What are the foods that everyone here eats day to day?
I'm looking for more to add to my arsenal.
In my head there's a big difference between staple foods and the kind of food that you make when guests come over.
I suppose it's an increased emphasis on being easy/practical to make, or make in bulk as well as as nutrition. I guess it's the staples that largely decide how the kitchen is stocked too.
Tofu, soy curls, tvp, rice, black beans, lettuce tomato onion garlic. That list is probably 90 percent of my diet.
Most common dinners are crispy tofu (in various ways; citrus, salt+pepper, Mongolian) or salad (lpts of varieties here; 'chicken' salad with soycurls, black bean salad, warm grain salad probably being the top 3)
These sound great!
How do you make the crispy tofu? Do you cut into cubes and then dip in flour + herbs and spices?
Flour tends to not get crispy, starch is better.
In general, I'll press the tofu, cube it, toss it in starch, pan fry with oil, then toss with salt+pepper or other seasonings, or top with a sauce. Most common sauce is something like:
dab of oil, briefly fry minced garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tbsp brown sugar
tbsp each of: soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil
finish with tbsp starch in 1/4 cup water
Sometimes add extra seasoning to sauce, like 5 spice