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.

Mushroom Medley Stir Fry with Sesame Rice

I recently celebrated my 50th birthday. My friends, knowing me, all gave me food related gifts. One of those gifts was a selection of Asian fresh mushrooms. I decided to use many of them in a stir fry. I used fresh shiitake, king oyster, seafood, and enoki mushrooms. The shiitake and oyster mushrooms when cooked have a very meaty texture. The enoki mushrooms have almost the texture of noodles.

I added fresh asparagus tips, and some thinly cut white onions. I wanted the sauce to really emphasize the umami of the mushrooms. It contains soy sauce, fish sauce, liquid smoke, rice wine vinegar, cinnamon, chili powder, black pepper, and corn starch.

I served it on a bed of brown rice with sesame seeds. I put 1 1/2 cups brown rice, 1/4 cup of sesame seeds, and a pinch of salt in my rice cooker with 3 cups of water.

Mushroom Medley Stir Fry

1 cup sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
3 king oyster mushrooms, sliced
1 package seafood mushrooms, trimmed
1 package enoki mushrooms, trimmed
1 cup fresh asparagus tips
1/2 medium white onion, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. cornstarch, sifted
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Whisk together soy, fish sauce, vinegar, liquid smoke, cinnamon, chili powder, pepper and cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add oil, stir fry onions until soft.

Add asparagus tips. Stir fry for one minute.

Add shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Stir fry until mushrooms start to release moisture.

Add seafood and enoki mushrooms. Stir fry briefly, until hot.

Add sauce, toss until thickened and everything is well coated.

Serve immediately over rice.

Happy eating!

Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir Fry

As you may have guessed, I like versatile foods. Some foods just lend themselves to infinite variety and flexibility. Omelets, and quiche are two things that can be done with just about any combinations of flavors you like. Stir fry is something else that can be done any number of ways. Most vegetables are best lightly cooked, and lend themselves easily to stir frying. They remain crisp and brightly colored, and retain most of their nutrition. Meat can be added, or not, and there are all sorts of sauces you can do.

I've been meaning to stir fry this baby bok choy since I got it from my CSA. I had a bag of pre-cooked shrimp in the freezer, and thought that would work well with it. It was massively dirty, so I cleaned it the way I clean spinach. I cut off the root, the washed the leaves in a big bowl of cold water, agitating well. I then let it sit a couple of minutes, to let the sand settle. I then pull out the leaves, and drain them in a colander. Dump and rinse out the bowl, and repeat, until there is no sand in the bottom. It wasn't horrible, I only had to wash it twice.

I let the shrimp sit in a bowl of cold water a few minutes, until about 90% defrosted, then drained them.

I play around a lot with sauces. One of my favorite ingredients for stir fry sauce is date vinegar. Not remotely Asian, but it works wondrously well with soy sauce and honey, or sweet soy. I also used some of Auntie Arwen's Shy Panda Kosher Stir Fry Blend. It adds a nice zest.

I served it over jasmine rice. This rice is fragrant, with an almost floral scent. It matched well with the stir fry.

Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir Fry

12 oz. pre-cooked shrimp
3 small heads baby bok choy, cleaned, leaves split lengthwise
2 tbsp. sesame oil
3 tbsp. date vinegar
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. corn starch
1 tbsp. stir fry seasoning blend

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, soy, and cornstarch until cornstarch is fully dissolved.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add oil, swirl around to coat. Add bok chow, stirring constantly until mostly tender. Add shrimp, mix in. Move bok choy and shrimp up the sides of the wok, out of the liquid. Cover, let cook for a minute, until shrimp are hot. Add soy mixture and seasoning blend. Stir until sauce thickens, and food is well coated.

Happy Eating!