This is not a stir-fry
Posted by kathryn in Vegan, Dinners and Legumes
A while ago I blogged about how small impediments can stop us from eating well and why I never cook stir frys.
I love eating them. They’re quick, tasty and healthy. You can add in lots and lots of vegetables, change around the flavours, use some low fat protein. What’s not to like?
Instead I don’t cook stir frys because I hate cleaning the wok afterwards.
So this meal is what I make instead. It has many of the elements of a stir fry, but without the actual wok usage. Since my small impediments post, this has become one of the most common meals I make. And as with almost everything I cook, it’s very flexible.
Notes on the recipe
- I use whatever vegetables are in the house. In this version I’ve added carrot, fennel and pak choy. But it could just as easily be zucchini, snowpeas, spinach, daikon, capsicum, onion – anything that cooks quickly.
- You could use meat or prawns, instead of tofu.
- The impact of this dish is in the dressing. It’s tangy, salty and has plenty of oomph and flavour. I often tweak it, depending on what’s in the house. Fish sauce, lime juice, tahini, fresh chillies, even mustard are regular additions.
- Usually I cook the tofu on a stove-top grill plate but a non-stick frying pan would do just as well. I also use Hippolyra’s method of oven baking tofu if I have time.
- I find I don’t need to use any extra oil, when cooking the tofu on a grill plate – but you may need some.
Not a stir fry: tofu & vegetables
Serves 2
- 300g tofu
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- About 400g vegetables – in this version I used 1 carrot, 2 heads of pak choy and 1/2 fennel bulb
- Canola oil for cooking the tofu (optional)
Dressing
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons shoyu
- 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon honey or agave nectar
Prep the tofu: Cut the tofu into 0.5 cm thick slices. Sprinkle the sesame seeds onto a plate and press the tofu slices into the seeds, so they’re all coated with a smattering of seeds.
Prep the vegetables: Cut the vegetables into thin pieces. The kind of size you’d use in stir frying. I julienned the carrots and sliced the fennel into strips about 0.5cm thick. I cut the end off the pak choy bunch and left the leaves whole.
Make the dressing: Whisk together the dressing ingredients.
Cook the tofu: Put a grill plate on a medium heat and add the oil if using. Place the tofu slices on the plate and cook for 3 – 4 minutes on each side, until crispy and golden. The seeds may start to manically pop at the end, but don’t let this put you off.
Steam the vegetables: While the tofu is cooking, put the vegetables on to steam. I only cook them for a few minutes, as I like them a bit under-done and crunchy. I added the carrot and fennel first. Then the pak choy after 2 minutes and continued cooking for another 2 minutes.
To serve: Divide the vegetables between 2 plates and top with tofu. Drizzle over the dressing and serve immediately.
A Legume Love Affair
I don’t usually blog on the weekend, but this is an eleventh hour entry for My Legume Love Affair. The The Well Seasoned Cook’s monthly event, this time hosted by Lucy.
27 September, 2008
Comments
Hi Kathryn,
Love tofu. I guess I am the opposite, I love stir-fries, esp since I bought a very good non-stick wok. It is just so easy to wash, nothing sticks on it!
Hope that you are having a nice weekend – stay cool today, it’s gonna be a hot one!
Nora
Yes, well, my wok gets rusty if I even think about taking that damn thing out of the cupboard…I swear it knows I have little patience for it, but then it does have the added virtue of looking Very Good in photos. Tease…
This is great – and you KNOW how I feel about fennel. And tofu.
Thanks so much, darls, for your fabulous entry. Like a wokking 101 for the wok-fearful!
I no longer have a wok – miss it sometimes but have just not been doing much with stir fries lately and when I tried one a couple of weeks ago I found one of the impediments was that I was so out of practice it didn’t work well at all. Your method would work much better for me – will have to try it
If the wok is too hard to clean, ur doin it rong! The key to good wok cooking is very high heat, so if you have an electric cooktop it can be hard. But for those hardy souls ;)
- heat the wok up on max heat until it smokes
- add a Tbsp or two of oil and heat until it smokes
- when you’re done cooking, clean it under running water with a nylon scrubby thing (which is sacrilege to some wok purists)
I’m surprised by your comments about your wok! Mine (along with my bamboo steamer) is my best friend. I think they’re really quick to clean, especially if you season them every second or third use.
I love tofu on my grill pate too – no oil required! And the crispy grill marks add so much flavour.
There must be something in the air. Tofu’s very popular these days. I think it’s Lucy’s doing.
This looks so light, simple and tempting that I would be happy to make it with whatever cookware I have on hand.
I have a proper cast iron wok and I don’t have any problems cleaning it. It needs to be washed and dried the same night but since nothing ever sticks to it, this is not a problem. The reason nothing sticks to it is because I always dry it off on the stove and then rub oil into it. It doesn’t take long but you do have to be disciplined about doing it every time and not leaving it to the morning.
Love the sound of your dressing Kathryn. I must try doing a stir-fry this way round as I need to brush up on my steaming skills (I’m not very good at getting lots of things ready for the same time yet).
I use a deep non stick casserole type pan to stir fry. It has loads of room for stir-frying and virtually only needs a wipe to clean
By the way, non-stick woks are a very bad idea. Teflon is a health risk (there’s a big class action suit going on at the moment) so most types of non-stick pans are not a great idea.
It’s even worse with a wok because the whole point of a wok is that you heat it to an extremely high temperature for rapid cooking. You can’t do this with a non-stick wok because high temperatures destroy the non-stick surfaces.
Thanks for all your comments. I’m perfectly willing to accept I’m doing something wrong in my wok usage and thanks for all your tips. I’m sure there is a way of using the wok, without causing an off-putting cleaning mess.
But I suspect that takes more discipline than I have and falls into the category of things I should do.
However I’m quite happy with my no-stir-fry solution – it’s a much more realistic meal for me.
I just can’t get enough of stir fries. And then I leave the wok cleaning to the hubby… hah! This looks lovely actually, I might give it a try one evening.
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