kung pao tofu

Overview

Time: 30 minutes
Dishes: large skillet, oven, baking pan or cake pan, measuring cup

Heads Up! teriyaki sauce

Hello, hello Dear Readers!

This meatless, vegetarian and vegan dish is an old favorite recipe of ours, but it calls for brown rice syrup. Since that ingredient is hard to come by, I wanted to recreate it with more readily available ingredients and a simpler preparation. This is sweet and as spicy as you like it, but was on the table in 30 minutes, plus an extra 15 for my brown rice. It's always the brown rice holding things back!

If you have time to press the tofu (and you do if you are making brown rice) do so, otherwise, just bake it as is; it'll still be great.

This is such a quick, easy and delicious recipe that I wonder why we don't have it more often. Oh, yeah, the brown rice syrup. With the easy substitution of using molasses and maple, the syrup doesn't have to be searched for any longer. If you have it and prefer that, omit both the molasses and the maple and substitute an equal amount of the brown rice syrup.  

Enjoy!

Speedy Cooking Tips:

• If you are serving rice, start that first
• Press tofu for 10 minutes (optional) while oven preheats
• Prepare the tofu and bake
• Prepare the sauce and chop vegetables
• When tofu is 10 minutes out, start the Vegetables section in the recipe

 

Kung Pao Tofu

Makes 4 servings 

easy

Preheat oven to 350-F

Serve with Rice and Steamed Broccoli 

1. Tofu: Combine the tofu and teriyaki sauce on a 9X9 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.

1-pound (pressed preferably) tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

2. Sauce: Combine the ingredients in a measuring cup and stir well:

3 tablespoons Blackstrap molasses

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3. Vegetables: Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ingredients and cook for 5 minutes, until peanuts are golden, stirring often:

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon grated ginger

2/3 cup peanuts

1 bell pepper, chopped

3 scallions, chopped

4. Add the Tofu and Sauce to the skillet, stir and cook for 2 minutes until thickened. Taste and add salt and pepper. Serve with rice and broccoli.

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

ginger crunch salad

Overview

Time: 30 minutes
Dishes: skillet, measuring cup, salad spinner

Heads Up! mandarin oranges and chow mein noodles

Hello, hello Dear Readers!

The crunch for this meatless, vegetarian and vegan salad comes in the form of the chow mein noodles, cashews and vegetables. The marinade is made with molasses, which is a good source of iron and the mandarin oranges provides the vitamin C to help absorb the iron. Overall, the ingredients work together not only in flavor, but nutrition, as well.

The molasses offers a slight sweetness and nothing overpowering. If you like a little spice, remember to add the cayenne - it'll give it a little kick! 

If you want to make the dressing have more "body," add a few tablespoons of neutral oil to the marinade. As it is, I left it at a single tablespoon of toasted sesame seed oil because I like my foods with less oil. As always, cook to your own taste! 

Enjoy!

Speedy Cooking Tips:

• Press the tofu while making the marinade.
• Marinate the tofu while preparing the salad ingredients.
• Marinate the cashews while tofu bakes.

 

Ginger Crunch Salad

Makes 4 servings 

moderate 

www.ZsusVeganPantry.com

 Preheat air-fryer to 400-F or oven to 450-F

1. Marinade: Combine the marinade ingredients:

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon tamari

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

 

2. Tofu: Press the tofu for 5 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Add to the Marinade. Set aside for 10 minutes.

1-pound regular tofu

3. Bake: Add the Tofu (without the marinade) to the air-fryer basket. Cook for 10 minutes. If baking in the oven, add to a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

4. Cashews: Add the cashews to the marinade while the tofu bakes. When 10 minutes is up, add the cashews to the basket with the Tofu and bake for another 5 minutes (same for the oven). Set the Marinade aside as dressing.

 3/4 cup cashews

5. Salad: Serve Salad ingredients with the Tofu/Cashews and leftover Marinade as dressing:

4 cups shredded lettuce

4 cups baby spinach

1 cup shredded cabbage

3 scallions, sliced

2 carrots, shredded

1 (10-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained

2 cups chow mein noodles

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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