hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated actually decent vegetarian recipes with a pantry friendly rice noodle stir fry that I love to whip up when…I honestly just don’t feel like cooking. We’ve all had those moments, right? For those new to the channel, in this series we’ve been working on addressing the fact that the “vegetarian” recipes that I come across (particularly those using tofu) are frequently adaptations of meat based recipes that use tofu as a meat substitute, which never works, cause tofu is not anything like chicken. It has a different texture, a different moisture content, different amounts of fat, i could go on.
So! For our stir fry today, we’re gonna take a look at the tragically misunderstood ingredient known as firm tofu, and dive into how to use a shallow fry and dry seasoning to impart flavor and texture to…a bunch of soy beans, pressed together into a block. To go along with this, we’re also gonna take a look at these dried rice noodles which you will likely have seen me use pretty often, since they are incredibly pantry stable, and very useful to keep on hand for that weird Wednesday evening when you just worked a 14 hour shift and you really just want food to appear in front of you. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
3 Thai chiles
2 heads broccoli
4 oz bean sprouts
1 lb firm tofu
3 eggs
14 oz dry rice noodles
onion powder
chili powder
garlic powder
kosher salt
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tbsp sambal oelek
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
SLICE the Thai chile, set aside
SLICE the broccoli into long spears, set aside
LARGE DICE the tofu, then press dry with a paper towel and set aside
WHISK the eggs to combine, set aside
REHYDRATE the noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes, then strain and set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok over medium, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the tofu and sear for 3-4 minutes per side until golden, then remove to a large mixing bowl and dry season with onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, and kosher salt
REHEAT the wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the broccoli and saute for 2-3 minutes, then shift the broccoli to one side and add the garlic, ginger, and Thai chiles to the wok surface, then saute until fragrant for 15 seconds
ADD the bean sprouts, noodles, and tofu back to the wok, then toss to combine
ADD the sauce mixture to the center of the wok and toss to combine
ADD the eggs around the sides of the wok then let set for 30 seconds and toss to combine