Celebrating the Year of the Dragon

Let me set the scene: an early monday morning, up at 6:30 to go to work. I was the biggest of girly cliché, lying down on my bed to manage to close one of my "good day" jeans. Now this isn't the perfect start into the week, is it?
I know you must be thinking, why didn't I change into an other pair of jeans? Well, because the only other option in my closet was a "very good day" jeans, and yes maybe I was also a little behind in my laundry.

The end of the year festivities, have apparently left more traces on my hips than I thought, or the pants shrunk in the laundry (that's an option I like much more, but let's stay realistic). So before things get out of hand, let's be wise for a little while... Says the women who has a brioche cooking in her oven as she writes this blog post...
But I really believe it's not about starving yourself of forbidding something, just finding the right balance, and working out a little bit.

There has been an other new year celebration last week, with the year of the Dragon starting for the chinese. Which means lots of chinese products available at the supermarket, that gave me some ideas. Chinese food being quite healthy in general, it can't do me any harm.
I read one of Nigella's recipe for Teriyaki chicken, so when I found some Teriyaki sauce, I thought I should give it a try, but with tofu. And let's hope the wise chineses are right, may the year of the dragon be a lucky one, because so far, 2012 didn't rock my world.

Teriyaki Tofu with Somen Noodles

Serves 2

100gr of Somen Noodles
200gr of Tofu
2 Tablespoons of Teriyaki Sauce
4 Spring Onions
1 Piece of Fresh Ginger (the size of a thumb)
8 Dried Black Chinese Mushrooms
1/2 a Cup of Peas (frozen)
2 Tablespoon of Oil (sunflower for instance)
1 Teaspoon of Soy Sauce
Fresh Cilantro

Cut the tofu into cubes or sticks, and pour over the Teriyaki sauce, let it marinate while you prepare the rest. Rehydrate the mushrooms in a bowl with hot water.
Heat up a pan with water, and when it's boiling, cook the somen noodles with the frozen peas for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a non-sticky frying pan, or a wok if you have one, heat up the oil, add the spring onions that you have choped and the fresh ginger (diced or grated), let them cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. When the tofu has absorbed most of the sauce, add it in the pan and pour in the rest of the sauce too.

Take the mushroom out of the water, and cut them in strips, before adding them to the pan. Now add the noodles with the peas and season with the soy sauce, let everything cook for a couple of minutes, stir to combine the flavours. Serve immediatly and sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top.