Sesame tofu with broccoli
Tonight was a riff off a Bon Appétit recipe: Sesame Tofu with Broccoli. I had most of the ingredients at home and it felt easy for a Thursday. This close to solstice, all I want to do is sleep. It’s like work ends and I’m ready for bed (or a glass of red wine). This was a top 10 recipe in 2021, so my expectations were high. It didn’t disappoint - even with my deviations!
Tonight’s cookin’ song:
Tonight’s takes:
Husband: **Chef’s kiss** He did add a healthy amount of Sambal Oelek though. “With the Sambal, it’s like a great spicy Asian dish. Tofu is bland, so it needs it. The tofu texture is nice; better than I thought it was going to be.”
Helen (7 years old): “Really like how it turned out and how you got the veg so crispy. The sauce is too garlicky - too spicy and overwhelming. I like how you used tofu instead of meat. Overall I love it and it was delicious. The sauce was just too powerful.” Later, “How many people read your cookbook? Over a hundred?! That’s pretty good for a mom who eats chips for lunch.” 🔥🔥🔥
Hector (5 years old): “TOO MUCH SAUCE! TOO MUCH SAUCE!” 🤯 “The tofu is very good. The broccoli - the brown part is crispy and not as good as the green part. The rice and the tofu are very good. Not undercooked or overcooked.”
What I used:
2 heads broccoli
half a bag of bok choy
2 blocks of extra firm tofu (350g each)
~2 tbsp cornstarch
1” knob of ginger
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Medjool date syrup - Bon Appétit recipe called for brown sugar
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Sambal Oelek
1 cup jasmine rice
salt
water
canola oil
What I did:
Got my broccoli and tofu out. Turned the oven on to 400°F.
Opened the tofu, dumped out the package water, and set it on paper towels to finish draining.
Remembered I had a bit of baby bok choy in the fridge! Washed and added it to the mix.
Cut the veg into pieces. Tossed with about 2 tbsp canola oil and a good pinch of salt.
Divided veg between two sheet pans.
Diced the tofu. On the one block, added a good pinch of salt and a decent sprinkling of cornstarch (probably about a tablespoon).
Tossed until the cornstarch was mostly absorbed by the tofu. Added the tofu to one of the sheet pans.
Repeated the dice, salt, cornstarch with the second block of tofu. Added to the other sheet pan. Put the sheet pans in the oven.
Got my rice going. 1 cup of jasmine rice, 1 1/2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt.
Turned to the sauce.
Added all of the ingredients + 3 tbsp water into my mini blender - ginger, garlic, soy sauce, Medjool date syrup, tahini, rice vinegar, sesame oil, Sambal Oelek, and water.
Blended.
After 25 mins, took the sheet pans out of the oven.
After 20 mins, turned the rice off.
Served! Added toasted sesame seeds for flair.
Next time:
I also added a healthy spoonful of Sambal Oelek to my bowl half-way through. It finished it off perfectly. Depending on who’s eating, you could just add more to the sauce.
The tofu stuck a bit to the sheet pan. Next time I’ll add a tiny bit of oil to the sheet pan ahead of dropping the tofu on.
Also, next time I won’t use a monster-sized garlic clove. It really was overpowering. 1 small clove would be enough. We’ll be keeping the vampires away tonight.
Overall, it was really good. And super easy - I made this in less than an hour. Roasting the veg and tofu in the oven was brilliant too - way easier than trying to fry this all on the stovetop. Trusty weeknight meal.
😋😋😋
-Ellisa