It took me a while to actually figure out how to put together a stir fry sauce, let alone a well executed, just-cooked stir fry.
My favorite stir fries include really fresh vegetables, so I tend to make then in the spring and summer. Lately, I’ve been so crushed by suspicious sauces at Asian restaurants, and craving a good, saucy tofu meal and happily decided to make my own. I literally used about every fresh vegetable in my house here.
Teriyaki Tofu Stir Fry with cashews, purple kale, carrots and brown rice.
I like to use the following teriyaki sauce, adapted to what I’m feeling at the time:
Pomegranate (perhaps) Agave Teriyaki Sauce
(originally posted on May 5, 2007)
1/2 cup tamari (I use organic reduced sodium)
1/4 cup dark agave nectar
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon of grated ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon of peanut oil
2 tablespoons sherry
1 teaspoon pomegranate glaze or syrup (or try 1 tablespoon+ of pure fruit juice)
1/4 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon+ of Srichi OR a good dash of crushed red pepper flakes
Sometimes I add hoisin sauce, vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, tons of heat, fresh fruit juice, more sweetness – whatever I feel like/happen to throw in/have around.
For the stir fry above
- I first roasted the raw cashews at 375F for about 10 minutes
- Then I pan-fried the tofu quickly in peanut oil in my wok and removed it
- Quickly stir fried purple kale, garlic and shredded carrots in a touch of sesame oil and water for about 5 minutes over medium heat
- Added at least ¼ cup of teriyaki sauce, if not more, the tofu and the nuts – stir for about a minute more. (the remainder of the sauce went into the meal below)
· Serve over rice!
Thomas' stir fry used the new Trader Joe's Beefless strips. First I pan fried them with in a bit of sesame oil with garlic and a couple tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce for a few minutes, then I added the veggies, simmered about 15 minutes with the lid on, added 1/3 cup of sauce (he likes it saucy), cooked on medium a couple minutes more, and there ya go. These strips really needed the extra flavoring the sauce gives them, on their own they were blah.I don't think it's good enough for the price, $2.99, but I'm also not a big faux fan. Thomas on the other hand liked these much more than the Chicken-less strips we tried last night. Texture wise, they didn't creep me out, but they didn't do anything for me either.
6 comments:
that sauce sounds wonderful
Yum! That purple kale looks so great. Thank you for the recipe. I always flail around a bit on stir fry and end up using soy sauce and veggie broth. Not the most imaginative or complex.
that first stir fry looks and sounds delicious.. I am a bit freaked out by the beef strips.. not a fan of that sort of thing.. but it's great that it's available for people who are. (my ex for instance, LOVED that sort of thing)
That looks great! I wish we had a Trader Joe's in Memphis. Are they anything like TVP strips? Or is it more like a Morningstar Farms beef strip thing?
Ooh, that looks so good & the sauce sounds awesome!
The beef looks a teensy bit scary, but I'm totally down with the tofu/cashew!/carrot/purple kale combo. Sounds like excellent sauce, too.
Nice to be visiting your blog again. :-)
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