A Delicious Stir Fry

Tonight I have decided to make a stir fry - a pretty routine meal for my house. It's just too easy to turn a bunch of veggies into a unified, tasty dish by going the stir fry route. I could eat it every day.

I am going simple with this one. I begin by getting my tofu ready. I have a whole block of extra firm tofu that needs to be drained and dried as much as possible. After that, I cut it into bite size pieces and put it all into a bowl to marinate in soy sauce. Then I get some jasmine rice started, the traditional base for a stir fry, which will just chill on the back burner. I like to use organic vegetable stock or homemade veggie stock to boil the rice in for added flavor. It's also always a good idea to add a bay leaf or two as well.
I have lots of CSA veggies that are ready to go, so that makes my decision making process for what to add to the stir fry so easy. I will use a turnip, a head of poc choi and spinach from my CSA package, along with scallion for garnish. But of course, you could use any veggies at all! Use what you have, use leftovers, use what is in season, whatever.

I treat the turnip like a carrot and thinly slice it to be tossed into a hot pan with olive oil, lots of garlic, and diced ginger root.

Next I chop a whole poc choi head and toss it in with the turnips.

I flavor with these items to taste (no need make exact measurements, just eyeball what looks good to you!)

• Sriracha
• A whole lemon
• Soy sauce (which adds all the saltiness that the meal needs!)
• Basil from my own plants
• Ground Coriander
• Cayenne pepper (I like spice!! Turn up the heat!)
• Ground black pepper

I then add some random veggies I have on hand. Some pea pods, a little broccoli,  and thinly sliced cabbage. I prefer the veggies al dente rather than cooked to submission. I think they retain more nutrients the less they are cooked, too.

When they are pretty much good to go, I add the spinach and some water chestnuts. And the stir fry is done!

Cooking the tofu to perfection takes a little time. Dump the soy-sauce marinated tofu chunks into a hot pan with some oil. Fry each and every side if you have the patience - this makes the tofu crisp on every edge and become delicious!

OK...that's it! I simply pile a spoonful of rice onto a plate, add a scoop of veggies and some tofu, garnish with chopped scallion. Mmmmm!