Tuna Stew with Pineapple

In Vietnam, every meal in the family always includes stew dishes, such as meat stew or seafood stew. The Vietnamese stew can be very salty for some poor families so that the members can share them in a small portion. Fish stew (ca kho) is the most popular meal in Viet Nam. I like to transform this stew recipe by using much less salt to make it healthier. It will suit the taste for Westerners rather than for the Vietnamese because Westerners usually do not eat their meals with as much rice as the Vietnamese do. The natural sweetness in pineapple adds flavor and is complimentary to tuna, as well.

Ingredients:
Two 6 oz tuna fillets (king mackerel or albacore)
1 cup fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup thickly sliced onions
3 green onions, cut into 3 inch lengths
1 tsp molasses
1 cup stew sauce (recipe at bottom)

Directions:
In a medium clay pot or cast iron skillet, add oil until hot.

Stir in white onions and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in garlic. Sauté for a few minutes.

Add molasses, pineapple, and tuna (let cook for 5 minutes).

 Turn the heat to medium-low and add the stew sauce. Bring to boil.

Then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add green onions in the last 3 minutes of cooking time. Serve with hot cooked rice.

In a small bowl, combine the stew sauce and set aside. This sauce can be made ahead of time and kept refrigerated until ready to use.

Sauce for stew:
1 can coconut juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tbs cooking wine
1 tsp salt
3 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs chili flakes 

Moroccan Baked Salmon

I will now introduce a recipe to prepare a healthy, simple meal that tastes especially good. As always, this meal should be completed with some side dishes, such as steamed vegetables and mashed sweet potato.

Ingredients:
Two 6 oz salmon fillets
Marinade:
1/4 cup nonfat yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup thinly sliced white onions

Other
Steamed broccoli

Directions:
In a small mixing bowl, combine the marinade ingredients up to white onions and mix well.
In a baking dish, place salmon and pour the marinade; top with white onions. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°. Bake the salmon for 20 minutes. Remove baked salmon from the baking dish and place between side dishes on serving plate.

Chicken Black-Eyed Pea Soup

I had been busy for a while on other matters. I missed working in my kitchen to create a hearty meal, but I am back today to introduce an easy comfort food – chicken soup. Every family has its own recipe for making chicken soup passed down from generation to generation. I believe that my chicken soup recipe is best suited to fit into today’s busy lifestyles, yet not compromise taste. I use a combination of good quality chicken broth and roasted chicken, dotted with fresh vegetables, that can hardly be resisted.

Ingredients:
5 cups chicken broth
3 cups roasted chicken pieces (Costco roasted)
1 tbs butter
1/2 tbs olive oil
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small white onion, chopped
1 can black-eyed peas or any kind of your favor beans, drained
6 oz fresh baby spinach
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
Melt butter and oil in a medium saucepan and sauté carrot, celery and onion for 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another minute. Add chicken broth and bring to boil. Add chicken pieces and beans. Bring to simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in spinach while adding salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 minutes. Ladle soup into an individual bowl. Sprinkle with parsley and cheese, if using.

Poached Salmon with Wasabi and Vegetables

Simple poaching liquid with spicy wasabi, soy sauce, and fresh ginger make an unusual poaching liquid. Adding green beans to this dish for extra flavor and complete the meal by serving it with hot cooked rice or soba noodles.

Ingredients:
Two 6 oz salmon fillets, rinsed and patted dry
4 oz green beans
Poaching liquid
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 green onions, chopped
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp wasabi
1 tsp sesame oil
Garnish with chopped cilantro
 
Directions:
In a large skillet, combine all the poaching liquid ingredients and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the fish. Occasionally, spoon the sauce over fish. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Flip fish over. Add the green beans. Increase the heat to high. Cook uncovered until the beans are tender. Cook until the sauce is slightly reduced to the consistency of a glaze. Serve.

Sweet Potato Almond Bread

The sweet potato gives this bread a deep, rich color and moist texture. Almonds and dark raisins add a nutty flavor to this simple bread. Allow extra time to prepare the mashed potatoes.

