After an acceptable Meal 1 of Pan-Seared Seabass on Red Capellini Primavera, I'm onto Meal 2 of my second dinner box by Urban Stove.
It's the Golden Tofu Croquettes with Spicy Asian Slaw! Doesn't look very appetising, does it? Coz it wasn't....it was a disaster waiting to happen! [#P/S: I didn't even bother to plate it up nicely as I knew it would be inedible.]
Croquette mixture, cabbage, carrot, jicama, tomato, spring onion, salad dressing and spicy sauce.
Simply follow the instructions on the recipe card.
The Prep Needed:
Toss the julienned vegetables with the pre-prepared salad dressing (that tasted like some kind of nut/sesame sauce dressing). Salad is ready....that's the easy part!
Now comes the hard part....frying the croquettes! It was hard to do because the croquette mixture (made of tofu and potato) was incredibly soft to shape and had a gummy texture. When I emptied it from the packaging, I already realised that they were way too soft. It might look alright in the pan......until you want to flip it! It disintegrated into a pile of mush! Into the bin it goes....this first batch! :( I tried putting the croquette mixture back into the fridge to firm up.
And tried a second time.....it looked slightly better, I managed to flip it....but it was still a mush! Then, just reheat the pre-prepared sauce (for the croquettes) that tasted like some kind of slightly spiced satay sauce.
Anyway, here's my failed attempt at making Golden Tofu Croquettes with Spicy Asian Slaw. In the end, the second batch of croquettes ended up in the bin too...it was downright inedible! It was so mushy, it had the consistency of 'baby food' and you can taste the uncooked flour mixture...yuck, yuck and yuck!
The recipe card described it as a cross between a croquette and a bergedil (a kind of Malaysian deep fried potato patty) that's moist on the inside, golden on the outside...but it was nothing remotely close! O_o
In the end, all that I was left with that was still edible was the Asian slaw.....a very costly salad at RM38 (RM28 in my case since there was a 25% discount)!! T_T
Conclusion:
Meal 2 was, unfortunately, a recipe for disaster! T_T
The Positives:
1) The portion of vegetables were more than enough for 2 persons (I only used half the vegetables).
2) The pre-prepared salad dressing and spicy sauce (for the croquettes) were nicely done.
The Negatives:
What else! The croquette mixture, of course! I think the croquette mixture failed 'big time' because tofu was in the mix. Tofu, as we all know, has a very high water content and the mixture was probably compromised in its packed form (and the tofu could have leaked water from the time it was packed to the time it reached the consumers). Also, the ratio of tofu to potato wasn't right to begin with, making it too wet and mushy in the first place. It baffles me as to how this recipe could have passed testing and quality control. What they really need to do is get someone independent (not the chef who created the recipe) to not only test it out...but test it out in the same conditions as a would-be consumer would do before rolling the recipe out.
Up next.....final Meal 3!
The Ingredients:
The Recipe:
The Prep Needed:
Julienne the vegetables (carrots, cabbage, jicama, tomato and spring onion) into thin strips. You'd need a bit of knife skills to pull this off successfully (mine wasn't that finely cut).
The Cooking:
The recipe card described it as a cross between a croquette and a bergedil (a kind of Malaysian deep fried potato patty) that's moist on the inside, golden on the outside...but it was nothing remotely close! O_o
Conclusion:
Meal 2 was, unfortunately, a recipe for disaster! T_T
The Positives:
1) The portion of vegetables were more than enough for 2 persons (I only used half the vegetables).
2) The pre-prepared salad dressing and spicy sauce (for the croquettes) were nicely done.
The Negatives:
What else! The croquette mixture, of course! I think the croquette mixture failed 'big time' because tofu was in the mix. Tofu, as we all know, has a very high water content and the mixture was probably compromised in its packed form (and the tofu could have leaked water from the time it was packed to the time it reached the consumers). Also, the ratio of tofu to potato wasn't right to begin with, making it too wet and mushy in the first place. It baffles me as to how this recipe could have passed testing and quality control. What they really need to do is get someone independent (not the chef who created the recipe) to not only test it out...but test it out in the same conditions as a would-be consumer would do before rolling the recipe out.
Up next.....final Meal 3!
Maybe add in some flour can make the batter firmer?
ReplyDeleteThe texture was so gummy, I don't think adding flour would have made any difference :'(
DeleteYikes... I hope this one doesn't make it to guys who were out to impress girls with their "cooking prowess"....
ReplyDeleteI hope so too....but, then again, it could have worked in his favour as the girl could be sympathetic towards him after his failed attempt? Hee...hee! :D
DeleteOh dear! I guess this one wasn't kitchen tested by the Urban Stove team. Or they tested it after the mixture was freshly made and did not foresee that it would become mush when stored. I guess, now we know which meal to avoid.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree...I think this one was not properly kitchen tested.
DeleteInedible!? That's horrible with the uncooked flour. I guess you could modify the recipe yourself to make it edible before cooking it (add more potato or make it thinner to ensure the flour is cooked) but that would defeat the purpose of ordering from this company where you are supposed to be able to cook an edible meal just by using the method and ingredients provided. This recipe is just too much work with the coleslaw/salad. Do they allow you to pick and choose which 3 recipes that you want to include in your total package from them?
ReplyDeleteYes, they do allow us to pick the 3 recipes we want but (at times)not all the combinations would be possible. I think they need us to balance out the more expensive meals with some lesser expensive ones. Like you said, it would defeat the purpose if I were to 'edit' the recipe provided.
DeleteOh dear, sorry for your mishap. My cooking looks all too often like this. I tend to try to make everything 'healthy' so substitute ingredients and change recipes so my cooking often ends up inedible by anyone other myself. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell, at least it's edible by one person....you...and that should be good enough! ;)
Deleteooo, this sounds like a very tricky dish ... crossing my fingers that meal 3 will be a success for you!
ReplyDeleteI actually wonder if it's just me who couldn't pull this recipe off! :( Of course, at the time of writing this post, I've already cooked my meal 3, so let's see....
Delete