Give Tofu a Second Chance with Stir-Fry

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• Fight Back Friday @ Food Renegade
• Finer Things Friday @ The Finer Things in Life
• Frugal Friday @ Life as Mom
• Food on Fridays @ Ann Kroeker’s blog
• Foodie Fridays @ Designs by Gollum
• Friday Feasts @ Mom Trends
• Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace
• Tuesday’s at the Table @ All the Small Stuff

I’m interested in trying new things.  If something doesn’t work out, I’ll give it a second chance after doing a little bit of research.  Recently, Heather from The Greenest Dollar wrote Frugal Ways to Get More Protein and tofu was on the list.  I tried to make Tofu Parmesan a few months back and didn’t really like it.  How come “extra firm” tofu is falling apart?  The taste was a little funny too.  After expressing my concern, Heather as well as some commenters chimed in with a few recipes.  I decided to give tofu another try while D was out of town.

The recipe is courtesy of the Mori-Nu Silken Tofu “Extra Firm” box.

Ingredients

1. 6 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (I didn’t have reduced sodium, but I bought “brewed”.  No wonder why it costs more than store brand… it tastes SO much better)
2. 2 teaspoons honey
3. 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (I used red wine vinegar instead)
4. 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
5. 1 teaspoon miinced garlic
6. 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (My grocer doesn’t carry this so I used hemp seed oil)
7. 1 package Mori-Nu Silken Extra-Firm Tofu, cubed (I cubed mine in two different sizes to try it out)
8. 
9. 1 bunch green onions, sliced (didn’t use)
10. 1 tsp. canola
11. 6 cups chopped vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, snow peas, bean sprouts, etc.)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Blend first 6 ingredients until smooth.
• Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and place tofu in a single layer.
• Pour 1/2 of soy sauce mixture over tofu and bake for 30 minutes.  (Since I had two different cube sizes, one cooked quite a bit faster than the other.  So if you make smaller cubes, you’ll need to reduce your baking time.)
• Saute onions, oil in wok/skillet for 1 minute.
• Add vegetables and remaining soy sauce; stir fry for 5 more minutes.
• Add cooked tofu; toss lightly.
• Serve with hot rice or pasta.  (I tossed in some warmed soy noodles instead.)

Yield: 4 servings.

My camera battery died so I had to wait to take a photo of the creation.  In this photo the stir-fry has been refrigerated and microwaved.  Although it tasted fine, it tastes much better fresh.

I thought it tasted pretty good.  It sucks up the flavor of whatever it is cooked with, so it tasted like the sauce.  I definitely enjoyed the smaller cubes versus the bigger cubes of tofu.  I will be trying more tofu recipes in the future.

Do you have a favorite tofu recipe?