Ingrdients:
3/4 cup water
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
3 cups bread flour
4 tbs rolled oats
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbs unsalted butter, cut up
2 1/4 tsp active yeast
Fruits and nuts:
3 tbs raisins
1/3 cup chopped almonds

Directions:
Add the ingredients in the order listed above the Fruits and nuts. Select the dough setting and press start. Add the fruits and nuts just 5 minutes before the kneading cycle is finished. At the end of the program, remove dough and place on a lightly floured surface.
Butter two 8” x 4” x 2” loaf pans. Shape dough to the same size of the loaf pan. Spread some oil on top and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Let rise for another 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350° and bake bread for 30 minutes.

Chicken Bread Baked with Pasta Sauce

I use a touch of lemon juice to serve as the marinade for the chicken. The quality pasta sauce with olives, capers, and onions enhances the flavor and keeps the chicken moist.

Ingredients:
Two 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp crushed pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbs chopped olives, chopped
1 tsp capers, chopped
1/2 cup red onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup feta, mozzarella or goat cheese
Green onions, chopped

Directions:
Flatten the chicken breast to a 1/2 inch thickness. Coat the chicken with lemon juice and refrigerate for a few hours.
In a small bowl, combine the pasta sauce, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt. Set aside.
Drain the chicken and discard the lemon juice.
Place the chicken on a baking dish. Top with red onions, capers, olives, and cheese. Pour the sauce mixture on top. Preheat oven to 350° and bake, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. Sprinkle with chopped green onions before serving

My Family

If you are here, then I should share with you a little bit about the history of my family. My family was a military family because my father was in the South Vietnamese Army. He was seldom home due to the nature of his career. I sometimes wonder how it was possible that my frequently absent father and my mom were able to find the time to create such a large family -- 10 children, yes, 10 !

Because my dad was seldom home, my oldest brother, Phu, assumed my dad's role as the father figure when we were young . He taught all of us so well that we were all accepted into a good school in Vietnam. I always looked up to him as a young girl. Now, since we are all grown up and have our own families, we seem to forget his big impact on our lives. We should show him more love and appreciation.

The person who is very close to me in age and in spirit is my sister, Mai. She and I played together when we were growing up. I always feel that my mom did a good job by having all of us as a group with not much difference in ages, which resulted in a strong bonding to each other, and we never felt lonely as children.

I have to say that even though Mai is older than I, she always follows and looks up to me. Mai is a soft-spoken and a somewhat shy person. Consequently, when we were young, I always bossed her around or tricked her into doing something that she normally would not do. I remember the first day that she had to go to school, but she refused to go because she thought that I had to go with her. My mom put her outside the door, but she wrapped her arms around the column in front of our house and cried uncontrollably. My mom was able to get her out of there, but she just stood under the sun and cried demanding that I had to go with her. Finally, my mom gave up; as a result, Mai and I went to school the next year together, and we both shared so many memorable moments during the K12 years.

On April 30, 1975, the communist North Vietnamese took over South Vietnam. We lost contact with my dad. We didn’t know that he was still alive. Because we were a military family of south Vietnam, my mom was so afraid for the safety for all of us and the uncertainty of the future of Saigon. My mother decided to take Mai and me with her to a farm and to have my oldest brother and sister stay behind in Saigon to care for my younger siblings and at a familiar location for my dad to contact our family if he were still alive.. Mai and I hated the farm. We didn’t know why we had to be there. At the end of 1977, my mom had to go back to Saigon to check on some of her children that she left behind after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Before she left the farm, she instructed me that it was very important that at the stroke of midnight on New Year's eve, Mai and I had to go outside to pray to God "Cung te troi" (for god harvest crops of the farm). I took this opportunity to ask Mai to pray against our mom’s wish. Mai didn’t want to do this. However, after I convinced her that if the farm was not doing well, then there would be no reason for us to stay on the farm. Of course, our farm did terribly that year, and we did come back to Saigon. I did claim a victory for myself, but the fact was during that same year, our dad, who safely escaped and was living in the United States, did find a way to contact us.

Last year, Mai came to visit me, and she told me that she published her first poetry book that she dreamt of doing as a young girl. The title of her book is "Ngay bao loan", which is now in Vietnamese bookstores in California, but you can also view her book here:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.2&thid=1306b59a6f719ae0&mt=application/msword&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D17e8752ffd%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1306b59a6f719ae0%26attid%3D0.2%26disp%3Dattd%26zw&sig=AHIEtbRJHNNckqJLBXMcuBZxsYpVYRFv0A.

