Tofu and Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles

When P emailed to say she was coming to visit, the first thing that went through my food obsessed brain was the weekend’s menu. She’s a vegetarian and as you know, I am married to an unmatched carnivore on this side of the planet. Most meals in our house have some form of formerly living organism (mostly meat, sometimes it’s people we don’t like). So the challenge was to create dishes that would please both of them.

Knowing this, I had two things I wanted to make: Chinese and brunch with eggs. I always imagine Chinese cuisine as one that’s the most vegetarian-friendly because of their use of tofu and vegetables in dishes. More often than not, I've seen Chinese cooks willingly substitute meat for tofu and/or vegetables. After buying tofu and broccoli, I created the vegetable stir fry with noodles idea in my head and ran with it. And I am glad I did…

Tofu and Vegetable* Stir Fry with noodles

Noodles
Following the package instructions boil the Chinese noodles. For mine, I brought a large pot of water to boil, stirred in the noodles, reduced the heat to medium and cooked them for 4 minutes. Drain and save some of the cooking liquid.

Stir Fry
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 package of firm tofu, drained and cubed
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup broccoli, cut into individual florets and steamed
1/2 cup Sugar snap peas, ends trimmed

Sauce
1/2 cup vegetable stock (homemade preferred)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Corn Starch
Red chili flakes

While the noodles are boiling, steam the broccoli in another saucepan. To save time and utensils, broccoli can be cooked in the boiling pasta water but I prefer to cook them separately.

Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a wok or a large pan on medium heat. Add cubed tofu and stir gently to coat it with oil, try to avoid breaking or shredding the tofu. The pan frying gives it a much needed firm skin (outer layer). Once it browns on one side, turn and rotate it to brown the other sides. This will take approximately 2-4 minutes.

While waiting for the tofu to brown on all sides, make the sauce by combining vegetable stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar, corn starch and red chili flakes in a separate bowl. Remove the tofu from the wok and set aside.

Increase the heat to medium high and add rest of the vegetable oil. Stir in ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in steamed broccoli, sugar snap peas (and other vegetables, if using) and cook for couple minutes. Add tofu to the wok, drained noodles and the sauce. Stir everything together so the sauce coats the vegetables, tofu and noodles. If the sauce thickens too fast or if noodles stick to the wok, add couple tablespoons of the reserved liquid. Cook for few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning using soy sauce for salt and/or red chili flakes for heat. Serve hot or warm.

*Note: Other vegetables good for this recipe are carrots, red peppers, baby corn, and mushrooms. If using additional vegetables be sure to reduce the amount of broccoli and snap peas.

The result was superb; the sautéed garlic and ginger flavors were spot on with the heat of red chili flakes. With vegetables, protein and carbohydrates, this dish is one of the better healthy, vegetarian meals that takes almost no time to prepare. (I feel like Ellie Krieger)

For medical school P has been living out of a hotel room, I have yet to figure this one out, with a microwave and a fridge. Due to lack of a proper kitchen or cooking equipment, I gave her the leftovers. The next day, I received this “could you please send me the recipe for the Chinese {food}, I was just eating it for dinner and thinking about how amazing it was again! thanks! (I could not put it down, so I just ate all of it!)” Thanks P for the rave reviews- hope you come visit again!

I guess I wasn’t the only one that liked this stir fried vegetables with noodles and tofu idea. And the carnivore deemed this a “good meat substitution meal that can be made once in a while”. I'll take that over never again.

It’s Soba time

Sundays are either eventful when I am cooking up a storm or lethargic as I am glued to the TV or web surfing. Yesterday was a busy Sunday. I started the day with my breakfast of champions, homemade granola (recipe coming soon) and milk, revised my shopping list and headed out on a shopping spree. I started at Trader Joe’s, which was busy but still manageable. Sometimes it's so crammed I get fed up and leave half way into my grocery shopping. I used to love going in there to browse and I am sad they found my little gem. Damn the TJ’s PR people! After getting most things, I headed to another grocer. There I bought pineapple, avocado, Cape Cod chips (the kettle cooked kind)- for Tuna Noodle casserole, carrots and soba noodles.

