The other night, leaning over a bowl of steaming polenta and peas, I said to my flatmate, "You'll know I'm a poor student when I can only afford to eat polenta." She laughed and suggested that I could also, despite my student wages, afford to eat lentils and most other items sold in bulk. Grains, beans, pulses. Anything but ramen.
Cut to this morning, when I opened the cupboards and realised I didn't have any bread. Neither did I have cereal. Polenta it was, and my concerns about a polenta-only diet heightened ever so slightly.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not in the depths of student poverty. I'm merely subject to the tides of university funding, and it's nearing the end of the month. Come next weekend, I'll be eating truffles covered with gold. Well, perhaps not quite so well, but I won't be eating like a nineteenth century peasant.
Today's dinner was, therefore, all about foraging what I could from the depths of the kitchen. I had splurged earlier in the week and bought a lot of tofu. My flatmate had donated an abandoned broccoli to my cause, claiming that she didn't like vegetables anyway (!). I've been ill, so there's a lot of ginger laying around.
With plain rice, this might be the closest thing to simple pleasure. Spicy with chili, sour and salty with umeboshi vinegar, eaten in steaming great mouthfuls with hot rice. The tofu is cut into tiny pieces, giving the illusion that it goes further and creating more surface area to fry to a golden crisp. A worthwhile break from studying.
*****
1/2 block of firm tofu, in 1 cm cubes
1 head of broccoli, broken into small florets
1 spring onion, chopped
2 small chilies, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
2 tbsp. tamari or light soy sauce
2 tbsp. umeboshi vinegar
oil, for frying
1. Heat your oil over med-high heat and toss in your tofu. Allow to cook for a few minutes on each side, turning when golden. 2. Once your tofu is golden all over, toss in your broccoli and cover the pan, reducing the heat to medium and leaving to steam for 2-3 minutes. 3. Toss in your chilies, ginger, and spring onion, your tamari, and a splash of water. Cover again and leave until the broccoli is tender but still fairly crisp. 4. Remove from heat and sprinkle with umeboshi before serving.
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