I shared with her my dream about publishing a cookbook myself someday, and she told me to just do it one day at a time and to finish one page each day because that strategy guided her to finish her book.
Since growing up together, I believe that Mai always respected and listened to my advice. However, now I have to admit to Mai that for the first time in my life, I admire her courage and self-discipline and have taken her advice and started a blog where I can share my knowledge of cooking with others. Who knows? Maybe someday I can publish my own cookbook just like Mai has published a book of poetry.

For you Mai, it is indeed one day at a time.!!!

Apple Pear Cake

This is one of my favorite, easy-to-make cakes. It is simply very low in saturated fat, but not in flavor.

Ingredients:
Dry ingridients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chia seeds gel
1/4 cup orange juice
Fillings:
1 large apple, peeled, cored, sliced
1 pear, peeled, cored, sliced
1 tbs orange zest
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°. Butter and flour the tube cake pan and set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Use a handheld mixer to beat the wed ingredients until well mixed.

 

Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix well.

Pour half of the batter into the bottom of the cake pan.

Place half of the apple-pear over the batter.

Pour the rest of the batter over the apple and arrange the other half of the apple on top.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a cake plate. Serve.

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Buns

I love to make these cinnamon buns with sweet potato because the sweet potato gives the buns natural sweetness and extra softness. These buns are best eaten the same day that they are made. I used a leftover mashed sweet potato to make this bun and allow the dough to rise slowly overnight. This is the best way to serve breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1 egg
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbs vegetable shortening
1 tbs soft butter
3 ¼ cups of bread flour
2 tsp active yeast
Filling:
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup apricots, chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp grown cinnamon
3 tbs soft butter

Directions;
All the ingredients must be at room temperature. In a bread machine pan, add all the ingredients, except the filling, in the order listed above. Select the dough button and press start. Let dough rise in the machine until double in size. Remove dough and let rest 5 minutes on a lightly floured countertop before hand shaping.

Meanwhile, soak cranberries, raisins, and apricots with 1/2 cup of white wine until they plump. Drain.
Combine plumped raisins, cranberries, apricots, cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar in a bowl and set aside.
Hand shaping:
Roll out dough into a 16” x 12” rectangle.

Spread the filling evenly over the dough.

Roll up dough in jelly-roll fashion to form a 16 inch-long cylinder.

With a sharp serrated knife, cut the cylinder into twelve equal slices. Place slices, cut side up, on a lightly greased 13” x 9” baking pan. Space 2 inches apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let slices rise in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 325°.
One hour before baking, bring out slices to assume room temperature. After baking in oven for 10 minutes, increase the temperature to 350° and bake for 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from oven and enjoy.

Bouillabaisse or Fish Soup

Bouillabaisse is the most famous soup in the country of France. In the countryside, this soup is called fisherman’s soup/stew originating from the port city of Marseille where the fishermen caught their fish and made their dinner. It is often made with the whole fish, but I think using a fish fillet is much simpler, and the bone can be used to make the stock. Firm whitefish, such as cod, bass, red snapper, or monkfish, is best for this recipe. Following my recipe’s simple directions will reveal how easy it is to make this famous bouillabaisse soup.

Ingredients:
3 cups fish stock or water
1/2 lb whitefish, such as cod, bass, or monkfish
6 mussels
4 shrimp
1 tbs oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 large tomato
Pinch of saffron threads
Herbs: tarragon & parley, chopped
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup good white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Scrub the mussels and remove their “beards”. Cut the fish into bite size pieces. Remove shells from and devein the shrimp. Place the mussels, fish, and shrimp in a bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and cook fennel, onion, and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes or until fragrant.
Score a cross on top of the tomato and plunge it into the hot water for 20 seconds. Then drain and peel the skin away from the tomato, discarding the cores. Roughly chop the tomato and add to the pan. Cook tomato for a few minutes. Add white wine and cook for a few minutes. Stir in fish stock, saffron, orange zest, and the herbs. Bring this broth to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour this soup into the blender and purée the soup. Return to a clean pan and bring it to a boil.
Add fish and mussels. Cook for 5 minutes or until mussels open. Add shrimp and cook for a few more minutes. Ladle the soup into a serving bowl and serve with bread.

