Sunday, February 14, 2010

Szechuan Tofu Triangles in Triple Pepper Sauce


Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year! I just realized the dish I'm posting is fitting because it's inspired by Chinese cuisine! I would love to learn how to cook more Asian cuisines like Chinese and Japanese, but I'm not really sure where a good resource would be, especially since I'm looking for things that are vegetarian or can easily be adapted. Any recommendations? This Szechuan tofu in pepper sauce is probably not very authentic but was good. I think next time I'd add extra garlic, green onions, black pepper and maybe throw in some ginger too. It's really simple and would make a great weeknight meal.


If this sounds good, you might also like:
Honey Mustard Marinated Tofu
Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame and Tofu
Lemon Miso Tofu and Eggplant
Udon Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Seitan

Szechuan Tofu Triangles in Triple Pepper Sauce
Adapted from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Makes 6 servings

1 1/2 lbs extra firm tofu
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup dry sherry or white wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp vinegar (cider or rice)
3 tbsp honey (substitute sugar to make it vegan)
8 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dry mustard
4 tbsp cornstarch
3 cups chopped onion (1 inch chunks)
1 medium yellow bell pepper, in strips
1 medium red bell pepper, in strips
1/2-1 tsp salt
crushed red pepper, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 scallions, minced (whites and greens)

1. Cut the tofu into triangles.

2. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a wok or skillet until it is hot enough to bounce a drop of water. Fry the tofu triangles for a few minutes on each side until their outer surfaces crispen. Set aside on a plate.

3. In a medium sized saucepan, combine sherry/wine, soy sauce, water, vinegar, honey, garlic and dry mustard. Heat it until it almost boils; remove from heat. Place the cornstarch in a small bowl, and pour in some hot liquid, whisking until it dissolves. Whisk this back into the saucepan. Keep the whisk in there - you'll need it.

4. Heat the woke or skillet again. Add the remaining oil, and cook the onion over high heat for about 2 minutes. Add bell peppers, salt and red and black pepper, and cook for about 2 minutes longer. Gently stir in the tofu triangles.

5. Whisk the sauce (from step 3) to reintegrate the cornstarch, and pour all of it into the wok. Stir and cook over high ehat for about 8 minutes, adding the scallions at the very end. When the sauce is thick and everything is coasted, serve hot over rice.

16 comments:

Homemade Heaven said...

This look very yummy - I could use chicken for the carnivores at home.

Johanna GGG said...

I am not good at asian cooking either but love it when I eat out - the only blog I can think is vegan about town - http://veganabouttown.blogspot.com/ a melbourne blogger with chinese ancestry - she has some good asian dishes

Anne @ the doctor takes a wife said...

I like how cats think they can fit into any space, no matter how small. Mine does the same thing!!

fresh365 said...

I’m always looking for more tofu recipes- this look delicious! I am hoping to experiment more with Asian cuisine as well. I do think there are many dishes than are vegetarian based or can be easily adapted. I like to try noodle or stir fry dishes with unique spices and vegetables. Experimenting with spring rolls, dumplings and wontons might be fun too…

Ricki said...

I love your tofu and soy recipes. This looks like something I'd really enjoy, authentic or not!

veggievixen said...

how appropriate indeed! it would probably be delicious with ginger. have you ever used chinese five spice powder? it's probably the simplest way to add "asian" flavor. besides soy sauce i guess.

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

It's weird you just posted this. I was just having a discussion with Mangocheeks about tofu, something I never eat or cook with. I was telling her I had my first chinese takeaway for years and they had a sweet and sour vegetable and tofu dish. I love it and am now looking at tofu differently. Great timing Ashley!

I have a good recipe for Sweet & Sour Sauce, if that is any good to you :)

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Your cat is so cute. That looks delicious. How do you enjoy the Olympics? We are going this week.

Deborah said...

The cookbook of the month I'm using right now is a Chinese one, but I'm not sure how authentic it is. And there aren't a ton of vegetarian recipes, so I guess I'm not any help! I've been really into peppers lately, though, so this sounds great!

kickpleat said...

I just bought some tofu so this looks perfect! I love spicy food and I've got some xfirm tofu in the fridge. Yum!

CookiePie said...

LOVE this dish - looks so delicious!

saveur said...

This dish looks great!

For Japanese cookbooks, I love most of Kimiko Barber's cookbooks, especially The Japanese Kitchen. I also like Washoku by Andoh.

A lot of Japanese dishes are vegetarian if you sub in vegetarian dashi, instead of the fish-based ones.

I have a few Japanese recipes on my site, too, to whet your appetite:
http://tastespace.wordpress.com/tag/japanese/

Anonymous said...

Just made this tonight- Delicious- nice and simple too for a student like me:)
Thank you

Eat more avocados said...

Lovely dish! Whipped it up tonight - it was not only very nice to look at, but flavours all there too. Added lots of grated ginger which made it one to repeat. Thanks for yet another.

eatme_delicious said...

eat more avocados: Glad you liked it. :)

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