Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Ginger Stir Fry

I have the easiest, tastiest, healthiest little stir fry for you today.  Fresh veggies, crispy tofu, and a little pasta, topped with golden ginger sauce.

Ingredients
(Sauce recipe from The 15-Minute Vegetarian Gourmet)
Yield: 4 servings
  • Sauce
    • 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
    • 6 tablespoons sugar
    • ¾ C water
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water
  • 6 oz pasta (I use linguine because I can never remember to buy something more suitable, like soba noodles.  And I've never used soba noodles because linguine works just fine)
  • 3 large carrots
  • ½ lb broccoli
  • 1 lb extra firm tofu, frozen, thawed, and drained
Method


Start with tofu prep.  You want to get every last drop of liquid drained out, and the best way that I've found to do this is to freeze the tofu.  When ready to use, take out of the freezer and let thaw.

Drain all of the liquid out.



Now the fun begins.  Squeeze the tofu blocks to get the liquid out.

Be firm, but don't crush or squish the tofu.

Place the squoozen tofu blocks on a cutting board.

Cut the blocks in half, lengthwise and width-wise.

Cut the halves in half.

Cut the halved-halves into triangles.

Set the triangles on a triple layer of paper towels.

Cover with another triple layer of paper towels.

Cover with another cutting board.

Grab a bunch of random canned goods out of the cupboards and weigh the tofu down.  Again, you're not out to smush it, just give it a little pressure to drain it.

Walk away for 20 minutes.  When you come back, the towels will be wet and the tofu will be dry.

Cook the pasta.

Coat the bottom of a skillet with a layer of olive oil and heat to medium.

Fry the triangles in batches for a few minutes on each side until golden.  Top off the oil as needed.

Prep the broccoli and carrots.

Chop everything into bite size pieces.  And don't limit yourself to broc and carrots just because I do.  Add in mushrooms, baby corn, bamboo shoots, anything you want.

Mix up all the sauce ingredients except the corn starch.

Mix the corn starch and one tablespoon water in a small bowl.

Bring the sauce to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

 Spoon a little sauce into the corn starch mixture.

Make sure there are no corn starch lumps in the small bowl.

Now add the corn starch into the sauce and cook a few minutes more until the sauce thickens.

Stir fry the carrots.

Bring in the other veggies and cook until tender-crisp.

Add the tofu.

Add the sauce.

Stir everything together.

Add in a little pasta and inhale.

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