lemongrass tofu

We've been a little meat-heavy over here at GEW, and so I thought today it would be appropriate to direct lunch in a different...direction.

Tofu is one of those things that is cooked so wretchedly a lot of the time that there was a long period of my life where I had almost entirely lost patience with it.

Then, I went to Taiwan, and there, they treated it right. When made with love, tofu really can be delicious.

Because you do the prep-work for this dish overnight, it takes about 25 minutes to make the next day, which is about all the time I really want to spend making lunch anyway. Blending the lemongrass into a pulp and cooking it makes it edible, instead of the horribly woody chunks you sometimes encounter in unfortunate soups. And with the addition of the cornstarch-boosted sauce at the end, it feels like something you'd eat in a nice Asian café...though it's so yummy you may not even think of it as your usual "healthy" or penitent meal.

~*~

Serves 2
Total time: ~10 minutes prep, ~25 minutes to cook

1 package extra firm tofu, cut into wide slices

5 stalks lemongrass

1 inch long piece of ginger

juice of 1/2 lime

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce (optional, this makes your dish non-vegetarian!)

~1 tbsp water

sauce

1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

sides

bok choy
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp soy sauce
handful green beans

The night before you want your tofu, ready your ingredients. To prepare lemongrass, peel off the outermost 2 leaves or any brittle outer leaves. You should be left with a sleek stalk, and the bottom few inches should be white. Cut off this whitish part. Save the tops for soup, keeping in the fridge or freezer. Cut the reserved pieces in half and add to the food processor. Add in peeled ginger, lime juice, garlic, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce if using, and water to help it blend. Pulse until lemongrass is in filament-like fragments--you want it as finely chopped as possible. Stir and pulse again if needed.

Just a little more pulsing to go... 

Appropriately mummified tofu.

Drain your tofu. Lay your tofu brick on a cutting board and wrap it tightly but gently in paper towels or a clean dish towel. Wait for a few minutes, allowing some of the liquid to come out of the tofu. Once dried, cut tofu into slices that are about 3 centimeters thick and lay into a tupperware container. Pour sauce over tofu, being sure every piece is covered. Gently slide tupperware back and forth a few times to spread liquid around, then close and refrigerate overnight.

I keep my slices pretty thick so they're less likely to break. If they do break, though, it's not the end of the world...they will still be delicious!

When you are ready to eat, heat oil in a hot pan or wok. Toss in beans, add salt and pepper. Let them cook until starting to shrivel and brown, about 5 minutes. Add 4 cloves minced garlic and tsp soy sauce. Be careful, as adding soy sauce may make the mixture slightly explosive. Cook green beans until done, about 5 more minutes. When the beans are done, you can remove them to your plate and wilt your bok choy in the same pan, which takes 4-5 minutes.

Side-veggies, at the ready.

As you're working on your beans, heat a griddle pan to medium-hot, until water that is sprinkled on it disappears immediately (very hot, but not burn-your-food hot). Place 2 tbsp of oil or ghee in pan. Once oil shimmers or ghee turns clear, lay down your slices of tofu carefully, so they do not break. Add in some of the lemongrass pulp, then discard the rest of the marinade. Shift slices a little in the pan so that they do not stick. Let the slices cook on one side until they have acquired brown grill marks or caramelized, about 7-8 minutes. Turn them over carefully, so as not to break them, and cook a further 7-8 minutes until the other side has grill marks as well. I like to drizzle over a little more soy sauce while the second side is cooking.

In the pan...

One side done...

Ready for sauce.

Once tofu is done, remove it to plate. In order to make your sauce, add 1/2 cup of water to loosen lemongrass pulp. Add soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Mix your cornstarch in with your 2 tbsp of water in a cup, stirring to remove lumps. Pour this into the pan and stir, letting cook for about 2 minutes. When the sauce has thickened, pour into cup. Add to your tofu as you like.

Bon appétit!