of any meat I've eaten. It's certainly not the tofu I'm used to.

The water in tofu needs to be removed before it is smoked. Freezing tofu will help remove more water than simply pressing it. This also makes it chewy, and it absorbs flavours better. Tthe freezing-thawing-water removal process takes about 36 hours, so plan ahead when smoking tofu. 

TEA-SMOKED SPICED TOFU 

400g firm tofu (try to get the kind in large blocks) 

Smoking mixture (combined) 
2 tablespoons oolong tea (Jasmine is an alternative)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons raw rice
2 star anise 

Wok smoker
Heavy-duty wok with lid
Aluminium foil
Round metal rack or trivet 

Spice rub (combined) 
You don't need to marinate the tofu before smoking, but this rub adds colour and flavour. Or use any dry rub you like.
1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, toasted and crushed
½ teaspoon paprika 
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon brown sugar 

Preparing the tofu for smoking 

• First, wrap the tofu in cling wrap and place into a freezer bag, squeezing out as much air as possible. Place in the freezer overnight. The next day, remove from the freezer and place frozen tofu in the refrigerator to defrost completely, 12-24 hours.
• Once thawed, remove cling film and place tofu between two tea towels. Gently set a small plate on top and a weight (canned food) in the plate, and let sit for 30 minutes or so until all the liquid has seeped out. It is now ready for smoking.
• Press the spice rub on all sides of the block of tofu and let sit for 10 minutes. Get your smoker ready.

From left: The smoking mix; the marinated salmon and tofu; wrap the foil over the lip of the wok cover.

Preparing the smoker and cooking 

• Line the inside of the wok with a double layer of foil so it comes at least 8cm up the sides of the wok. Place smoking mixture in base of wok. Grease baking rack and set on top of the mixture; place tofu on rack. Put on the lid and crimp the excess foil around it tightly.
• Turn the heat to high. When smoke appears, turn heat down to low and smoke for 20 minutes, then turn off heat and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes. Open the lid outdoors if possible as there will be some residual smoke.
• Remove tofu and let cool before slicing. Use as desired.

PRINTABLE RECIPE