Tofu with Peppers and Pecans

Hey, this is a really delicious tofu recipe. I can't remember where I modified it from, but we had it last week and really enjoyed it. Dad served one of his home-grown salads with it.

Tofu with Peppers and Pecans

1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vermouth or sherry
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice or rice vinegar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Red pepper flakes to taste
¾ cup vegetable broth

Mix above ingredients for seasoning sauce and set aside.

Prepare 1 tub firm tofu and set aside (cut into slices, drain, pat dry, brush lightly with oil, and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes per side.) Cut into strips or cubes.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 red, green, or yellow bell peppers, cut in strips
4 green onions, cut in 1-inch diagonals
¾ cup pecan halves

Sauté peppers and green onions in oil for 2 minutes. Add pecans and sauté 2 minutes more. Add seasoning sauce and stir until boiling and thickened. Stir in tofu and heat. Serve with rice.

Back to the Stove

I cooked last night, Manhattan in hand, and felt immeasurably better.

I made a vaguely Thai stir fry of pork, tofu, onion, garlic, purple cabbage from the garden, red bell pepper, green beans, cilantro, and rice noodles. I marinated the pork first in sugar and fish sauce. For sauce I used a blend of fish sauce, chile-garlic paste, and water. Not bad. The whole thing was slightly greasy, but at least it was homemade and home-chopped and very therapeutic to make.

I don't know how it got to be late December. Fortunately, I get to spend the next week cooking. Should be fun. A buche de Noël, lemon meringue pie, tamales, huevos rancheros, Anasazi beans...I'll keep you posted.

Thai Pork and Tofu Stir Fry

My stir frying is getting better, bit by bit. Again I used the largest skillet we have instead of the wok because of our stupid smooth-topped stove. The skillet allows for much more surface contact with the stove. However, the skillet is well-seasoned, but not as perfectly as the wok, so unfortunately I think I use more oil with it than I would with a wok. The larger base makes for more oil, too. But it's still a better option for getting a hot, hot pan and maneuvering it on and off the heat.

This was not a super-official recipe, just a combination of a Mai Pham recipe and things from a few other Thai cookbooks.

I marinated some pork chunks in lime juice, fish sauce, and lime zest. I used rib meat but removed most of the fat.

I sliced the tofu, sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray, and baked the pieces at 400 for about 15 minutes, then sprinkled it with a little shoyu. I could have stir-fried it, too, but I wanted that toasty dryness it gets from being baked -- I thought that would soak up the stir-fry flavors better.

I heated peanut oil until it smoked and stir-fried the pork, then removed it.

I then stir-fried a Vidalia onion cut into rings, several Thai and one Japanese eggplant from the garden, assorted fresh red garden chiles of varying degrees of heat, one clove of garlic, and about 1/2 cup of Thai basil. (I prepped all this beforehand, of course.)

I added half a standard package of rice noodles, which had been soaking in hot water for half an hour before I drained them and gave them a minute or two to dry. Those noodles really, really wanted to stick to the skillet, but I added a little more oil and stirred well. Not letting up here was important: those noodles have to be chewy, chewy, chewy or there's no point in stir-frying rice noodles.

Toward the end I added the pork and tofu, poured in a sauce made of fish sauce, shoyu, and sugar, and tossed in another 1/2 cup of Thai basil. Because it wasn't picante enough, I added some dried red pepper flakes, too.

It was delicious, but it can be much better. I'll keep working.

Tofu Salad

While laughing ice tea out my nostrils over your potato salad post, I had a flashback about a salad I used to make in Colorado twenty years ago. It was from a Sunset cookbook, and I couldn't find the recipe anywhere. Fortunately, Google to the rescue, and here it is: Shanghai Tofu and Peanut Salad.

I remember having my cousin Mary Ann and her husband Paul over for dinner and serving this. They were conservative eaters, but lovely and very funny people. He frowned when tofu was mentioned. He ate it, though, and smiled, and said, "This isn't as bad as I thought it would be."

This looks complicated, but really I just bake the tofu and marinate it during the day, and then add the rest of the ingredients at serving time. And don't get sidetracked by the limp parboiled bean sprouts--what a lousy idea--just use whatever crisp things you have around. I like snow peas, celery, water chestnuts, etc. Tonight's version had radishes, green onions, cucumbers, cilantro, and cashews instead of peanuts.

Tofu with Peppers and Pecans

This is a tasty and proteiniferous (this might be a real word, or Dad might have made it up) tofu main dish.

Tofu with Peppers and Pecans

Prepare 1 tub firm tofu and set aside (cut into slices, drain, pat dry, brush lightly with oil, and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes per side.) Cut into strips or cubes.

1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vermouth or sherry
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice or rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sambal or some red pepper flakes
¾ cup vegetable broth

Mix above ingredients for seasoning sauce and set aside.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 red, green, or yellow bell peppers, cut in strips
4 green onions, cut in 1-inch diagonals
¾ cup pecan halves

Sauté peppers and green onions in oil for 2 minutes. Add pecans and sauté 2 minutes more. Add seasoning sauce and stir until boiling and thickened. Stir in tofu and heat. Serve with rice.

Tofu

Tonight, tofu with spicy Indonesian sauce. I made this up years ago. This baking process is my usual way of prepping tofu for recipes.

Tofu with Spicy Indonesian Sauce
1 block tofu
Vegetable oil

Slice tofu 1/2 inch thick, drain well, and pat dry. Brush both sides of slices lightly with vegetable oil and place on baking sheet. Bake at 400º until golden and firm, about 15 minutes per side.

1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons fresh or pickled jalapeños
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon molasses
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Mix next ingredients in blender or food processor to make a smooth dressing. Set aside.

Bean sprouts or chopped lettuce
Chopped peanuts
Green onions
Cilantro or mint

Arrange tofu on a bed of lettuce or bean sprouts; pour dressing over slices and garnish with peanuts, green onions, or cilantro. Serve at room temperature.