Wednesday, December 5 Soba Noodle Stir-fry with Tofu and Spring Rolls Rating: 4.25

Already having a less than stellar day, I topped it off by overcooking the tofu. Sigh. It wasn’t horrible, but I was still really disappointed. I actually put the extra effort into dry-frying it before marinating to give it that nice, chewy texture you get from Chinese restaurants. The marinade was mostly based on the Asian marinade in Veganomicon, but tweaked a little. I used ¼ cup mirin, ¼ cup veggie broth, ¼ cup tamari, a bunch of minced garlic, some grated ginger, a healthy teaspoon of chili-garlic sauce, a tiny splash of chili oil and a tablespoon-ish of rice vinegar. I’m used to baking on stones which need longer to bake, but was using a metal sheet today so the tofu was a little well done. OK. Almost burnt but not quite. It was still good, but would’ve been a lot better if I’d kept a better eye on it. The stir-fry was pretty basic – broccoli, bell peppers, green onions, carrots, shallots and garlic, which I cooked in a little of the marinade for a few minutes. Instead of serving it over rice, we opted to toss some soba noodles in with the veggies and tofu. I poured some of the leftover marinade over the noodles before I added it to the veggies and tofu.  I would’ve liked it all a bit better if I hadn’t been out of sesame oil, but overall, it was a pretty good veggies and tofu dinner.