Recipe: Garlic Ginger Tofu Stir Fry

I meant to post this last week when I actually cooked this but I forgot, or rather I was too lazy. While I was planning on cooking something from Vegan Planet each week, I felt like making this stir-fry the other week. It was good but not mind blowing, it's something I had made before but with some variants. Or let's say, I made stir-fry with soy sauce before or just tofu marinated in soy sauce on lazy days. This had a bit more additions which made it much better. I'm definitely going to make it again sometime.

Ingredients

1 small Thai pepper, minced
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. arrowroot powder or cornstarch
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 16-oz. pkg. firm tofu, drained and cut into 1x1/2-inch pieces
1 tsp. soy sauce
2 carrots, cut into 2-inch strips
1 red pepper, sliced
1 large bok choy (or 4-5 baby bok choy), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup yellow squash, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick pieces
Cooked lo mein or soba noodles

I did vary my recipe a bit with different vegetables and I added some brown sugar for a bit sweetness. I also didn't go to the process of transferring the sauce and tofu to a separate bowl. Maybe it does something special I'm not aware of but the step just seemed silly to me and I was hungry.

I didn't make it with noodles but with rice because I'm in love with my new rice cooker.

I then proceeded to chop up my ginger, garlic and peppers. I didn't have red peppers (or well I did as I discovered the other day but I didn't remember when I made this) so I used milder green ones as those where the only ones I thought I had. As a huge garlic lover I can never just put in 1 clove, that's just silly!

After that I heated some oil

And sliced my tofu.

Then I stir-fried the ginger, garlic and peppers.

Added the soy sauce, water and cornstarch, be careful to stir this in very quickly or you'll get lumps!

I then added my tofu which I had fried in a bit of oil in another pan first but you can also skip this step I guess, depends on how you like it.

And finally my veggies.

I served it over the rice and enjoyed it a lot! It was super easy and quick to cook so definitely going to make it again on days I need a quick dinner because it doesn't require any special ingredients and you can basically make it with any kind of veggies you have at home.

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Recipe: Pita with Cabbage

Photo credit: royalholiday from morguefile.com

I still had a white cabbage that I needed to do something with so I looked for some recipes, came across this one that sounded tasty so I tried it out tonight. Here's the original from Allrecipes:

1 1/2 pounds ground pork sausage
1 medium head cabbage, shredded
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon white sugar
salt to taste
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sour cream
1 (8 ounce) package pitas, halved

In wok or skillet, brown pork sausage, drain and set aside.
Combine in wok or skillet: Shredded cabbage, onion, crushed red pepper, sugar, salt, and water. Steam covered for approximately 20 minutes or until cabbage is tender; stirring occasionally.
Return pork sausage to wok or skillet with cabbage mixture and add sour cream; mix well. Serve stuffed inside warmed pita bread.

I kinda altered it and used tofu instead of sausages to make it healthier and I didn't get actual pita but a different kind of flatbread. I also added some chili sauce to the mixture and as I realize now, I kinda forgot the sugar. It was really good all the same though! I'll definitely be making it again, maybe with sausages some time which will give it a different kind of taste I guess but I really like tofu so it was all good. The only thing that takes a bit of time is cutting up the cabbage and cooking it but other than that it's a quick and easy dinner!

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