food {love} : chicken tofu dango w/ vinegar ketchup sauce

today's recipe on food love is chicken tofu dango w/ vinegar ketchup sauce! ooh la~la~ another lesson in japanese. dango = anything round that you eat. usually associated with round mochi balls, but it's widely used to describe foods which are round in shape. so there you go~ in english it would be chicken tofu balls. but i still like to call them dango. this recipe is also great for meat eaters out there who want to cut down on their meat intake, but still want something filling. it seems to fill up my carnivorous fiance + i feel better knowing that it's healthier for him.

try to see if you can trick your meat-loving friends/family with this dish. i bet they won't know that it's half tofu!

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chicken tofu dango w/ vinegar ketchup sauce (2 servings)

ingredients:

for the dango:
1 pack tofu (but you'll only be using 1/3 of the tofu block)
1/2 lbs. ground chicken
1/2 onion (chop them into little pieces)
little bit of salt + pepper

for the sauce:
4 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp sugar (i use brown sugar but you can try agave, honey or even maple syrup if you like)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake (you can use either cooking sake or the real deal)

a little bit of potato starch mixed with water (to give a drippy consistency in the sauce)
boiled greens (bok choy works great w/ this recipe, but can also be boiled or steamed cabbage, napa cabbage, spinach)

directions:
1. put ground chicken, tofu, onions into a large plastic zip lock. mix, smash, mix, squish, mix, squash, mix. add a pinch of salt + pepper. mix, mix, mix. then place in fridge for the time being.

2. while the mixture sits in the fridge, start making the sauce. mix the sauce ingredients together really well, but do not add the potato starch/water mixture into this yet. you'll do that later.

3. boil or steam the veggies and put in cold water or fridge for later.

4. in a fry pan, warm some olive oil and while it warms, take out the zip lock bag with the mixture inside, open the bag and being to make some dango (meatballs) my creating little spheres. don't worry, they don't have to all be the same, but definitely better to have them all around the same size as cooking time will vary if it's big + small in one fry pan.

5. once the oil is hot, place the dangos into the fry pan and quickly cook on all sides until they are golden brown and a little crispy. once all dangos are like this, bring the heat to mid-low and pour the sauce into the fry pan.

6. put a lid (i usually do the aluminum hat over the fry pan + let it simmer so that it cooks inside. (i usually let it simmer for about 10~15 mins, but it's up to you.)

7. take off the lid and check to see if the dango is cooked all the way to the middle. if so, they're done!

8. serve on a plate with the boiled/steamed greens. add some steamed rice + some miso soup. bon apetit!