K’s Kitchen: Tasty Asian tofu main dish

By Kathryn Reed

When I see a recipe I like in a magazine I rip it out. Then it goes into a pile of “I’ll get to it someday”. Every now and then I flip through them and wonder why I cut out what I did and other times I wonder why I didn’t try something sooner.

The recipe below falls into the latter category. It’s from the March 2010 (yes, it’s really 3-years-old) Cooking Light.

Those that become keepers are put into a binder to easily be found in the future. But they don’t go in the binder until they’ve been tried. This is going in the binder.

When my sister and her boyfriend came up the weekend before last I decided to create three Chinese dishes. This is the one I had not made before. (The other two recipes will show up on Lake Tahoe News one of these days.)

All three dishes are good, though nothing like what Pam and I had when we were actually in China a couple years ago. But with the Chinese New Year being about the time she visited, it seemed like a good reason to create quite a mess in the kitchen and test my timing skills. (We ate a little late; my timing needs some work to make three main courses. It would also help to get off the computer before guests arrive.)

Any way, I used fresh ginger and not bottled, veggie broth instead of chicken, and I cooked the white rice I usually use instead of bagged jasmine. Safeway has chile paste in the produce section. I left out the salt and used salted peanuts.

And while the recipe has Szechuan in it’s title, this is far from true Szechuan spiciness. The emphasis should be on style and not Szechuan.

Szechuan-style Tofu with Peanuts

2 (3 ½-ounce) bags boil-in-bag jasmine rice

1 (14-ounce) package water-packed firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch pieces

Cooking spray

½ C fat-free, less sodium chicken broth

1 T sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)

1 T less-sodium soy sauce

1 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp black bean garlic sauce

1 T canola oil

¼ tsp salt

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

½ C matchstick-cut carrots

1 T bottled ground fresh ginger

½ C chopped green onions

¼ C unsalted dry roasted peanuts, chopped

Preheat broiler.

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Arrange tofu on single layer on a foil-lined jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray; broil 14 minutes or until golden.

While tofu cooks, combine broth and next 4 ingredients (through black bean sauce), stirring with a whisk; set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add salt and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms begin to release liquid, stirring occasionally. Stir in carrots and ginger; cook 1 minute. Add broth mixture; cook 30 seconds or until sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat; stir in tofu and onions. Sever over rice; sprinkle with peanuts.