Stir fries and tofu

[japonica43]

Hi,

I basically live off stir fries, I shall give my usual recipe, it's not exact, because I'm not a stickler for precision:

500g of chicken breast (4 breasts) or 500g of pork tenderloin
Two peppers, or one sometimes
One or two standard chilli peppers
Handful or two of mange tout
4-ish spring/salad onions
One onion
About 4 large garlic cloves
About the same amount of ginger
400g tinned tomatoes
2, 3 or 4 tsp Garam Masala
1 or 2 tsp Ground turmeric
Some cinammon
Maybe some grated lemongrass
4 tbsp oil
Splashing of soy sauce

What I do is cut up all those ingredients, into the smallest chunks I can manage/be bothered to do, then lob them into a bowl, give them a good stir and marinate overnight. People tell me I shouldn't marinate the vegetables and only the meat. I don't really care. This does create an issue where I will end up overcooking the spring onions and mange tout, but it doesn't bother me hugely.
The next day, I fry it all on a medium/high heat in groundnut oil, with a splashing of chilli oil.
After the chicken is well cooked (I'm paranoid about getting the chicken cooked properly), I add the tomatoes, then simmer on a low heat for as long as I can be bothered.
I sometimes add some fresh coriander and lemon juice.

This creates 4 days worth of meals, I eat it with rice.

What I am looking to do is to increase the number of meals I can get out of it. I could just bulk it up by adding more peppers and then spreading it over 6 serving, but I always feel I need a certain amount of protein in my meals, and this way my 500g of chicken gets spread out too thinly.

So I've been thinking of adding some tofu, because that would add bulk, and also the protein, so I could make it last maybe 6 days or something.

Only problem is I've never cooked with tofu before. Is it realistic to sling it into the stir fry that has chicken in there too? How long does it take to cook properly?

 

[karmajjj123]

You can eat it straight out of the box, though why you'd want to I don't know.
If you put it in at the beginning, it basically disolves, which is good it you are trying to trick someone into eating soy (I do it to my parents all the time, and they have never figured it out) or you can put it in close to the end if you want it to remain intact. I would suggest marinating it for a bit to help it pick up the flavors of the food better, else its a bit bland. Also, if you want to give it some texture, pan fry it a bit first to give it a bit of a crust and some tooth.
Tofu is a great food, it just takes a bit of creativity if you don't like it at the beginning or you are trying to get hard heads to try it.
Good luck.

 

[coaltruck344]

I think if I were to marinate it, it would end up dissolving, because I end up cooking everything that I marinate for about 10 minutes on a decent heat. Would it be sensible to put it in towards the end, when I simmer it all over a low heat for 10-15 mins?
I'm not terribly bothered about it lacking flavour as the rest of the dish has tons to counteract the blandness of tofu.

 

[nOkurr]

10 to five minutes I would suggest with extra firm tofu, basically all you would be doing then is heating it up and allowing it to absorb some of the flavors from the dish.
I don't know that I would go longer then that. Besides, I don't know about your stur fries, but my never take longer then ten minutes to cook. Of course, I do tend to stick to the veggie only, though come to it, even when I cook for the 'rents, it didn't take all that long.

P.S. You might try adding some more veggies to it to add bulk as well. Maybe I misread, but I don't see a lot on the ingredient list.

 

[HAIRSPRAY#1FAN]

1) Yeah, mine take 10 mins, but I like to have tinned tomatoes in there to add some sauce, and I just simmer it then.

2) I have an onion, two peppers, and a fair old whack of spring onion and mange tout. The bulk of vegetables is quite large, and I don't really want to continue bulking it up with just veggies.

 

[zerocool662002]

Eh, just me then. I genrally have a lot more veggies then that in my stir fries. But horses for courses and all that.

 

[ijokey2000]

I guess I could add some beansprouts in there. What veg do you put in?

 

[Maverick]

Just about anything.
Broccoli, bok choy, sprouts, snow or sweet peas, bamboo shoots if you can find them, baby corn, water chestnuts, napa cabbage, well... just about anything you want. Try going up and down the veggie isle and see what you like.