Egg Noodle Soup with Braised Chicken

This dish is called Mi Vit Tiem in Southern Vietnam, which is very popular in a nearby Chinese supermarket called “Cho Lon". Some say this dish emigrated from China because the meat is marinated in advance with a lot of Chinese spices related to Chinese medicine like cinnamon, ginger roots, star anise, etc... The broth has a slight dark color because of all these spices, but the fragrance is unbelievable. My version of this dish uses chicken legs instead of duck legs because I do not live near by Oriental butcher shops. The method of cooking will be the same as cooking with duck legs. I am very happy with my recipe and hope that you will agree.

Ingredients:
Marinade:
4 oz rock sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp salt
5 star anise
5 whole cloves
Two 3 inch long cinnamon sticks
2 oz fresh ginger, sliced
6 pieces dried orange peels
4 dried chili
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp five spices
2 cups water
Chicken and broth:
2 cups coconut juice
6 chicken legs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water
12 cups chicken broth
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp salt
Vegetables:
1 lb. Chinese cabbage (cai xanh) or Chinese kale (cai lan)
Scallions, cut into 2 inch sections
White onion thinly sliced
Cilantro leaves, chopped for garnish
Fresh hot chili, sliced
1 1/2 lbs. fresh egg noodles

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, add all the marinade ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Place chicken legs into a Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade and turn to coat evenly. Seal the Ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight.
Drain the chicken legs. Pour 1/4 cup of oil into a large sauté pan. Add chicken legs and fry until golden brown (about 3 to 5 minutes on each side). Add the coconut juice and some reserved marinade . Cover and braise the chicken legs for 30 minutes. While the chicken is braising, prepare the soaked mushrooms. Remove the stems and cut the caps in half. When the chicken legs are done, remove chicken from the braising liquid and drain the braising liquid. You may use this liquid with the broth.
In a soup pot, add chicken broth, some braising liquid, chicken legs and the Chinese mushrooms. Bring to a boil. Skim the froth as it rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for 30 minutes or until the chicken legs are tender.
To prepare the soup:
Blanch the Chinese broccoli and scallions in the hot water and set aside
Bring a pot of water to a boil and place a large bowl of cold water next to it. Divide the noodles equally for each serving in a strainer and cook in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Stir the noodles with chopsticks. Then immediately dip the cooked noodles into the cold water to stop the cooking. Drain briefly and place the noodles into an individual soup bowl. Repeat with the remaining noodles.
Divide the vegetables, scallions, white onions and place on top of noodles in each bowl. Transfer the chicken legs into each bowl of noodles. Bring the soup to boil again. Ladle the boiling broth and mushroom caps to cover the noodles and the chicken legs. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro, black pepper, and hot chili.

White Beans Chicken Chili

Enjoy classic chicken chili without the tomato sauce. I use a crockpot to make this recipe even easier for busy moms.

Ingredients:
2 cups leftover roasted chicken
1 can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup corn
1/2 cup roasted salsa verde (store-bought)
1 tbs fresh oregano or 1 tsp dry
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with chopped cilantro

Directions:
In a medium sauté pan, add 2 tbs oil. Sauté garlic and onions until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add cumin, cayenne, oregano, and salsa verde and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to boil.

 

In a 4 qt crockpot, place chicken, corn, and beans. Pour the chicken broth on top. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the crockpot with lid and turn heat to low. Cook 4 to 5 hours. If desired, add your choice of cheese 10 minutes before finishing cooking or until the cheese has melted. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Yuca Cake (Banh Khoai Mi Nuong)

