Welcome to Dinner with Dori!
My friend, Dori, and I have been getting together every Sunday night for as long as I can remember. We started out meeting up to watch whatever silly TV shows we were into - Desperate Housewives, Brother and Sisters, Revenge, etc. One of us would pick up dinner (usually Magnolia Cafe-yum!) and take it to the other's place. Somewhere along with way, we/I/Dori?? decided to try cooking dinner instead.
I usually pick the menu and get the groceries and Dori takes care of the most important part - the wine! I've been vegetarian since I was 16, so, all the meals have been veggie or vegan. Dori has been such a trooper to go along with whatever crazy ideas I have about what to cook.
Our shows, apartments, relationships, etc. may have changed over the years, but our friendship and appetites have remained the same!


Thursday, April 4, 2013

Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu With Kale and Red Pepper

Dori and I love making to tofu dishes.  There is a special way I cook the tofu called "dry frying." It makes the tofu turn out perfectly - not slimy or mushy.  I have posted all the details and instructions on cooking tofu under the "TOFU" tab to the left along with a bunch of fabulous recipes. 
I basically chose the recipe below because I had some kale and cabbage in the fridge.  So, I just Googled "tofu stir-fry kale cabbage" and found a bunch of recipes.  I often go to Allrecipes.com and do a search for recipes by ingredient if I have something in the fridge I need to use before it goes bad or if I'm just craving something with a certain ingredient.  You can type in exactly what ingredients you do and don't want in a recipe.
The dish came out pretty yummy but not as good as some other tofu recipes I've tried.  I tweaked it a bit below which I think would make it a lot better than the original recipe.  We ate it with some black and white quinoa (there's really no difference - it just looks cool. :) which is healthier and less fattening than rice. 
I forgot to take a pic so this one is from the the NY Times article where I found the recipe. :)

Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu With Kale and Red Pepper
1 bunch curly kale (about 10 ounces), stemmed and washed
1 14-ounce package firm tofu, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, preferably white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced (to taste)
1 red bell pepper, cut in 2-inch julienne
1/4 head green cabbage
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil (to taste)
1. Bring a medium saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil, add the kale and blanch 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl of cold water, drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop coarsely and place in a bowl near your wok.
2. In a bow, combine all of the ingredients except the vegetables.
4. Dry fry tofu. Add to bowl to marinate.
5. Cook the onion in olive oil until translucent.  Add the red pepper and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the kale and green cabbage. Add the tofu and marinade and the sesame oil.  Stir-fry for another minute.
Yield: 2-4 servings.

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