Working Girl Cooks!

Stir-fry's can be a very easy and healthy dish to make at home. One of the hardest parts of making a stir-fry is the sauce. How do those Chinese restaurants make such favorable and delicious stir-fry's? I honestly have no idea... but it is one of my goals to find out! This was Eddie's attempt at trying to make a yummy restaurant quality stir-fry at home. I thought it was awesome! He was kind of disappointed...but what true aspiring chef is ever truly satisfied with any dish?

The vegetables: extra firm tofu, onions (shallots were what we had in the fridge but any onion will do), broccoli, bamboo shoots, and scallions.

There are two sauces used for this recipe:

The hot sauce: Thai red chilli paste, minced garlic, and fresh ginger (we did not have fresh ginger so we used powdered ginger)

Make the hot sauce by mixing 1 tablespoon each of the red chilli paste, minced ginger, and minced garlic. (if using powdered ginger use 1/2 a tablespoon). Set this aside.

The sweet and sour sauce: sherry, cornstarch, rice vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, and soy sauce.

To make the sweet and sour sauce, mix together 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sherry, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Set this aside.

Next, dice up the scallions...

cube the tofu...

mince the onions, and dice up the broccoli.

Place the hot sauce in a preheated wok with the minced scallions and heat until fragrant.

Add the tofu and onions and toss to coat. Mmmmm doesn't that look so good already!

When the tofu and onions are cooked through (about 5 minutes), add the sweet and sour sauce, broccoli, and bamboo shoots. Cook for a few minutes until sauce is thick and broccoli is softened slightly. If there is not enough sauce to coat everything, add some chicken broth 1/2 a cup at a time and cook until sauce thickens.

Serve with freshly steamed brown or white rice. YUM!

P.S. For some extra kick, add some red pepper flakes.