Yuca or cassava is a long starchy root. It is widely grown in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. For many years, this root is life-saving for poor people because it is very easy to grow.
During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese soldiers planted their own cassava in many places throughout the jungle where they marched through. Any cassava plant from which they removed the root to eat, the soldiers had to replant it by cutting the stem off the cassava plant and then just sticking it into the soil. The cassava plant will grow without much care. My uncle was a soldier and he said this was a plan used to defeat the South Vietnamese Government. The continuous cassava planting was to feed the North soldiers if they got lost in the jungle.
Cassava can be boiled, steamed, baked, or added to a stew. Growing up in a large family with a modest income, my mom used to cook cassava with rice to save some rice for another day because rice was quite expensive.
Another dish that I loved while growing up was baked cassava cake, but my mom seldom made it for us because it required more ingredients that she could not afford at that time. Luckily for me now, I am living in America and cassava is quite inexpensive. Therefore, I can enjoy this cake as much as I want.
If using a fresh cassava root, then the cassava needs to have thick skin peeled off first and then have the white flesh shredded. I found an easy way to make this cake by using frozen yuca, which is sold in most Asian markets. I created this recipe which includes cooked mung beans to add more flavor to the cake because this cake has the unique taste of both yuca and mung beans.

Ingredients:
16 oz shredded or grated frozen yuca (1 lb.)
1 cup cooked mung beans
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 tbs coconut oil
1 tbs butter cut into small pats

Directions:
Grease an 8” x 8” baking pan with coconut oil. Preheat oven to 350°.

In a blender, add mung beans, tapioca flour, coconut milk, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and eggs.

 Blend until smooth. Pour this mixture into a mixing bowl and add the yuca. Whisk them to combine.

 Pour into the prepared cake pan.

Dot on top with butter pats and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Chicken, Tofu, Potato, and Mushrooms Stew

Stew is the combination of food cooked in liquid and the thickening of the liquid. Stew is always served warm with bread or rice. The sauce for stew can vary slightly from cook to cook. It is primarily a soy sauce brine mellowed by some cooking wine, such as sake or dry sherry and seasoned with star anise, fennel, cinnamon, ginger, and garlic. The stock can be used to add more the depth of flavor or a spicier flavor by adding some chilies. Any type of meat or vegetables can be used for making stew. The stew recipe that I created here is a combination of meat and potatoes.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast or thigh, cut into bite size pieces
8 oz firm tofu, cut into bite size chunks
8 oz button mushrooms
1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup white onions, thickly sliced
1 tsp five spice
2 tbs fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Stew Sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tbs dark soy sauce
2 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs miso paste
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs vinegar
2 tbs sake
1/8 tsp salt
Garnish:
3 green onions, cut into 1 inch lengths
1/2 cup cilantro

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the stew sauce ingredients and mix well.
In a medium pot, add 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Fry the tofu until golden grown and remove. In the same pot, add chicken and fry until chicken is golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside. Using whatever oil is left in the pot, add potatoes and fry them well. Remove the potato.
In the same pot, add ginger, garlic and white onions. Stir for 1 minute and then add five spice (cook until fragrant). Return chicken, tofu, potatoes, and mushrooms to the pot and the stew sauce. Cover pot with lid and turn the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for anther 10 minutes. Add green onions and cilantro. Serve.

Crispy Tofu Stirfry

Tofu, also called bean curd, is made by first coagulating soy juice and then pressing the resulting curds into small white bricks or blocks. Tofu has little or no flavor by itself but has a ton of nutrition. Vegetarians use tofu to replace meat in their diet. In the Buddhist temple, Tofu is the main ingredient of every dish being served. As a young girl, my mom always took us to the temple on the big Buddhist celebrations. For that, I had a chance to taste most of the wonderful dishes at the temple. It is still fresh in my mind, so I created this stir-fry tofu for my family. I hope this dish will contribute to the vegan world of the best ever tofu dishes, as well.

Ingredients:
1 block of soft tofu, cut into about ½ inch cubes
1/3 cup cornstarch
Sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs cooking wine
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp black pepper
Others
1 cup green onions, cut into 1 inch lengths
1/2 cup chopped white onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup of water chestnuts
1 jalapeno, chopped
Cilantro for garnish

Directions:
Place cornstarch on a shallow dish and roll tofu to cover completely with cornstarch.
In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients and mix well.
Heat 1/3cup of oil in a wok until smoking. Add tofu. Deep fry tofu until golden brown. Remove the tofu and place on a paper towel to absorb the oil. Pour off the oil and wipe the wok clean with paper towel.
Add 1 tbs of oil into the wok. Stir in garlic and white onions (be careful not let the garlic burn). Cook for a few seconds. Add jalapeno and water chestnuts. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add tofu back into the wok. Add green onions in the sauce. Cook until the sauce is thickened. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve.