My yummy Tofu recipe - inspired by all of my Indian friends :)

Two things I miss about Dubai - Indian food and my friends - not necessarily in that order :-) Anyway, I decided to mess about in my gorgeous kitchen and came up with this recipe that reminds me of both.

Spicy Tofu - Indian Style

Serves 6 (can be halved quite easily - but I'd say make the full amount of oil and use the extra on something else - I'm sure there are other foods this will work with. Try mushrooms.)

Ingredients

·         2 teaspoons paprika

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon ground cumin

·         ½ teaspoon ground coriander

·         ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

·         4 tablespoons vegetable oil (I usually use sunflower oil)

·         1 tablespoon minced garlic

·         1 tablespoon lime juice

·         2 packs of tofu – extra firm if you can get it

·          ⅔ cup low fat plain yogurt

·         Sliced spring onions to garnish

Method

1.      Mix paprika, cumin, coriander, turmeric and ½ teaspoon of salt in a small bowl.Then gently fry the garlic in oil, add the spices and cook it all together for a minute or so and enjoy the yummy smells. Don't burn it - if you do, throw it out and start again.

2.      Drain the tofu and slice each block into 6 slices. Dry them with kitchen paper.

3.   Using about 1/2 the oil, brush it over the tofu slices. Don't get this stuff on your clothes. Turmeric stains are horrible!

4.      Heat a griddle pan (you know, the ones with ridges) on a medium-high heat. Fry the tofu until it has grill marks on one side, then turn it over – it takes about 2 – 3 minutes each side.

5.   While the tofu is cooking, mix the rest of the spiced oil in with the yoghurt.

6.     Eat the tofu with the sauce, topped with thin slices of spring onion.  If you like it, you can use fresh coriander. Cherry tomatoes go well with it too and make the plate look pretty.

Desperate for news of Kinder Eggs

Dear all,

I am shattered. Nowhere can I find a Kinder Egg in Dubai. I can only find the feeble, unsatisfactory, unfulfilling Kinder Joy. Has anyone seen a Kinder Egg? Can anyone help me find these? If we don't find them soon, I am concerned that my esteemed colleague Lou-Bear may just do something desperate.

Please help.
A splendid woman and her mates

Friends

What is a friend? Are our true friends more important to us than even members of our family? A popular, and oft-repeated Facebook post claims: “Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs. The ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything for you, and love you no matter what.”

In the words of Alain de Botton, a friend is someone “kind enough to consider more of us normal than most people do.” And when we think about the importance of friends, one can’t help but think Nietzsche was right to find Epicurus’s ideas on friendship appealing: “Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship.”

This past week I have managed to catch up with two wonderful friends. The next week will, I hope, see me have the opportunity to spend time with others. I am blessed with a collection of special people – not a large collection to be sure, but a collection nonetheless – of people who I consider to be true friends.

Then there are the new friends. The people we meet by chance who touch our lives and who, for whatever reason, reach us in a way that makes us want to open ourselves to them and to meet up with them again and again. The people we want to build a friendship with because of that spark they have that lights our hearts and our minds (and if we’re very lucky, our bodiesJ).

They may, over time, become family. Or we may realise that we were mistaken. Or they may not like us quite the same way we like them.

I guess what counts for me is that amongst all the people that I have met, there are a few people I find it easy to support and love who support and love me back.