Martha Rose Shulman

Two years ago I bought a book called "The Instinct Diet," This book was all about trying to change your cravings from eating unhealthy food to eating stuff that is better for you. The best part of that book isn't really the diet portion but more the recipe portion. There are some pretty good recipes in that book.

Last year I bought "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," by Julia Child. I learned a lot from that book. I learned how to make cakes from scratch. It's a pretty fantastic feeling to make a cake from scratch.

About a month ago I was reading the New York Times, and I noticed a recipe section in "The Well." The recipes are all by a lady named Martha Rose Shulman. I found out that she and The New York Times published a cookbook called "The Best Recipes for Health." I got that book last week. I haven't tried many recipes from it, but a notable dinner that I had last week was "Sweet and Sour Cabbage, with Tofu."

Basically you make a sauce out of rice wine vinegar and sugar. Then you fry some tofu to the point where it gets a skin and then fry it in soy sauce for a little while longer. Then you take the tofu out of the pan and fry an onion, a scallion and some garlic. Then you fry the cabbage and add the sauce. Fry the cabbage until it wilts a bit and then put the tofu back in. Taste it a bit to see if it needs a little more soy sauce.

I made this last Wednesday. I didn't execute very well on the tofu, but the rest of the dish was simply splendid.

In the book, Shulman recommends serving it over Bulgar wheat. I have small bag of bulgar wheat that I'm a bit scared to try to cook, so instead I just cooked up a medly of rice, brown rice, barley, Chinese millet, black beans, sticky rice, and brown sticky rice in the rice cooker. The dish is indeed sweet and sour, and the soy infused tofu adds a nice salty kick. Good stuff. Good for vegetarians.