An odd combination of things, right? I used Soba and carrots for dinner that night. I love carbohydrates and when they come in a form of Japanese noodles, I love them even more. I usually make soba noodles one way, stir fried with vegetables, the only way I like them. When I recently visited a friend, she served soba noodles in a soup; it was gingery and tasty. After that meal I decided I like the noodles as a main dish, with vegetables better than in a soup.

Last night’s dinner was quick and simple. Protein can be added for a heartier version.

Soba Noodles with your favorite vegetables and protein, optional

6 ounce dried Soba Noodles
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 inch ginger, minced
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Rice wine, Mirin
1 tsp Sesame oil
Red chili flakes
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
6 ounce fresh spinach or 4 ounce frozen spinach, defrosted
Sesame seeds, toasted

Cook noodles according to package directions. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add noodles and let the water come to rolling boil. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, turn down heat and simmer 2-3 minutes. Reserve some cooked noodle liquid, drain and rinse with cold water.

While waiting for water to boil, sauté onions in vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes in a medium pan, until onions have a brownish color on them. Add garlic and ginger and cook 30 – 60 seconds. (If using, this is the time to add extra-firm tofu or chicken breast. For chicken, add to the pan, and add enough broth to cover half of the chicken in liquid. Cover and cook until chicken is almost done.) Add soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and red chili flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add carrots and spinach to the pan and mix. Finally, add cooked noodles and stir everything together. If it’s too dry, add the reserved liquid. Season with toasted sesame seeds and serve warm. Contrary to popular belief, soba noodles can be served warm.

Other vegetables that make a great apperance in this dish are eggplant, bok choy, shitake mushrooms, and broccoli.

chicken satay with noodles

When I started browsing cookbooks and blogs for recipes I had one thing in mind, I must use my chicken thighs and left over pasta. I got the idea from more bread and cheese, please blog. Thanks Charise! I love it when I come across simple recipes that are scrumptious. It was sort of like a chicken satay but with noodles. It's one of those dishes that I'll use in future for last minute go to meals.

And because we love pasta, I can never have too many pasta recipes. Thanks to Ruth for starting and hosting Presto Pasta Nights, as I am always looking for variety of pasta recipes.

I've expressed my opinion on measured cooking, I don't do it! Therefore this recipe is an approximation. Because I like my satay to have a strong peanutty flavor I add extra peanut butter and that may not be the case for you; so start with little and add more if necessary.

For the marinade:
1/4 c. Peanut butter
3 tablespoons Soy sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 teaspoons Fish sauce
2 teaspoons Sesame Oil
1 tablespoon Chili Oil
1 tablespoon Rice wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
Pinch of Salt (I omitted salt for mine because of the soy sauce and vinegar. You could too, if you’re watching your salt intake)
2 garlic cloves
Water, as a thinning agent
4 chicken thighs or breasts
Cooked long pasta, Rice works too

Use a large bowl to mix the first 9 (peanut butter through salt) ingredients. Drizzle 1/2 of the marinade over the pasta. Then add minced garlic to the marinade and combine it with the chicken. Let it sit for 15 minutes. As I say with marinades, the longer it sits the better the flavor.

On medium heat, add oil to the pan and cook the chicken on one side for 4-5 minutes, turn and let it cook for additional 4 minutes. For a crispier crust, cook the chicken on medium-high. Cover, lower heat to medium and allow the chicken to cook through for 20-25 minutes. Remove the lid, let the watery juices cook off about 5 minutes and add the pasta in the last few minutes of the cooking.

Serve warm. With a slice of lemon and chopped peanuts. Because we didn't have peanuts for the grand finale, we did without. And it worked fine. A quick and delicious recipe.

On a side note, blogspot is going through emotional issues and won't allow comments for this post. If you want, you can write them here.