Success: Ginger Veggie Stir Fry

Monday, November 1, 2010

For my friends who claim that cooking takes too much time. Or that they're no good at it. Stir fry is how I gained my "intuition" for cooking; before stir fry, it was macaroni & cheese from a box.all.the.time.

You start with the flavor ingredients: garlic, onions, ginger...then you add in the rest of the vegetables. Tofu adds a pinch of complexity, but it can be skipped. Substitution of vegetables, adjusting quantities, etc. happens naturally after awhile. Sometimes out of necessity. It's pretty flexible. I think I once spent an entire summer living on eggplant + green pepper stir fry.



Ingredients
1 Green pepper, sliced
2 Stalks of broccoli (or a couple handfuls defrosted broccoli florets), split into bite-sized pieces
1 Package precut baby portobello mushrooms
1 Small yellow onion, diced (cut into small pieces)
2 Inches of ginger, peeled and minced (cut into teensy tinsy pieces)
2 Cloves garlic minced
1 Package of extra firm tofu, pre-cubed
1/4 Cup Teriyaki sauce
2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Cups rice (I used jasmine, but basmati or whatnot will work)

All this stuff should fill a rather large frying pan or wok. It'll give you 4-5 servings. Mmmm, leftovers.

Recipe

1. Drain the tofu cubes, pour half of the Teriyaki sauce over it, and then pour some water in, until the liquids completely cover all the tofu.
2. Chop the onions, garlic, and ginger.
3. Heat your large frying pan (or wok) on the stove over medium-high. After a minute or so, add 1 Tbsp olive oil.
4. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger to the frying pan. Stir occasionally.
5. While you wait for the onions to turn translucent, drain the tofu cubes and place them on one half of the frying pan. Flip them over every couple of minutes until they're mostly light brown.
6. Start making the rice according to the package (usually, boil 3 cups water in a saucepan, then cover and simmer 2 cups rice for 15 minutes).
7. Chop up the rest of the vegetables.
8. Once the tofu is light brown, you can mix it in with the onions/garlic/ginger.
9. Add the rest of the vegetables, along with the additional 1 Tbsp olive oil, and the rest of the Teriyaki sauce.
10. Reduce the heat a little, and cook the vegetables until the broccoli is soft. Stir every once and awhile to prevent any one side from burning.
11. Once the vegetables are softer, then it's ready to serve. Place over rice and salt/pepper to taste.

It looks a lot more complicated when you write it down, hahaha.
This whole process takes approximately 20 minutes to compile.