Black Bean Tofu and Garlic Fried Rice

I love tofu in black bean sauce, I get it pretty much every time I get a Chinese take away (I do try other stuff some times, but I always come back to this). It was the first thing I tried from a Chinese take away when I became vegetarian, so it hold a special place in my heart. I thought as part of my favourite things I would attempt to make it for the first time! I found a basic black bean sauce recipe on the Internet and adapted it so it was more like the one I'm used to.

Serves 2,

For the rice:
2 tbsp sesame oil
200g precooked rice
1 garlic clove minced
2 tbsp soy sauce

For the tofu in black bean sauce:

200g firm tofu
2 tbsp cornflour
240 ml vegetable stock
3 tsp rice wine
3 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic
1 large onion chopped
1 bok choy leaves separated and steam chopped
half teaspoon grated ginger
1 red pepper diced
1 small red chili chopped
6 tbsp black beans
2 tbsp olive oil

Start by pre-frying your tofu so that it's nice and crispy. Cut your tofu in to thin strips and use 1tbsp of the corn flour to coat each piece. Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan and add the minced garlic and the tofu, fry on a high heat until the tofu is crispy and golden brown. Remove from the pan and put in a bowl covered with kitchen roll to absorb the excess grease.

Then fry the the rice in the oil left over from the tofu, and add some more minced garlic if you like. Leave to fry on a medium heat, stirring regularly while cooking the sauce. Half way through cooking add the soy sauce and mix in.

Make the sauce by mixing the vegetable stock, rice wine, sesame oil, cornflour and soy sauce in a bowl. Then heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the ginger and garlic and fry gently, then add the onion and bok choy stems and stir fry for around 2 minutes. Then add the red pepper and chili and keep stir frying for another minute or so. Then add the tofu, black beans and bok choy leaves and cook for another few minutes. Add the sauce and keep stirring until it thickens. Serve the black bean tofu with the rice and enjoy!

Overall it was successful, a lot cheaper and probably healthier and I will definitely make it again rather than going to the take away! If I can just master crispy seaweed It would be perfect.

Posted in: vegan, vegetarian