Experiments in Taste #10: Vegan stir-fry with Tofu

This simple but delicious recipe is healthy, nutritious and can be thrown together pretty quickly if you are organised about your preparation. I’ve been adding tofu to my recipes to up their protein content, as I struggle to eat large quantities of dairy products (I’m not vegan, but I do try to eat as many vegan recipes as possible in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint.)

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

• 200g firm tofu (soy bean curd)
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• same weight as garlic of fresh root ginger, finely sliced
• 2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 200g broccoli florets, lightly steamed and cut into bitesize pieces
• 1 pointed red pepper, cut into bitesize pieces
• 4 pickled baby corn, cut into bitesize pieces
• sriracha sauce, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce (such as tabasco)
• 250g cooked long-grain rice to serve

Method

• Heat 1 tbsp of the sunflower oil over a medium-high heat and fry until golden. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• In the same pan, heat the remaining oil over a medium-high heat and fry the onions until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook for a further 1 minute.
• Add the remaining vegetables, stir and fry until they are tender but still firm to the bite.
• Add the tofu and stir very gently into the vegetable mixture, cook to heat through.
• Add the soy sauce, sriracha and hot pepper sauce according to taste, and fry for a further minute.
• Serve with the cooked rice.

And it really is that simple! If you try this recipe for yourself, please let me know how it turned out. Of course you can use whatever vegetables and seasonings you prefer: tofu lends itself well to strong flavours, as it has very little flavour of its own, so don’t be afraid to add strong spices!