Stir-fried tofu, cashew, and veggies, with galangal and fresh coriander
Tofu and cashew, carrot and green beans, shallot and garlic, galangal and fresh coriander, chili and black pepper. No poker hand holds 5 great pairs, however this recipe does.
Serves: 4
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking: 20-25 minutes
This is my sixth Thai-inspired recipe out of twenty-six published, surpassing Japanese-inspired articles only by one. I often mention that Indian cuisine is my favorite one, however given the amount of time required to cook dishes, Thai cuisine is a unique challenger. If I related how late I came to Chinese cuisine (cf. Chinese water chestnuts and cabbage, stir-fried with whole spices), I believe the story’s similar for Thai cuisine. I was lucky to work for several years in an office located in a tiny leisure district inside a European capital city. The place gathered several restaurants, however the office’s favorite one was a small, overcrowded Thai place across the street. They made most of their sales with takeaway boxes during lunch time, and I enjoyed it for years. I had the opportunity to travel to the US North-West coast, and I continued my exploration of Thai delights there. More than unique, Thai cuisine is for me a fierce challenger to Indian one.
Today’s recipe is the kind of one born from a combination of having found a great fresh product, and being unable to find the other. Although I prefer to have all my main ingredients at the same bar (fresh or dried, canned), I looked for a dried substitute. Without luck. I changed my plans, and instead of lamenting not having found Thai basil, I enjoyed cooking the fresh galangal root I had.
About galangal
Galangal is a root similar to ginger. The one I use in this recipe is a greater galangal (Alpinia Galanga), which has a whiter color, a lighter and fresher taste than the lesser galangal (Alpinia Officinarum). Galangal has a thicker skin, tougher to peel than ginger, and I usually swap the peeler for the knife. After that, it’s slightly softer than ginger to cut and slice. I like to use galangal in Thai cuisine as it is very aromatic, and in my opinion it echoes the herbal fragrance of lemongrass, (Thai) basil, and coriander. It’s not as easy to find as ginger root, which is now pretty common (at least where I shop), so it’s a good surprise when I spot some along with fresh vegetables. As there are other roots which have a similar flavor, while less pronounced, I recommend to buy only fresh galangal roots, and not powdered spice — plus fresh products are always better, right?
Ingredients
250 g firm tofu1
1 big carrot ~ 185 g
160 g green beans (I used frozen, Belgian “princess beans”)
125 g roasted cashew nuts2 (also salted in my case)
6 shallots ~ 154 g
5 garlic cloves ~ 22 g
20 g galangal root
40 g fresh coriander
2 dried Thai chili peppers
Black pepper corns to grind (I used Tellicherry pepper)
6 soup spoons of soy sauce3
10 soup spoons of sunflower oil
Preparation
This recipe doesn’t require a lot of preparation steps, however peeling, chopping, and slicing seems to take an exponential time when the number of items grow. Fortunately, there aren’t too many shallots and garlic cloves which stand in your way before proceeding with the cooking. As usual, I encourage you to complete all steps below before starting to heat your cookware.
Dice the tofu into 2 cm cubes
Peel the carrot, cut into mid-size matchsticks
Peel the shallots, cut in half, then again into 1-2 cm wide slices
Peel the garlic cloves, cut into thin slices
Peel the galangal root, slice, then cut each slice into thin matchsticks
Wash the fresh coriander, then chop finely
Break the dried Thai chili peppers into pieces
Cooking
To cook Thai recipes, I skip my carbon-steel wok because I’ve seasoned it with repeated Japanese and Chinese dishes. I sometimes use a non-stick wok, and today I relied on one of my favorite cookware: a stainless steel deep-sided pan. As mentioned in the Preparation steps, complete all of them before moving with the Cooking ones below.
Heat your cookware to 70% of the maximum flame/power; wait for it to turn hot
Add 7 soup spoons of oil, then shortly after the tofu cubes; start stirring
After 30 seconds, add 3 soup spoons of soy sauce
Lower the heat to medium flame/power; stir occasionally for 2 minutes, don’t worry if the cubes stick a bit to the pan or the wok
Remove the tofu cubes from the pan, reserve them for later
Add the shallots, garlic cloves, galangal matchsticks, Thai chili pepper pieces, carrot matchsticks, and 3 soup spoons of oil to the pan; stir once, then cover for 3 minutes
Grind black pepper into the dish to your taste; add green beans, and 3 soup spoons of soy sauce
Return the cookware to 70% of the maximum flame/power; stir regularly for 3 minutes
Return the tofu cubes to the dish, and add the cashew nuts; stir for 2 minutes
Once you’ve completed the Cooking steps, you’ll wonder where does the fresh coriander go. If you serve this dish immediately, use the fresh coriander as topping. If you cooked this recipe for later, let it cool down, then mix in the fresh coriander. You can serve this dish as is, for a low-carb meal, or with Thai rice — jasmin white, red, brown. In the past, I was adding slightly under-cooked white rice between steps 7 and 8. As I needed to control my carbohydrate intake, I started to cook and serve rice separately. Some of my guests also appreciate to refill their plate with either the dish, or both.
This combination of tofu, nuts, and veggies freezes and unfreezes well. You can definitely store servings for later in your freezer, and indulge yourself an ad-hoc Thai dinner after re-heating it. Just note that the chopped fresh coriander will slightly fade during the re-heating process — so in this case you may wish to store the chopped coriander separately in your freezer.
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
Some non-stick cookware include a thermal indicator to let the cooker know it has reached the cooking temperature. Adding ingredients too early is not an issue because they won’t stick. It’s a challenge with stainless steel cookware. One can place his or her hand above the bottom of the pan and feel the heat; still, it takes a lot of experience to feel if it’s hot enough. Adding ingredients before it’s hot enough will make them stick. Even if you splash the bottom with oil. You can know approximately the temperature of your pot or pan with a drop of water. If it spreads, the temperature is below 100°C. If it evaporates, it’s 100°C or above (modulo the atmospheric pressure). If it stays under the form of a drop of water, the temperature is above 160-190°C (depending on references I found). This is called the Leidenfrost effect. Ingredients won’t stick at this temperature because there is a tiny vapor blanket between the bottom and them. Beware that vapor doesn’t transmit heat as efficiently as water or direct contact, so you’ll cook slower. Find a compromise between the energy to heat and maintain your cookware, and your muscles to stir and prevent ingredients from sticking.
Be cautious: tofu is made of soy, which is a known allergen
Be cautious: cashew nut is a known allergen
Be cautious: soy sauce is made of wheat and soy; both are known allergens
This looks utterly delicious!