Get your chopsticks out, friends.
I’m going to share a good one today. I’ve been cooking up quite a bit of Asian inspired meals lately, and this one will fit nicely into that category.
For those of you who are anti-tofu, I have two things to say. First, tofu tastes like whatever you cook it in, so it’s all about the sauce. Get it crispy, add a sauce, and give it a chance. It’s far more delicious than you think.
Secondly, if you scoffed at my first piece of advice, you can substitute beef or pork into this recipe and it would be just as good. Instead of searing tofu just get your meat browned nice and crispy and then add the same sauce. Mongolian beef and green beans with rice, does that sound better?
You may also notice that my green beans are purple. This is just the variety that we received in our weekly delivery, but they taste exactly the same as regular green beans. In fact, when cooked for more than just a few minutes, they actually turn green (you can see in the photos that some of ours started to change colors, but I like to keep them pretty crispy so they didn’t get all the way there).
- 16 oz extra firm tofu
- 2-3 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
- 1½ cups jasmine rice, dry
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¾ lb green beans, trimmed
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- Drain liquid out of tofu. You can do this by placing tofu block on a large plate and covering with a cutting board or another plate. Then put something heavy (like a full teapot) on top and let drain for at least 30 minutes.
- Discard the liquid and cut tofu into ½ inch cubes. Sprinkle cornstarch on tofu and lightly cover on all sides.
- In a medium pot, heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil over medium heat. Add rice and stir to coat. Add water, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and cook until fluffy.
- Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, water, and brown sugar. Mix until all sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- Heat remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add tofu and cook until browned (about 5 minutes), then flip and brown on opposite side (an additional 5 minutes).
- Add soy sauce mixture to pan, bring to a boil, and reduce heat. Stir to make sure tofu is covered. Once liquid starts to thicken, add in green beans and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Serve tofu and green beans over rice. Top with scallions and sesame seeds.
[…] the last green bean recipe, my green beans started out purple. But the purple color is only skin deep, and when cooked with […]
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