Tofu Stir-fry with peanut sauce

 Know someone, perhaps yourself, who doesn’t appreciate tofu? This is an awesome recipe for a tofu beginner. The tofu has a nice crispy texture but the real star in this dish is the sauce.  It is complex and you get a whole range of flavors in each bite. Peanut, ginger, garlic, a little spice. YUM!   Don’t be afraid of the fish sauce.  I was afraid of it at first, it smells horrendous in the bottle, but after a few tries it has become a key ingredient in many of our stir-fry recipes and marinades.  Like any stir fry, you can add whatever veggies you want, but I decided this time to keep it simple (shocker, I know).  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and like always modified it to make it mine, but one thing about this recipe that stands out to me is the frying technique… we have always used flour or cornmeal for a frying batter, and this recipe called for cornstarch. I was floored how crunchy it came out! Also- we used a deep fryer to do the tofu but you can do it in the pan too. I’m putting the recipe for the pan since I am guessing some of you don’t have deep fryers. One more thing, I don’t often keep cilantro and ginger around in the fresh form cause they go bad too quickly, but I do keep tubes of the stuff around, and substitute them for fresh, works great! You can find the tubes in the produce section of your local supermarket.

What you need:

1 package firm tofu, drained and cubed (I bought the already cubed tofu)

1 yellow bell pepper cut into strips

4 green onions, chopped

2 cups baby spinach

1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

1 teaspoon seasame oil for stir-frying the veggies

¾ cup peanut sauce (recipe below)

2 eggs beaten

1 cup cornstarch

salt and pepper

½ cup vegetable oil for frying tofu (or use deep fryer)

What you do:

1.Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet/wok over high heat and add veggies and ginger (except spinach) and cook for about 3 minutes, add spinach and then take out of pan and put on a plate (I put in a Tupperware bc I was expecting leftovers and didn’t want to dirty another plate).

2. Place the eggs in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Dip tofu cubes first in the egg, then the cornstarch mixture to coat.

3. Heat up the veggie oil over medium heat and fry tofu for about 5 minutes, turning occasionally. (Since I used a deep fryer, I’m not sure if there will be excess oil when the frying is done, if so, drain before next step).

4. Add peanut sauce to the tofu and let it simmer for a minute, then add veggies and stir to coat. 

Serve over rice- we served over rice noodles and they seemed to kinda suck up all the sauce.  Also- you can use the premade peanut sauce from the grocery store, but this sauce is AWESOME. 

The Best Thai Peanut Sauce Recipe from allrecipes.com : I doubled it because I wanted to use the whole can of coconut milk – I plan on freezing the rest and  using as needed. Helpful hint, if you freeze in ice cube trays, you can easily portion out how much you want to use. In addition to doubling the portion, I also used crunchy peanut butter to add another layer to the sauce. I barely modified the sauce, so I am posting the link to it.

all recipes thai peanut sauce

* just remembered i did add a little sesame oil into the sauce (abt a tablespoon), and the sauce is even better after sitting overnight.  This recipe makes a LOT.

 my handsome hubby- the fry king!

 enjoy!

-hayden