Vegetable and Tofu Stir Fry

I told Noah that I wouldn't post anything else until he cooked more, but this has been sitting as a draft long enough.  I got tired of waiting so I decided to post something.

When I think easy food made out of what you can find in the fridge, I think stir fry.  It is basically the perfect college food.  It only takes one pan, its relatively fast, and it is much healthier than ramen or easy mac.  Stir fry is probably one of the first dishes I cooked by myself.  The rest of my family wasn't a huge fan but I always liked it growing up.  We would keep cans of bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and baby corn around and whip up a stir fry with what ever vegetables we had.  A good stir fry is still an excellent meal though.  This stir fry happened to be made with tofu, an assortment of vegetables, and a combination sauces and seasonings that I had around.  It is a good idea to develop the technique and find a sauce and spice combination you enjoy as a method for using up any vegetables you have lying around.

Vegetable and Tofu Stir Fry

• I package of firm tofu
• 2 heads of broccoli
• 4 carrots
• 1 pound snow peas
• 1/2 pound mushrooms
• 2 green onions
• vegetable oil
• red pepper flakes
• ground ginger
• soy sauce
• rice vinegar
• sesame oil
• oyster sauce
• honey

(Other options for the sauce include fresh ginger, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, garlic, etc.)

Directions:

Cut the tofu in to bite size pieces about 1/4 of an inch thick.  In a frying pan, heat vegetable oil with a bit of soy sauce and red pepper flakes.  Fry tofu pieces until they are browned on both sides.  When they are done, remove from pan and place on paper towels.

In the meantime chop your vegetables.  In your pan, heat a bit of oil, add 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and green onions.  Stir in vegetables and cook for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime make your sauce.  Mine consisted of about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger.  You can, however, modify this sauce to your own tastes or what you have in your kitchen.

Mix the tofu and the sauce in to the vegetables and cook until the vegetables are done to your liking.

- Sophie