TracyFood

Recipe: Tofu Stir-Fry With Asian-Flavored Bok Choi 29 May 2007 10:07 pm

Posted by Tracy in : CSA, cooking, eating, recipes, vegan, vegetarian , trackback

So this dish is really just a slight variation on last week’s Braised Bok Choi With Asian Flavors, namely, the same recipe, only now with the welcome addition of crispy fried tofu! You see, tonight I noticed we had a pound of Surata firm tofu that needed to be used up for expiration date-type reasons, and on Saturday Groundwork Organics gave us bok choi in our CSA box for the week, which on top of the last of that beautiful Urban Farm bok choi made for kind of a huge pile of greens, and the rest is deliciousness.

What You Do

Follow the instructions at Braised Bok Choi With Asian Flavors only your first step should be:

Cut a pound of tofu into roughly 1×1x1/2-inch squares, and put these to drain on a paper towel while you start the rice, assemble the marinade, and prepare the rest of the ingredients (mince garlic and ginger, chop bok choi into bite-size pieces, keeping white and green parts separate).

and instead of starting the recipe by frying the garlic and ginger, first fry the tofu in a single layer, turning after a few minutes when the tofu is a beautiful golden brown (just turn one piece over to see if it’s done and put it back if it needs to cook awhile longer). Once the tofu is done, push it to the side and fry the garlic and ginger, then the white parts of the bok choi, then the greens, and then sauce it all together with the marinade, just like in the other recipe. Your final product will be less saucy than the braise, because tofu is heck of absorbent, and that’s a good thing because while frying gives it texture, the marinade gives it taste. Aw, yeah.

Tonight I spiced up the stir-fry sauce with a little squirt of Sriracha hot sauce, and was quite pleased with the results. I’d say adding the tofu takes an additional minute of prep time, tops, and maybe another five minutes of cooking time, but it is also good for an additional two or three servings (especially if you cook extra rice), but you could also reduce the amount of greens a bit if for some mysterious reason you’re not looking to make a huge amount of delicious food.