Stir Fry

Ok, just between you and me.....it's tofu night!! Tofu stir fry to be exact! I meant to do this night a week or two ago and never got around to it. And then I would go to the grocery store, see a protein on sale and use it instead. Well enough is enough. Tonight is the night to make tofu!! I found a recipe in Cooking Light for a vegetarian stir fry. Although they used a different protein called tempeh in theirs. So I got it all together an started inacting my devious plot!!

So I went with the firm tofu instead of extra firm. Don't really know why.....guess that is what I was feeling like when I bought it. And then I cut it into strips  instead of cubes. I was hoping it would integrate into the stir fry better than big cubes.

Peanut Sauce:
1/4c water
1T brown sugar
3T peanut butter
1t Sriracha (asian hot sauce)
1t soy sauce

*I doubled because I like more sauce*

Combine ingredients and stir well with a whisk to unclump the peanut butter. This may take several minutes to get it all incorporated. Set aside.

So what is Sriracha??  It is a lovely hot sauce for cooking Asian foods. If you do not want to buy this, you can probably substitute you favorite red hot sauce (I would recommend Louisianna).

Stir Fry:
2t brown sugar
5t soy sauce
1t Sriracha
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1T plus 2t sesame oil, divided
8oz tofu, cubed or stripped
2c thinly sliced carrot
1c red bell pepper, cut in strips
1lb green beans, trimmed
1/2c water
3/4c thinly sliced green onions
6oz bean sprouts

*Again I doubled the dtir fry sauce*
Combine sugar, soy sauce, Sriracha, and garlic in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add 1T sesame oil. Add tofu and half of the soy sauce mixture. Stir-fry for 5 minutes or until tofu is browned. Remove tofu from the pan and keep warm.

Add remaining 2t sesame oil to the pan. Add carrot, bell pepper, and green beans to pan; stir fry 3 minutes. Add 1/2c water; reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until the beans are tender-crisp. Stir in remaining soy sauce mixture, sofu, half of the green onions, and bean sprouts, cook for 2 minutes until the sprouts are tender.

Serve the stir fry mixture with the peanut sauce and rest of the green onions. Can serve over rice or noodles. If using creamy peanut butter, I suggest added some crushed peanuts on top.

I served mine with rice. I wish I had some Asian noodles though, I think it would have tasted better. I also added some yellow peppers for some more color. Over all the dish turned out really well. Alex knew I was making tofu so it did not go over so well. I was hoping by stripping the tofu it would get browner and crispier. I do not think I had the heat up high enough though. While the tofu had excellent Asian flavor, it was not all that crispy. It was slightly mushy when eaten by itself. Alex said he could tell when he got a piece of tofu in his dish though and he picked it all out. I could not always tell. I think the consistency of the tofu was about the same as the rice. So it blended right in for me.

I think that with Alex it was a mind issue. And I am not faulting him here, I have my own mind issues with food. But I think he already had it in his head he did not like tofu, and could not change his mind so that when he tasted it his mind already shut it down before he really had a chance to see if he liked it. And that is fine. All I asked of him was that he try the tofu with an open mind. He said the flavors were fine, but the texture of the tofu was not something he could deal with. But the rest of the dish was really tasty. I even got enough heat into the peanut sauce. There are too many peanut sauce recipes out there that have the peanut sauce too sweet for our tastes. So I made sure and add a little more Sriracha than it called for. This definitely heated the dish up nicely. But the star of the dish for me was the green beans. I do not think about green beans in stir fry's but man was it tasty! It gave the dish a lovely crunch aspect. But make sure you do not overcook the beans. Otherwise the effect is lost!! This means the beans need to be crispy without being raw. When they get too mushy, they are overcooked and completely brown. Not a good thing!!

So I think the dish turned out nicely. I will make it again. Although I will probably not use the tofu. I shall spare Alex. Maybe a little chicken or maybe I will just keep it vegetable. Its all good!