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Spinach Salad with Baked Tofu, Fennel and Mandarin Oranges

There’s not much to say about this tofu and mandarin salad, only the fact that I tend to prepare it excessively lately. It’s so colorful and packed with bold flavors and great textures and the best part is that it’s plant – based. The crunchy, fragrant fennel goes wonderfully with the sweet and juicy mandarin slices and the green onion and the baby spinach give this salad a nice, springy twist. For this salad I like to cut my tofu in triangles, marinate it in mandarin juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, olive oil, ginger and garlic and bake it in the oven until golden brown. Simlpe and delcious!

Why I love spinach salad with tofu, mandarin and fennel:

it’s vegan
it’s so colorful and tasty
it’s nutritious
it’s high in protein, so it’s very satisfying
it’s lovely all year round, I just pick whatever veggies are in season

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Quail Egg Butter Curry

Quail eggs boiled to perfection, served in a velvety and decadent butter and beetroot sauce, scented with ginger and Garam Masala. It does sound appealing, doesn’t it! The fact is I’m seldom dazzled by a combination of flavors, not because I’m a person hard to impress, but because I try really hard to content my emotions, at least culinary-wise. But this flavor profile mesmerizes me, it fascinates me to the point I drag myself to the kitchen at 1 am, in my pijamas, just to enjoy that taste again.

The starting point of this recipe is in fact Murgh Makhani, a delicious Indian butter chicken curry. About three years ago I substituted chicken with quail eggs and the recipe made so much sense, that I’ve made it only with quail eggs ever since. I often make this recipe with ghee, the Indian clarified butter, a very nutritious ingredient, but since I make my own ghee and I happened to run out ot it, I decided to use regular butter. And yes, that gorgeous chick in the picture is one of my quail-pets. On this note, how cool is the fact that my pets also provide breakfast? Continue reading Quail Egg Butter Curry

Asian-Style Glazed Meatballs

I cannot picture a really big family gathering without a platter of meatballs. I strongly believe that the recipe of meatballs is the most adjustable recipe in the world. You can add almost anything you find in your pantry and the result is still delicious. I remember that my grandmother had 3 recipes: one from her mother, one from her in-laws and one from a Hungarian cooking show, even though she didn’t understand a single word in Hungarian. Surprisingly enough, the third recipe would turn out absolutely spot on every single time.

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