Thai-style, fresh-flavored tofu and vegetables sauté
A quick recipe to bring Thai-style flavors to your palate. The whole dish has a fresh touch thanks to the mint, lime, and kaffir lime leaves.
Serves: 1 hungry foodie, maximum 2 people
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes
When I’m looking for a quick Thai-inspired meal, I often combine tofu, veggies, shallots, garlic, and aromatic plants. I especially use shallots rather than onions for Thai dishes, though the latter can work if you don’t have the former. The spices give a unique fresh, light fragrance to the whole, especially with the kaffir lime leaves.
I’ve used tofu, however vegan chicken pieces would work perfectly as well. I wouldn’t venture into vegan beef substitute for this recipe, because the taste would not suit the selected spices in my opinion — feel free to experiment if you like and comment on the result. You can also vary the greens when you return to cook this recipe. Instead of snow peas, you can use sugar snap peas, green beans, and I’ve even found a variety of green beans called “princess beans” in Belgium which fits very well for this kind of dish.
About kaffir lime leaves
Kaffir lime is a citrus fruit, common in Southeast Asian cuisines. It has multiple names, depending on the country, and you may also know this fruit as “combava”. The kaffir lime leaves are widely used in Thai cuisine; they’re an ingredient I use when making green curry paste. I’ll have to share my recipe for Thai green curry paste in the future. As for other aromatic plants (curry leaves, basil, thyme, …), the flavor of the dried version is good, though the fresh one is unparalleled. For the anecdote, years ago I prepared a kaffir lime infused rum; it was great, though it had a very, very astringent flavor.
Ingredients
250 g firm tofu1
1 small carrot ~ 80 g
2 small potatoes ~ 100 g
60 g snow peas (I used frozen, pre-chopped ones)
2 shallots
1 garlic clove
4-5 mint straws
5-7 fingernail-size lime zests (“regular” lime, not kaffir lime)
2 kaffir lime leaves
4-5 soup spoons of groundnut oil2
4-5 soup spoons of soy sauce3
Half a spoon of amchur (powdered dehydrated unripe mango, optional… though recommended)
If you like the flavors to be light and subtle, yet present, use the quantities above. If you like stronger flavors, you can double - or even triple - the mint, lime, kaffir lime, and amchur quantities.
Preparation
The cooking happens preferably in a non-stick wok, so you’re pretty relaxed in the preparation of the ingredients. Although it’s more comfortable to have everything ready before starting to heat the wok, you can start cooking once you’ve diced the potatoes. You can resume the preparation while the potatoes are light-frying.
Peel the potatoes, and dice (in my case, 24 pieces)
Peel the shallots and cut them in halves on the long side, then a second time, then chop thumb-size pieces cut cutting them on the short side
Peel the garlic clove and cut it 8 pieces
Cut the tofu in small dice
Peel the carrot and cut it in medium-sized matchsticks
Cut the mint straws in small pieces
Cooking
I strongly recommend using a non-stick wok or non-stick large pan. The idea is to cook gently to bring the ingredients together; it’s only in the last minutes that you’ll raise the wok to high flame/power.
Heat your non-stick wok or large pan on medium flame/power, then add 4-5 soup spoons of groundnut oil; wait for few seconds for the oil to heat, then lift and tilt the wok in different positions to spread it inside (preferably)
Add 3 lime zests, then immediately afterward the potatoe dice
Stir for 1 minute, then add a spoon of soy sauce
Stir, cover, let it cook for 5 minutes; remove the lid twice or thrice during this time to stir
Remove the potato dice and reserve with the snow peas; be sure to leave as much oil and soy sauce as possible in the wok
Lower the heat to medium-low, add the shallots, the garlic and the tofu dice; stir to mix in the oil and soy sauce
Cover, let it cook for 7 minutes
Increase the heat to high, remove the lid
Throw in the carrot matchsticks, stir well
Add all remaining lime zest and spices (mint straws, kaffir lime leaves, amchur if you have)
Add a dash of soy sauce (3-4 soup spoons), then stir well for 30 seconds
Add the potato dice and the snow peas to the mix
From now on, don't leave your wok alone, as you need to continuously stir; you can choose to let the dish light grill by refraining from stirring for 30-40 seconds, though you shall not stop for longer
After 2-3 minutes, depending on your heater, the dish will be ready; turn off the heat and close the lid until you serve it
Serve as is, or with thai brown rice. If you’re serving with rice, you can feed two; otherwise, this will delight only one.
Since the dish contains potatoes, I don’t recommend freezing it. Potatoes cooked this way tend to loose their texture when unfreezing. They become soft, close to mashed potatoes — you’d miss the awesome texture light-frying gives. Anyway, cooking this recipe doesn’t result in a large amount, and I bet it won’t last more than a couple of days in your fridge if you have leftovers.
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
Herbs and zest freeze and unfreeze nicely. Whenever I need the juice of a fresh lemon or lime, I peel the zest and freeze it for later. Same goes for lime kaffir lime leaves, thai basil leaves, and mint. For the recipe above, you need mint straws. If you’re using straws you' had frozen, slice them before they return to room temperature; it will be easier, as the straw won’t flatten under the pressure.
Thank you for reading. If you liked this post, you can share it to your audience — it’s public, and free!
Be cautious: tofu is made of soy, which is a known allergen
Be cautious: groundnut is a known allergen
Be cautious: soy sauce is made of soy and wheat; both are know allergens
Quelle implication !! On sent que tu aimes la cuisine! Merci pour ce partage :)