Tofu Hodgepodge

This recipe is adapted VERY loosely from “Seitan with Peanut Sauce” from Simply in Season. For starters, I went to a health food store and a large grocery store and found no sign of seitan, which is apparently a great “alternative protein” that is easy to make. However, I decided that I am going to wait until I cook through More with Less before experimenting with that sort of thing. So I substituted cubed extra firm tofu. And THEN, when I was almost done, I discovered that we have no peanuts. Hence, “Seitan with Peanut Sauce” became “Tofu Hodgepodge,” or according to my husband, “Basic Stir Fry that You Ruined by Putting Vegetarian Fake Meat in It.”

For this recipe, I started by sauteing one large onion (chopped) and 4 cloves of garlic (minced) in sesame oil for 5 minutes. I then added a cubed package of tofu and sauteed for another 5 minutes.

I added the following vegetables, all chopped, based on what I had leftover in my frig. That’s why I called it ‘garbage.’ Included: broccoli, carrots, green pepper, purple pepper, bok choy, eggplant. I added 1/3 C water and 2 T of soy sauce and sauteed, covered, for 10 minutes. Added another few shakes of soy sauce and served over rice noodles.

The verdict: Eh. It was fine, and I’ll probably stick the concept (throw the veggies lurking in your fridge in a stir fry and add soy sauce and some sort of meat, fake or not) in the back of my mind.