More Adventures With Tofu!

If you come to my little slice of the web often, you know that:

1. I LOVE all different kinds of ethnic food (Ethiopian food!).
2. Where I currently live has very limited food choices in the restaurants, and I’m not too impressed overall with the restaurants in town.

If you didn’t know that, it’s because I try not to mention it TOO MUCH, because I try to be really positive about living here, but it can be a little difficult.

Because of this, I’ve really worked on my cooking skills since we have moved here, and I have taught myself a lot.  We decided that instead of heading out, we were going to do a little Chinese food action in our kitchen.  Solomon, of all people, asked if I could make tofu moo shu.  It just shocked me completely, since he had basically never touched tofu until a few weeks ago, and now actually asks for it!  Next up for Solomon is buffalo tofu fajitas!

I did a little google action, flipped through one of my many cookbooks, and realized this is quite possibly one of the easiest things I might ever cook!  About an hour before I was going to start cooking, I drained the tofu.  I usually just put some paper towels on a plate, put the block of tofu on top, cover it with more paper towels, then put a frying pan on top and a heavy book.  Aside from prepping the tofu, there was almost NO prep work involved in this!  Nothing like a one pan, one cutting board type of meal!

After cutting the block of tofu into 1/2″ cubes, I heated up some sesame oil in the wok and put the tofu in.  I find that if you leave the tofu alone, and give it a stir or a flip every few minutes, it browns up really nicely.  Once the tofu was sufficiently brown, I put it all on a plate and heated up some more sesame oil in the wok.

In went a package of cole slaw mix, chopped mushrooms (about 4 oz.), and 6 sliced scallions.  I let these all cook together for a few minutes.

While this all cooked down, I minced up some ginger (about 1 tbsp. worth).  I forgot how completely amazing fresh ginger is, way better than the powder.  The funny thing is, as much as I love real ginger, I can’t stand the pickled stuff that comes with sushi.  Yuck!  No thanks!  Extra wasabi for me please!

After a few minutes of cooking, I added the ginger and 2 minced cloves of garlic to the wok and let it cook until it was nice and fragrant.  Then came the sauce.  The most ridiculously easy sauce on the planet.  1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce.  THAT’S IT.  I then added the tofu back to the wok, and stirred it all together.  That was it.  Easy Peasy!

Rather than trying to make my own moo shu pancakes, I decided that whole wheat tortillas would work just as well.  I debated using rice wrappers, but decided that tortillas would be a little more substantial, and would give it some more flavor.

I also decided to use jarred plum sauce.  I’m usually really big on making my own sauces, but took a little help from the store with this one.

As easy as this was, it was really yummy and tasted like it was from a Chinese restaurant!  The ginger flavor was really strong, and I loved all of the different textures in the filling.  I don’t even know if the plum sauce was necessary, and maybe I could just do without it next time.

I really, really love making Chinese food and other ethnic foods at home.  It’s so good to be able to control what goes in there, and no worries about MSG!  It also makes for a fridge and pantry full of fun ingredients, that are fun to experiment with!

Please keep your thoughts with everyone affected by the earthquake in Haiti.  Events like this make you realize just how lucky you are.  I may complain a lot about being jobless in Meadville, but I know how lucky I am.  I have my health, people to love, people who love me and a roof over my head.  I’d say I have a lot to be thankful for, and I’m really lucky!

What’s something you feel lucky to have?  What are you thankful for?

Don’t forget about my Waterpik giveaway!  I’m going to pick a winner tomorrow!

Check out Brandi’s one year “blogiversary” contest!

Shelly is having her first giveaway!