Thai Sweet Potato Noodle Bowls

This recipe had me at sweet potatoes.  And then I found out about the almond butter and coconut milk and was on my way to the store for the ingredients faster than you can say obsession.

Teriyaki Tofu Bowls

Picking up from where we left off last time, the end of the 10 week grad school marathon of this summer is in sight.  With a few days left to go, it's time for part 2 of our series on portable/no reheating/minimal refrigeration dinners.  Rice noodles, crisp veggies, and succulent tofu bites in teriyaki sauce fit the bill perfectly.

Ingredients
(Recipe adapted from Veggie Belly)
Yield: 3 servings

• Tofu and Teriyaki Sauce:
• 16 oz extra firm tofu
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• Rice Noodles
• 3 oz rice noodles
• ½ cup carrots
• ½ cup cucumber
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• ½ teaspoon dried chili flakes 

Method

Drain tofu and cut into 1" slices.

 Half the slices.

Cover the tofu slices with a triple layer of paper towels on each side.

Place a cutting board on top and weigh the tofu down with whatever assorted canned goods you may have on hand.  The goal is not to smush the tofu, just to add a little weight to drain it.  Walk away for about 20 minutes, during which time the tofu will get try and the paper towels will get wet.

This is the first year I planted cucumbers and it will not be the last.  Garden fresh is the way to go.

Slice the carrot and cucumber into thin slices.

Pan fry the tofu.  Heat a layer of oil (not much, maybe 2 tablespoons?) on medium until the skillet gets fairly hot.  Fry for a few minutes on both sides until brown and crispy.  Work in batches according to your skillet size, topping off the oil as needed.

Place on paper towels to drain.

Meanwhile, assemble the sauce ingredients.

Heat the sauce to boiling and let simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat.

Place the tofu in a small bowl and pour in the sauce.

Add the rice noodles to hot water and let sit for a minute or two until they soften.

Drain them.

Toss in the sesame oil, rice vinegar, and red pepper flakes.

Assemble the bowls.  There will be a lot of teriyaki sauce left over.  Add a few spoonfuls to each dish and discard the rest.

And sit back and enjoy the zen.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

Summer 2013 will live in memory as the summer I decided to take 12 graduate credit hours and lost my mind.  Not the least of my problems is the issue of meals.  My degree program is ranked 34th nationally but does not include a student microwave.  I went in search of portable cold dinners, things that are on the light side, safe to be away from the refrigerator for a few hours, and of course, utterly delicious. 

Spicy peanut noodles are a wonderful thing.  They are good hot, they are good cold, and they are good at all temperatures in between. I've chosen an all veggie version to cope with my lack of refrigeration, but chicken or especially shrimp would be a great addition to the awesomeness.

Ingredients
(Adapted from The 15-Minute Vegetarian Gourmet)

• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• Red pepper flakes to taste
• Sriracha sauce to taste
• 8 oz pasta, such as linguine
• 4 cups chopped vegetables

Method

Chop up a bunch of your favorite vegetables into bite sized pieces.  That's "a bunch" of broccoli, two carrots, and half a red pepper, resulting in four cups of raw vegetables.

Lightly steam anything that needs it.  I didn't steam the red pepper, since the heat from the broc, carrots, and pasta is all that it needs to cook.  And if you're not familiar with the concept of steaming, it's a fancy way of saying to put the veggies in a covered bowl and run them through the fresh vegetable setting on your microwave.  Err on the side of under cooking, especially if you plan on eating the leftovers.

Cook the pasta.  I broke all of the noodles in half for ease of eating.

Dice the garlic.

Prepare the sauce.  I greased the measuring cup with cooking spray so that the peanut butter would just slide out instead of having to work for it.

Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together, adding red pepper flakes and a splash of Sriracha.

 Toss the cooked noodles with the steamed veggies.

Add sauce.

Toss the sauce to coat the pasta and veggies.

Package in serving containers for the long nights away from home that lie ahead.

 And console yourself that this too shall pass.

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.