Asian polenta bowl

Totally invented this one as I went along. I know it looks messy and weird, maybe I'll recreate it properly another day. But all you need to know is that it's delicious and I'm going to make this regularly.

Its basically vegetarian except for the dashi stock powder I use for the polenta. You can easily change this over for vegetable stock. If you're happy with the dashi, you can also add grilled prawns, squid or any other seafood. I promise its worth it.

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Polenta

500ml water

1 sachet dashi powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup polenta (or more as needed)

1 carrot, finely chopped

4 shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped

1 spring onion, finely chopped.

Toppings

100g firm tofu, diced

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp mirin

2 tsp sesame sauce

1 cup baby spinach, chopped

2cm fresh ginger, cut into matchsticks

4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp sesame seeds.

1 pinch chili flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil spray

Method

1. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, add the dashi stock and a pinch of salt. Once boiling, add in your finely chopped shiitake, spring onion and carrots, and lower to a simmer.

2. While the stock is cooking, prepare your other ingredients.

3. In a bowl mix the tofu, soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil and mirin together. Let sit.

4. Spray a saucepan with the olive oil and flash fry the baby spinach with the ginger, season with salt and pepper, then set aside.

5. Toast the sesame seeds then add in the shiitake mushrooms. Fry on high heat adding salt then a few drops of sesame oil in at the end once cooked. Set aside.

6. While the sauce pan is still hot, add in the tofu mixture, with the sauce and let it sizzle until browned on all sides. Set aside.

7. Finally, once the vegetables in the stock pot are rolling with the bubbles, add in the polenta, stirring continuously until it thickens and cooks.

8. Spoon the polenta in a bowl, adding the toppings on top next to each other.

9. Give a final drizzle of sesame oil and a pinch of chili flakes.

Notes

• If you have any pickled vegetables in the fridge, add those on top too, would be delicious to break the flavors.

• You can use any stock, or none at all and just go with a simple polenta.

• Prawns work best as alternatives for tofu.