Tofu Stir Fry … attempt

I bought some tofu wanting to make stir fry some time, because I really like the tofu in dishes at Pei Wei.

Sesame stir fry with tofu at Pei Wei

By the way, I’d like to take this opportunity to sing the praises of Pei Wei because their food is fresh, filling and (optionally) healthy. I like getting brown rice with any of their stir fry/bowls. Then it’s whole grains + protein + vegetables = nutritionally perfect meal. Since I usually have some leftover for lunch the next day, it’s the meal that keeps on giving.

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart for the tofu/sauce part (here) and another from Rachel Ray for the vegetables/cooking process (here).

Tofu frying in the wok

Here’s my stir fry in progress –

Martha made me squeeze the tofu dry before cooking it, with a complex double-baking sheet/paper towel set-up weighed down with cans. I trusted her, and prepped my vegetables in the meantime. I guess it made a difference, the tofu has to be dry enough to soak up the liquid you add. Did a little marinade for the tofu, fried it, took it out of the pan, cooked the veggies with fresh ginger and garlic and the recycled, leftover tofu marinade (that was the stir fry’s sauce).

I didn’t time this very well so my rice wasn’t done when I wanted to eat… whatever. Went low-carb with this meal.

Stir fry - complete dish

Overall, I’d give myself a 3/10 on a scale of how good this meal was. It was healthy, something new for me (first time doing tofu), and filled me up, but it simply wasn’t very tasty, took about an hour to make, and made a mess.  I don’t have the whole sauces thing figured out. Like should I buy it pre-made or go from scratch? And I always mess with recipes because I think “stir fry is so flexible, certainly I can add [cabbage carrots fresh ginger] without consequence.” The result is I have yet to make a stir fry that I’m thrilled with. Next time I do stir fry, I’ll try to stick to one recipe to improve the flavor.

Well, that’s a nice thing about cooking for yourself; you don’t have to worry about pleasing anyone else.

Does anyone have any stir fry tips or recipes? I’m in need of some serious direction here :)

P.S. Unless my real camera magically gains the ability to instantly upload photos to the internet, or I magically get less lazy, I will be using my little phone camera for snapping cooking shots.