I’ve not often cooked with Tofu, not because I don’t like it but because I really didn’t know what to do with it. After doing a fair bit of research, I realised it is actually pretty easy and the beauty of Tofu is that it really sucks up flavour. There is a little bit of a technique to cooking it, if you don’t want it to resemble scrambled eggs. The trick is to get as much moisture as you can out of it by wrapping it in a tea towel, placing it between two plates and popping a couple of cans on top. You leave it for 20 minutes and then it slices up into nice firm little cubes, perfect for stir frying. A simple sauce, loads of Asian style veggies, a few crunchy cashews and some brown rice and you have a perfect, healthy vegetarian meal that the whole family will love.
Prep time: 20 Minutes + 20 Minutes to firm up the tofu Cooking time: 20 Minutes $$ Medium budget
Serves 4
Peanut oil for frying (or any other low smoke point oil)
300gm of firm tofu, cut into cubes
3cm piece of ginger, grated
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tbs of good honey
1/2 cup of light soy sauce
2 tbs of oyster sauce
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
2 tsp of corn flour
1/4 cup of cold water
1 punnet of shiitake mushrooms, sliced
4 spring onions, sliced into inch long batons
200gm of snow peas, tops removed and sliced diagonally
1 bunch of baby choy sum, washed thoroughly and sliced into batons
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 cup of coriander leaves
1 long red chilli, finely sliced
A handful of toasted cashews
1 spring onion, finely sliced diagonally for garnish
Brown or white rice to serve
Place the ginger, garlic, soy, honey, oyster sauce & rice wine vinegar in a mixing jug and microwave it for 20-30 seconds to allow the honey to dissolve. Give it a good stir and set aside to cool. Mix the cornflour with the water to make a slurry and when the marinade is cool, mix it in.
Heat a large wok or pan and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. Fry the tofu, in batches until nice and golden on all sides. Remove it from the pan and drain on a plate with paper towel. Add a little more oil if needed and fry the shiitake mushrooms for a couple of minutes before adding the spring onion, 1/2 of the chilli and the snow peas. Stir continuously and when the veggies are just starting to change colour pop the tofu back in the wok along with the choy sum and carrot. Toss to combine over a nice high heat and then pour in the sauce. Keep stirring and tossing the ingredients until the sauce has thickened and everything is just cooked through. The secret to a good stir fry is to not over cook the vegetables, you want them to be bright and colourful and still a little crunchy. Just before serving stir through two thirds of the coriander leaves and the cashews.
To serve, divide rice between four serving plates and top with the stir fry. Garnish with the remaining chilli slices, coriander and spring onion.