East-Asian inspired, marinated, then slow cooked tofu and vegetables
Reward your lazy self with this dish, which doen't require much effort from you. The acidic marinade will season all ingredients with strong East-Asian flavors (and do 80% of the cooking job for you).
Serves: 3 to 4
Preparation: 20 minutes (excluding marinating time)
Cooking: 2 to 3 hours
Sometimes being lazy can be a good thing, if it leads you to be creative, and to seek the maximum efficiency over effort ratio. Marination is such a trick, provided you can plan ahead, and afford to wait for hours before enjoying the result. In the present case, it was a time I wanted some comfort food for the coming days. Lazy, but still a gourmet! I had some leftover vegetables in the fridge, after I cooked several Thai-inspired recipes. I thought about soaking them in a spicy, flavor-rich, marinade; I browsed online for inspiration, and came with my own idea of what to prepare. I hadn’t found Thai recipes using Shaoxing wine (Chinese ones do, of course); I found that, beside a very welcome liquid for the marinade, it brings the sweet taste that the sugar usually does. I tend to replace sugar in recipes with other ingredients (vegetables or liquids) which can provide a smaller fraction of its sweet taste; if you’re looking for reduced sugar. On one side, this recipe is quick to prepare: peel, chop, slice, cut, cover with liquids — done. On the other side, it’s long to cook: it has to rest for hours in the marinade (which already “cooks” the ingredients a first time), then it cooks for hours with the marinade under the lid of a deep-sided pan.
Fun fact: the laziness I mention above extended beyond cooking, as it took me several sessions to complete the writing of this article (-_-’).
About Shaoxing cooking wine
Shaoxing wine is a traditional Chinese wine made from fermented rice - hence the term of rice wine. The Wikipedia page I linked to mentions Shaoxing wine is widely used as a beverage and a cooking wine in Chinese cuisine. The bottles I’ve found so far bear the mention “not for drinking”, so I’ve only used it for cooking. Shaoxing wine brings a light sweet taste to the recipe, which differs from European recipes which require red wine. I initially bought it to prepare chow mein (a recipe for this dish will come), and I extended its use to other marinades afterward — including the present one.
Ingredients
Since it was a time I tapped into what was left in the fridge, neither had I thought about taking pictures of the ingredients, nor had I counted or weighted most of them. I recommend you go with your mood, and with what you have in stock. I use tofu and carrot in most of my East-Asian recipes. I had no cabbage, however it would work well, too. For those who still like to have a more precise guidance, I’ve tentatively provided weight and count ranges.
200 g firm tofu1
1 carrot
Half a zucchini
3 soup spoons of strong chili pepper flakes
1 soup spoon of turmeric
4-6 shallots (or onions if you don’t have shallots)
2-6 garlic cloves
Crushed black pepper
Fresh coriander
5 (or more) soup spoons of Shaoxing wine
5 (or more) soup spoons of soy sauce2
1 soup spoon of mushroom sauce (see my previous recipe “stir-fried rice noodles with scrambled tofu and veggies (pretty much a pad thai)” where I explain what mushroom sauce is)3
5 (or more) soup spoons of lime juice
5 (or more) soup spoons of groundnut oil4
Thai jasmin white rice (optional)
Cashew nuts for topping (optional)5
Preparation
With a marinated dish, you need to prepare all ingredients before they rest for hours in the fridge. Ingredients will cook slowly afterward, barely attended; the Preparation steps below consist in most of the work this recipe requires from you.
Cut the tofu in 1.5-2 cm large cubes
Peel the carot, cut it into matchsticks
Peel the half zucchini, cut it into thick sticks
Peel the shallots and garlic, chop them into thin slices
Finely chop the fresh coriander
In a large bowl, pour the liquid ingredients, mix with a spoon
Add all ingredients but the rice and the cashew nuts (both are optional, though) to the bowl
Mix gently (you don’t want to break any of the ingredients, especially the tofu pieces), and ensure the fewest possible solid ingredients surface over the marinade; you want them to soak evenly, so add more liquids (Shaoxing wine, lime juice, soy sauce, and oil) to cover them
Cover, refrigerate for hours (I left it overnight)
Cooking
Do you know the saying “laziness pays twice”? If not, it’s normal, I just invented it. The marinade has done 80% of the cooking job while you were minding your own business; all ingredients have absorbed the flavors while resting. Now, it’s only a matter of heating and cooking the ingredients slowly. Obviously, you can’t start cooking without having completed the steps in section Preparation beforehand.
Heat a large deep pan, or a deep-sided skillet on medium flame/power
Put in the marinade and its content, stir gently
Lower the heat to low/medium and cover for 2-3 hours
Stir occasionnally
If you’ve chosen to add Thai jasmin white rice, add it (cooked), and mix
If you’ve chosen to add cashew nuts, use them as topping
You can serve immediately, and enjoy it right away. The Thai jasmin white rice is optional, and you can also serve it separately. I tend to prefer white rice when I mix it with the dish, and whole (brown, red, or purple) rice when I serve it separately. You can refrigerate the dish to enjoy it later, or even freeze it. In both case, re-heat the dish the same way you cooked it: slowly, on low heat/power, and covered.
Enjoy!
If you’ve tried the recipe, and would like to comment - whether you loved it, or hated it - please do so. I’m welcoming ideas, even if these are non-vegan recipes I’ll have the challenge to “veganize”.
Here’s a tip before you go
If your fridge is large enough, you can prepare the ingredients and marinade in the very same container you will use to cook. This avoids loosing (or spilling) liquid when transfering from the container to the deep-sided pan. Pans and pots with a removable handle are great for this exercise. Yes, it’s yet another lazy smart idea!
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Be cautious: tofu is made of soy, which is a know allergen
Be cautious: soy sauce is made of soy and wheat; both are know allergens
Be cautious: mushroom sauce contains soy sauce, which is made of soy and wheat; both are known allergens
Be cautious: groundnut oil is made of nut, which is a know allergen
Be cautious: cashew nut, like all nuts, is a know allergen
Looks delicious... How about cooking the rice directly in the marinade, with some added broth if needed, rizotto style??