Soft tofu soaks up the flavour of a tangy, Oriental-style marinade of soy sauce and dry sherry and is then stir-fried with a crisp mixture of vegetables and cashew nuts and served with noodles.
ingredients
serves: 4
10 ounce tofu (fresh or packeted)
1/2 inch piece fresh root ginger
2 cups sugarsnap peas
3/4 cup (3 1/2 oz) fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 large red or yellow pepper
14 ounce Chinese cabbage or cos lettuce
1 bunch of scallions
3 tablespoons groundnut oil
9 ounce thread egg noodles
Salt
3/4 cup roasted cashew nuts
For the marinade:
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Black pepper
method
1. Preheat the oven to a low setting and put a kettle of water on to boil. To make the marinade, peel the garlic and crush it into a bowl. Add the soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, sugar and pepper and stir.
2. Drain the tofu and cut it into oblongs 1/2 inch thick, add it to the marinade and leave to soak.
3. Peel and finely chop the ginger. Rinse, top and tail the sugarsnap peas. Clean the mushrooms and slice them thinly Rinse, quarter and deseed the pepper, stack the pieces and slice them into long strips. Set them all aside.
4. Remove any damaged outer leaves from the cabbage or lettuce, then rinse, dry and cut it across into 1/2 inch slices. Trim, rinse and slice the scallions.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon of groundnut oil in a skillet over a moderate heat. Drain the tofu, reserving the marinade, stir-fry it for 3 minutes, then remove and keep warm.
6. Heat the remaining oil in the pan. Add the ginger, sugarsnap peas and mushrooms and stir-fry them for 2 minutes. Then add the sliced pepper, stir-fry for 2 minutes more, and add the cabbage or lettuce and the scallions and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes.
7. Put the noodles into a bowl, add salt and cover with boiling water. Stir gently, cover and set aside for as long as instructed on the packet.
8. While the noodles are cooking, pour the reserved marinade into the vegetables, add the roasted cashew nuts and stir for 1 - 2 minutes until the marinade is hot.
9. Stir the tofu into the vegetables and keep warm. Drain the noodles. Serve mixed with the vegetables.
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