The Stir-fry

One of the easiest and yummiest dishes I like to cook for myself is a stir-fry. It doesn't take too much time or preparation or skill, doesn't require a recipe, is full of flavor and nutrition, and can be easily tailored to your taste, mood, diet requirements, or what you've got lying around.

Often I decide to make a stir-fry just as an excuse to experiment with cooking tofu. :) Tonight was just such an occasion. I wanted to try marinating tofu for the first time. Previously, I had only ever attempted to add flavor to the tofu during the cooking process, but it never worked very well. So anyway, I searched the pantry and fridge and decided to whip up a concoction consisting of barbecue sauce (diluted about 1:1 with water), a bit of "beef" bouillon, and a few shakes of hot sauce. I cubed up a third of a block of drained extra-firm tofu and let it marinate in a zip-top bag for about an hour. During this time, I raided the fridge for veggies to add: fresh bell pepper, onion, green beans, and mushrooms, and frozen corn. I cooked the tofu first as I prepped the fresh veggies, then set the tofu aside on a plate while I cooked the veggies using the same pan. I've found that cooking the tofu and veggies separately has these benefits: tofu seems to take longer to cook to my liking than veggies, so cooking it separately first I can make sure it's right; plus, mixing uncooked tofu in with veggies tends to lead to crumbled tofu... not that there's anything wrong with that...

So, I seasoned the veggies as they were cooking with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and toward the end I threw the tofu back in to reheat it a bit. It looked and smelled pretty good, but I felt like it was missing something -- something crunchy. My first thought was chow mein noodles, but I don't usually keep those on hand. I considered crushing up some multi-grain chips, but finally decided on tossing in some sunflower seed kernels.

The final result: yumminess!


The tofu marination (if that's a word) worked pretty well. It added a lot of flavor, and probably would have worked even better if I had been patient enough to let it go longer.

Also, this dish wasn't just a tofu experiment: it was the first time I cooked/ate green beans that didn't come from a can or in a soup. I always thought canned green beans were pretty gross, but fresh green beans are completely different. They're actually kind of sweet-tasting, and way better than canned.


Protein source: soy, sunflower seed kernels
Allergens: soy, sunflower seed kernels
Vegan