The last several weeks have been a epicurious adventure. Trying new things are now quite standard when it comes to food…I love food!
Starting about 3 weeks ago – I tried something at Pei Wei that I thought was going to be more of the same which turned out, surprisingly, awesome! The menu is pretty standard as far as Asian food is concerned – but the choices for your proteins are appealing. There is the usual beef, chicken and goat (ha, are you paying attention?!) As well they have the vegetarian and tofu products as well. I tried the Kung Pao with the Tofu and Veggie combo…I was amazed. You know how normally the restaurants will cube tofu so you know your getting a tofu dish with these big cubes of white jello in your meal just to make you know its not chicken!
However, at Pei Wei, they slice it like its chicken breast, so it gives it a good texture and look. They use the extra firm tofu and pan fry it so when the whole dish comes out, you can’t tell that is not chicken. Plus, the bonus with tofu is that it absorbs the sauce around it and gets really tasty! Any meal at Pei Wei is recommended, especially with the tofu and veggie option. Try it…(by the way: at PF Changs when you order the Kung Pao with Tofu there, it is cubed but very crunchy and with no veggies. Disappointing since I love PF Changs ALOT!)
So a few weeks later, I am curious to try it at home. I have never cooked tofu before, but I was anxious to try. So I did the usual, picked any ‘kung pao’ sauce (you gotta start somewhere) from the grocery store and went home to try. I used the Denver Tofu, extra firm – I like to be able to slice it and it keeps it shape when I fry it, thats why! – and squeezed as much water as I could out of it. I sliced it like they did at Pei Wei and began to pan fry it with a little bit of toasted sesame oil. Very fragrant and it did fry up nice. I then cut up some veggies (onion, garlic, carrot and celery) threw in the pan fried tofu and then sauced it. What came out was very very surprising. Both Jen and I were pleasantly surprised at the result. (Bonus: I found garlic chili sauce, the same kind that they use at PF Changs, and stirred up the sauce that they make at the table – garlic chili sauce, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. I think I can just about eat this with anything, Asian food, cake, coffee….yeah, its that good!)
So my other adventures have kept me in the Asian food category…we used the tofu to make Thai Chicken (Tofu) Curry. This one is simple as well and takes no time to make. You have to find a good curry (preferably mild) and I recommend going to Vitamin Cottage or Whole Foods if your a beginner. Fry up your tofu, extra firm again, set it off to the side – cook up some shallots, throw in the curry paste, coconut milk, chicken broth and let that reduce a little. Throw in your tofu and set this to simmer for about 10 minutes…serve up some rice, throw some fresh spinach on there, pour the Thai Chicken/Tofu over the rice and spinach and then sprinkle some cilantro and green onions and squeeze o’lime and you got yourself a slice of heaven! (Beware: your house will smell like curry until the next day! Its good to air out your house the next day – windows open, put a fleece on…)