Monday, March 10, 2008
Tofu is good when cooked right. I just never attempt to substitute it for a meat preparation. Crap like tofu dogs or tofu chili sound ridiculous and do not treat this product with the respect it deserves. I usually buy the soft tofu for almost any preparation. I love its smooth silky texture and custard like consistency.
This time they were out of soft tofu, so I picked up some medium tofu (www.banyanfoods.com brand from Houston of course). First I marinated it with some Chinese 10 spice powder, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. I let it sit for some time to absorb the flavors of the marinade. Before adding it to the stir fry I fried it till lightly golden and crispy on the outside. You can always improve tofu by frying it first, but you do not need to.
The stir fry consisted of garlic, ginger and green onions as a base. To that I added some brown mushrooms, and cooked asparagus. I made the braising sauce from soy, hoisin, water and a little corn starch. I added the fried tofu during the last 2 minutes of cooking. I served it with steamed rice and some home pickled ginger.
One more note about home pickled ginger. This stuff rocks and if you have a V-Slicer or Mandolin (or if you have some time on your hands to thinly slice ginger) is amazingly easy and beats those sorry pink specimens you see at the sushi bar by a mile. This recipe is from Barbara Tropp’s ‘The China Moon Cookbook‘. Other than the ginger, all you would need is sugar, salt and vinegar. It lasts for a long time in the fridge and I always have a jar in there to add some zing to Asian dishes on the spot.