Sunday 27 April 2014

Tofu Stir-fry

Tofu Stir-fry
Tofu Stir-fry

Tofu is made from soybean seeds. Soybeans were known to Chinese for more than 2000 years. Soybeans appear in different forms in the daily meals of Chinese people.
To make tofu, you soak the dried soybean seeds overnight and liquidize it with some water. Strain the liquid and boil it. Now you have what is called soy milk. You add a little Epsom salt dissolved in water which will let the soy milk to curdle. This will take about 5 to 10 minutes. Put the curdled milk into a fine mesh cloth and put into a mold that will give the shape to the tofu. Let all the water drip off. You can add some weight to speed up the dripping process.
Soy milk can be consumed on its own and is a good substitute for dairy milk. It can also be used in tea or coffee.

Tofu and soy milk are nutritious. Particularly for vegetarians and vegans, tofu gives the essential protein and all the amino acids that the body needs. It is used as a meat substitute not only because of its rich protein content but also because it gives a meat taste to the dish.
Tofu can be made into many kinds of recipes because it just acquires the taste of the ingredients it is cooked with. It can be fried, boiled or cooked with meats, sea food or vegetables. You can make endless variety of dishes from tofu.
Tofu
Tofu

Nutrition facts.

Tofu Stir-fry

Tofu has a bland taste or has no strong taste of its own. To make it flavorful it is necessary to add suitable ingredients that give the necessary flavoring to tofu. Here we add ginger, garlic and leeks that will give a nice flavor and appetizing aroma. We add four colored capsicums to give pleasing appearance to the dish.


                                   Recipe summary
                                             For 
Tofu                                     Tofu stir fry
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

 1. Cut 500 grams firm tofu into small pieces
Ingredients

2. Chop  1 medium onion.  Cut 1 green chili, curry leaves, 70 grams leeks, 1 dry chili,1/2 tsp minced garlic and 1/2 tsp minced ginger. Cut all  30 grams each of red green and yellow
capsicums.



3. Heat a large saucepan or a wok. Add the oil and 1/8 tsp mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle add dried chilli pieces, 1/8 tsp cumin, onion, garlic, ginger, leeks and curry leaves and fry for 10 minutes or until onions become translucent.
Tofu Stir-fry
Tofu stir fry



4.Now add chopped capsicums and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. Add 1/2 cup water and continue frying for 10 minutes.

5. Now add the tofu pieces and gently stir the ingredients to mix well.

6. Add salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.  Fry for about 5 minutes.

   Tofu stir fry is ready. 

                                                                                  

                    Recipe follows in detail with pictures.
                     
                                 
                                    



Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
Main
 500 grams firm Tofu
Others
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 green chili chopped
1 dried red chilli cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 tsp pepper 
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 spring curry leaves chopped fine
30 grams of  yellow  capsicum, finely chopped
30 grams of green capsicum, finely chopped
30 grams of red capsicum, finely chopped
30 grams of orange capsicum finely chopped
70 grams of leek, sliced into small pieces
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
Spices
1/8 teaspoon cumin seed
1/8 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 tsp pepper 

1/4 tsp turmeric
Ingredients for  Tofu Stir-fry
Ingredients for  Tofu Stir-fry
Preparation
Wash the tofu and slice horizontally into three pieces. Stack all the slices and slice vertically 4 times each side. This will give nice tofu cubes. It will not make any difference if the cubes can be bigger or smaller. You can also crumble the tofu slab into uneven small pieces and this will also give a pleasing appearance.





Tofu sliced

Method
Heat a large saucepan or a wok. I used a ceramic coated non-stick wok. When the pan is dry and hot add the oil and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle add dried chilli pieces, cumin  onion, garlic, ginger, leeks and curry leaves and fry for 10 minutes or until onions become translucent.
 
Ingredients being fired in a wok
Ingredients being fired in a wok
Now add chopped capsicums and tomato and turmeric powder. Add water and continue frying for 10 minutes. Adding a little water ensures that the ingredients will not get burnt and stuck to the bottom of the pan or wok.
 
Tofu added
Tofu added
Now add the tofu pieces and gently stir the ingredients to mix well. The tofu cubes should be evenly coated with the spices, particularly the turmeric powder which will give it a nice colour.
Sit-fird tofu
Stir-fried tofu



Add salt and fry for about 5 minutes.
Serve hot with rice.

This is about 4 servings of one cup each.

Nutrition data for this recipe
Nutrition content is computed by adding nutrition values of individual ingredients according to the USDA nutrition database. Water shown here is what is found in the ingredients and not the water added while cooking. This is only an approximation. For further information please read my post “
Nutrition information for my recipes.

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