Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Quinoa
I love Thai cuisine and all it's deliciously fresh flavourings. I came across this recipe on the Internet from www.veganyumyum.com
I haven't had meat now for about 6 weeks and I don't miss it for an instant. So strange since for DECADES I've wanted to go veg and never succeeded for more than a couple of days! Maybe I'm just done with the whole animal thing. We even had vegetarian turkey for Christmas dinner! And I have to say it was a lot less work. No mess, no meaty smell in the house, no grease & bones to clean up afterwards. Even the 3 men in the house didn't complain that there was no real meat to chew on!
So back to the recipe - I found this on the web and imagined it might be similar to the salt tofu you can get from the Chinese restaurant which I love so much. Turns out it's a little different but this is quite good, I must say. I forgot the garlic, of all things. Probably because the men were watching hockey and interrupting me with commentary on the game as I was cooking! SIGH!
Serves 2-3 (I doubled the recipe for the 4 of us and have enough left over for two light lunches.
1 block tofu, extra firm (14 oz.)
Sweet Chili Lime Sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp reduced sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
1 3/4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 zest of the lime
1/2 tsp red chili flakes (or 1-2 fresh hot chilies, minced)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
4 mint leaves (believe it or not I used the contents of a mint tea bag!)
Quinoa
3/4 cup quinoa, rubbed, rinsed in cool water, drained
1/2 zest of lime
2 bruised cardamom pods, optional
1 tiny stick of cinnamon (a broken piece of a larger stick), optional
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup water
*Other options: For brown rice, adjust water to 1 1/2 cups, for medium/long grain rice, water measurement is the same. Noodles can be boiled, drained and given a light splash of soy sauce and lime juice for some background flavour. The tofu is very flavourful, so whatever base you choose, it needs only subtle additions, if any at all.
Directions
Combine all the ingredients for the quinoa in a pot that has a tight fitting lid. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Coo kfor 20 minutes, then turn off heat. Do not open lid. Let steam for 10 minutes before serving.
Prepare the sweet chili lime sauce by whisking all of the ingredients together until the sugar and salt is dissolved.
Drain tofu and cut into small triangles. Heat a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick skillet over medium heat. It's best to "dry-fry" the tofu pressing it down a little as you go along. If you use 2 blocks of tofu you'll have to do this in batches which is fine. Turn and press down to fry both sides of the triangles.
Add the sauce to the hot pan along with the tofu and stir to coat each piece of tofu. Set aside and allow the sauce to congeal a little more - you want it to be glaze-y.
Serve the tofu over the cooked quinoa, rice or noodles of your choice.
Yum!
I haven't had meat now for about 6 weeks and I don't miss it for an instant. So strange since for DECADES I've wanted to go veg and never succeeded for more than a couple of days! Maybe I'm just done with the whole animal thing. We even had vegetarian turkey for Christmas dinner! And I have to say it was a lot less work. No mess, no meaty smell in the house, no grease & bones to clean up afterwards. Even the 3 men in the house didn't complain that there was no real meat to chew on!
So back to the recipe - I found this on the web and imagined it might be similar to the salt tofu you can get from the Chinese restaurant which I love so much. Turns out it's a little different but this is quite good, I must say. I forgot the garlic, of all things. Probably because the men were watching hockey and interrupting me with commentary on the game as I was cooking! SIGH!
Serves 2-3 (I doubled the recipe for the 4 of us and have enough left over for two light lunches.
1 block tofu, extra firm (14 oz.)
Sweet Chili Lime Sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp reduced sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
1 3/4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 zest of the lime
1/2 tsp red chili flakes (or 1-2 fresh hot chilies, minced)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
4 mint leaves (believe it or not I used the contents of a mint tea bag!)
Quinoa
3/4 cup quinoa, rubbed, rinsed in cool water, drained
1/2 zest of lime
2 bruised cardamom pods, optional
1 tiny stick of cinnamon (a broken piece of a larger stick), optional
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup water
*Other options: For brown rice, adjust water to 1 1/2 cups, for medium/long grain rice, water measurement is the same. Noodles can be boiled, drained and given a light splash of soy sauce and lime juice for some background flavour. The tofu is very flavourful, so whatever base you choose, it needs only subtle additions, if any at all.
Directions
Combine all the ingredients for the quinoa in a pot that has a tight fitting lid. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Coo kfor 20 minutes, then turn off heat. Do not open lid. Let steam for 10 minutes before serving.
Prepare the sweet chili lime sauce by whisking all of the ingredients together until the sugar and salt is dissolved.
Drain tofu and cut into small triangles. Heat a well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick skillet over medium heat. It's best to "dry-fry" the tofu pressing it down a little as you go along. If you use 2 blocks of tofu you'll have to do this in batches which is fine. Turn and press down to fry both sides of the triangles.
Add the sauce to the hot pan along with the tofu and stir to coat each piece of tofu. Set aside and allow the sauce to congeal a little more - you want it to be glaze-y.
Serve the tofu over the cooked quinoa, rice or noodles of your choice.
Yum!
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| The tofu getting it's lovely coating of the chili lime sauce! |
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| Tofu on a bed of brown short-grain rice. Mmmm! |
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