This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly was chosen by my friend Liz of This Chihuahua Wears Pearls (how awesome is the name of her blog?). And for her, I would gladly make pretty much any dish, even one that initially sounded...well, too healthy to be good!
Luckily for us, I was very wrong about that. This dish, Stir-Fried Chinese Cabbage with Tofu, was downright shockingly delicious! I think it had something to do with the preparation of the tofu. Instead of pressing all the liquid out and then simply stir-frying it, as I have done before, this recipe instructs you to marinate the tofu, then bake it in the oven.
While the tofu is baking in the oven, you can assemble the rest of the dish. I pulled out and dusted off my wok, and did a quick fry of the aromatics: ginger and garlic, and I threw in a small red jalapeno I had on hand. Then in went the bok choy (I could only find one large head, as opposed to the 3 small heads the recipe directs you to use) and scallions. Next, you throw in the cooked tofu and some soy sauce diluted in a small amount of water. I reduced the amount of soy sauce ever so slightly; I watch our sodium intake at home and I just thought I could make do with 3 total Tbsp. instead of 4.
The stir-fry is garnished with sesame seeds (I toasted mine for just a couple of minutes in the wok while it was still dry), and I chose to serve mine over brown rice. I am happy to report that this dish is packed with great Asian flavor! The ginger, garlic, and jalapeno gave it a great kick, and the toasted sesame seeds gave it a nice nutty flair. I particularly loved the marinated tofu; I believe I will only be baking my tofu from now on! It was the perfect texture, not crumbly or mushy at all.
I think if I am remembering correctly, Liz is not the biggest fan of tofu. But knowing her, she wanted to try this dish to see if she could learn to love it. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as we did, Liz! Thanks for choosing it; I don't have Ellie's first book and I never would have known about this recipe if you hadn't introduced it to us! For the full recipe and the CEIMB blogroll, click here.
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I'm not sure what I did wrong but my dish resulted in a very bland tasting meal. I'll try it again but intend to do something (not sure what) to enhance the flavor.
ReplyDeleteAww, Bri, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you guys enjoyed this one; I think you made a good call in adding the jalapeno because it did turn out a little bland overall without that extra spice. I really liked the tofu prepared this way, and you were right that I was a bit of a fraidy cat when it came to tofu! I'm glad to have conquered another scary ingredient!!
Thanks so much for cooking with me this week :D