vegetarian san choy bow

Not the prettiest dish in the world, but it's my new favourite dish.

This week, we've got heaps of lettuce leaves in our vegie box.
I don't normally buy lots of lettuce leaves myself, as they tend to wilt in a few days in the fridge, and to be honest, I thought iceberg lettuce is the most boring tasteless vegie ever.
Sorry iceberg, not your fault, I shouldn't have judged you too soon, blame the restaurants or cafes that turned you into a boring dish they called "garden Salad".
Anyway, this particular iceberg lettuce that I've got is far from boring, it tasted really fresh and crunchy!! So I searched for a non-salad recipe that uses this crunchy baby.
Holly google brought me to Zoe's recipe, from vegan easy. I don't like fake mince, so I tweaked the recipe a little bit, and came up with this recipe:

4 - 5 iceberg lettuce leaves, break carefully, don't leat them tear, wash and drain (this will act as a vessel for the tofu)
1/2 block of firm tofu
2 cups of mushroom, sliced (I used plain old buttons, but you could use fancy mushrooms as well)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 tsp olive oil
a few drops sesame oil
1 tbsp tamari (or less, I don't normally measure it)
1 tbsp kecap manis
1 tsp sriracha chilli sauce
salt and pepper to taste

serve 2 - 3

heat olive oil in a frying pan, add onion and fry until fragrant
add crumbled tofu, I normally crumbled my tofu straight on top of the frying pan, but there's a high chance of having crumbled tofu everywhere in the kitchen
mix it up with the onion, add sliced mushroom and garlic, cover with a lid, and let it cook for 2 minutes
uncover, and stir for further 2 minutes
add sesame oil, tamari, chilli sauce and kecap manis
season with salt and pepper, taste, and adjust
to serve, arrange the lettuce leaves, and put the tofu mixture on top
to eat, put a squirt of sriracha sauce if you want extra hot, roll up, and eat with your hand. YUM!

Bubur "ayam" (vegetarian "chicken" congee)

I'm having a massive homesickness syndrome.
One of the symptom is sudden craving to food from home.
I used to have this rice congee for breakfast, from a food stall near my house. We just need to bring our own crockery, and ate them in the comfort of our dining table. No need to balance on a tiny wooden stool.
Well, there's hardly a recipe, I just made it up as I go, it had quite a lot of elements though (masterchef-y language - "elements"), to simplify the assembly of the dish, just put all the elements on tiny plates, so people can help themselves.

rice congee :
2 cups vegie stock (or water + 1/2 cube of vegie buillon)
1 cup cooked rice (I used leftover rice, or 1/2 cup uncooked)

braised wom bok :
2 cups wombok, shredded
sriracha sauce
2 drops of sesame oil

Stir fry tofu :
1/2 pack of firm tofu (if you want dryer texture, freeze the tofu, thaw, and squeeze the excess liquid)
1/2 cup mushroom
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp tamari
salt and pepper to taste

toppings (optional, but highly recommended):
kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds, toasted
chopped parsley
sriracha sauce

how to :
bring the stock to the boil in a pot, and add the rice, bring it to boil and stir to prevent the rice grain from sticking and burning.
Turn down the heat, and simmer for 30-40 min, until the texture is silky and smooth, and the grains are broken down.
in frying pan, heat oil, add wombok, stir for 30 seconds, add a splash of water, and cover to wilt them.
while waiting the congee and wombok to cook, sliced the tofu into tiny batons (or matchsticks), slice the garlic and the 'shrooms.
uncover the wombok, add sriracha sauce a tiny bit at a time (this sauce is sooo hot!!), add sesame oil. stir, for a few minutes, until completety wilted and transparent.
transfer to a plate. Don't wash the pan yet, we'll use it for the tofu.
Don't forget to stir the congee at this point!!
heat up 1 tsp of oil in the frypan, fry the tofu and mushrooms, add garlic, salt and pepper.
after the tofu looked nice and golden, add tamari.
transfer the tofu to another plate.
after the congee looked silky and smooth, ladle to a bowl.
add wom bok, tofu, and sprinkle with almonds, and parsley, drizzle with a bit of kecap manis, and sriracha.
eat s l o w l y...