Spicy Tofu Stir-Fry

Tonight was the VP debate, which I’ve really been looking forward to, so I wanted to make something that would be fun to eat with minimal clean-up so that I could settle down and enjoy the show. T requested “anything with lots of vegetable”, so I decided to come up with a vegetarian stir-fry (I’ve been craving fried rice).

I’d never cooked with tofu before, so I went to KERF for some instructions on how to prepare it. I used MoriNu Silken Firm tofu, per Kath’s instructions, that I found at Health Nuts on 2^nd Ave. Here’s how it went down:

Prepare Tofu:

• Cut tofu into uniform slices (1/2” thick)
• Place tofu slices between papertowls or a dishtowel and weight down with a heavy book or pan for about 20 minutes
  • This gets the water out so that it will be able to absorb more of the marinade
• Dice tofu and soak in marinade

…while the tofu was being pressed, I made a marinade for the tofu and assembled my ingredients. Below are the recipes:

Marinade for Tofu:

• ½ tsp red chili paste
• splash red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ¼ tsp ginger powder
• sprinkle salt & pepper

Fried Rice:

• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 cup frozen peas & carrots (thawed)
• 1 egg + 1 egg white (T said he would’ve preferred more egg)

Stir-Fry:

• 2 cups diced broccoli (blanched in hot water)
• 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced thin
• 1 8oz. can bamboo slices, drained

Stir-Fry Sauce:

• 1 tbsp chopped unsalted peanuts
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp Tamari sauce
• 1 tsp red chili paste
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• dash black pepper

About half-way through all of this I threw the marinated tofu in the oven to bake at 425 for about 20 minutes. First I had it at 325, but nothing was happening . Tofu about to go into the oven:

The way I like to put this all together is assemble all the ingredients first because this cooks FAST! First I turn a pan on high with about ½-1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or any other light tasting oil). Next I add the eggs, scrambling them a little first and then I pour in the cooked, drained rice, peas & carrots. I stir this around a little and lower the meat to medium high. I let this sit for a few minutes while I star the stir-fry because I like when some of the rice gets crunchy.

Next I turn my burner on high and put on the wok with another ½ tbsp grapeseed oil. I threw in the peanuts first by themselves for a couple seconds and then threw in all the veggies. I let this cook for only about 2-4 minutes and then threw in the sauce and mixed it around. At the very last minute I took the tofu out of the oven and threw that in too. Cooking time will vary depending on how big you cut the veggies, but be careful not to cook for too long!!

I think next time I’ll cut veggies smaller and add more eggs to the fried rice, but it tasted delicious anyway!  Here’s the finished product: