TOFU STIR FRY

ATTEMP 4: TOFU STIR FRY

Rating: **** (Success)

Serves: 5-6 people

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Recipe:

Part A Ingredients

-broccoli

-2 peppers (any colour)

-2 sticks of celery

-carrots

-zucchini

-snow peas

-teriyaki sauce

Part B Ingredients

-extra firm tofu

-teriyaki sauce

-minced garlic

Part C Ingredients

-desired amount of quinoas (1 cup per person is recommended)

Directions

1. Slice tofu into strips ½ cm thick and however long you desire.

2. Marinate the tofu slices in a teriyaki and garlic sauce. Let it sit for approximately 15 minutes before flipping the slices and marinating for another 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, slice, chop or cut all of you vegetables into manageable pieces, slightly smaller than bite sized.

Note: If possible, keep the different vegetables separate from each other.

4. Sautee each of you vegetables individually in teriyaki sauce for a short while. Then remove them from the heat and blanch them by putting them immediately into a bowl of ice water where they should remain until cool. The latter should be done with all the vegetables with the exception of the peppers.

5. Attempt to remove as much excess liquid from your vegetables and tofu as possible.

6. Place both the vegetables and tofu slices on dehydrator racks, making sure that there is a decent amount of space between each piece. If they are too close to one another, then they will not dehydrate properly.

7. Dehydrate for approximately 24 hours, flipping the tofu slices every 3 hours or so. Neither the vegetables nor the tofu should be flexible in any way when they are done.

8. Store in air tight containers until use.

9. Rehydrate:

a) Bring to a boil 1 ¼ cups of water for every cup of quinoas you intend to prepare. If you solely wish to rehydrate the vegetables and tofu, use 2 cups of water.

b) Crumble your pieces of tofu and place them into the boiling water.

Note: The tofu can also be eaten in its’ dehydrated form as a cracker if desired.

c) About 5 minutes later, put the quinoas and vegetables into the water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

10. Once completely rehydrated, add your favorite teriyaki sauce for extra flavor and serve!

Response: After the Ratatouille disaster, I decided that it would be best if I did a bit of research before beginning my second set of dehydrations. As I searched for a complete meal dehydration recipe, I found a very helpful website that featured explanations of how to effectively dehydrate vegetable, fruit and some small meals (see link below). Preparing my meal this time was somewhat time consuming, but worthwhile. Everything dehydrated and rehydrated with ease in addition to tasting pretty good. The only thing I would have done differently would be the type of tofu I used. When I rehydrated the tofu, I found that it did not return to its’ original texture, in fact it was far too chewy. That being said I believe the best solution would be to use firm tofu instead of extra firm. Besides that, there is little I would change about the recipe as its’ taste was adequate and it was an excellent source of all your daily nutrition requirements. Finally a success!

Tofu Crackers: Lamond, Laura. “Teriyaki Tofu Crackers”. Lemonade.http://www.greensim.com/lemonade/dryfood.html. (January 2, 2012)

Basic Vegetables: “ Vegitable Drying Guide” How To Dry Fruits and Vegetables.http://farmgal.tripod.com/Dehydrate.html. (January 2, 2012)

Tips

-Blanch vegetables before dehydrating

-Remove as much liquid as possible before dehydrating

-Cut everything slightly smaller than what you regularly would

-Spread the food in a VERY thin layer on the dehydrator sheet, leaving as much space as possible in between pieces

-Make sure each tray is as far away from the other as possible

-Only use just as much parchment paper as you need

-If possible, sample before dehydrating to test flavor

-Expect the food to take a fair amount longer than anticipated to dehydrate

Rae Woodhouse