Tofu Stir Fry with Soy Lime Sauce

I was travelling out of town last weekend, and a friend let me crash at his place. To thank him, I offered to cook dinner. He had a very nice garden, with fresh vegetables available. I grabbed a butternut squash, a zucchini, and an egg plant. He also had a Kaffir lime tree growing in the back yard.

For protein, there was some firm tofu. I made a marinade for the tofu from Kaffir lime juice, soy sauce, honey, lime zest, white pepper, garlic, allspice, and mixed hot pepper flakes. I cubed the tofu, then poured the marinade over it.

While the tofu marinaded, I prepared the vegetables. I made batonettes ( long square sticks) from the butternut squash and the eggplant. I cut one half of a red onion in thin slices. I cut the zucchini in half, then into thin slices.

My friend didn't have rice, but he did have rice noodles. These worked fine to suck up the sauce from the stir fry. They boil pretty quickly.

Tofu Stir Fry with Soy Lime

for the marinade:

juice of four Kaffir limes
zest of one Kaffir lime
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp.  pepper flakes

for the stir fry:

1 lb. firm tofu, drained and cut into 3/4" cubes
1 1/2 cups butternut squash battonettes
1 1/2 cups thin zucchini slices
1 cup eggplant batonettes
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
4 Tbsp. canola oil
2 tsp. cornstarch

Mix together lime juice, soy sauce, honey, garlic, lime zest, white pepper, allspice, and pepper flakes. Pour over tofu cubes, let stand for at least 15 minutes.

Remove tofu from marinade. In a wok over very high heat, add 2 Tbsp. canola oil. Add tofu, stir fry until lightly brown. Remove from pan, set aside.

Add more oil. Add onion, cook until lightly caramelized.  Add butternut squash. Cook until lightly browned, and about half cooked. Add zucchini. Cook another two minutes, add eggplant. Cook briefly. Return tofu to pan.

Whisk cornstarch into marinade. Add to pan. Cook until sauce is thickened.

Serve over rice noodles.