6.26.2010

Chinese Sesame "Kale" and Ginger Soy Tofu

This meal was a weird yin-yang of excellence paired with failure.




















The sesame "kale" was the failure, so I'll cover that first. Several things went wrong and they all contributed to the general nastiness.
#1 - It froze in our fridge. Apparently the temperature was up too high (or "down too low?" Linguistic puzzle).
#2 - It wasn't kale (hence the quotes). It was Swiss chard, because that's all we could find.
#3 - We probably should have cut the leafy pieces off of the thick stem in the center of each leaf. These were especially gummy and tough when they defrosted.

The preparation seemed really great, though, and I'd like to give it another try. Here's a link to the recipe. Click here!


The real star of this meal turned out to be the tofu. I used a really simple marinade from the interwebs and just let the tofu sit in it for about an hour before pan frying it. It's some of the best tofu I've ever made and I will definitely make it again.


Ginger Sesame Marinade
from Real Simple

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced (I omitted and subbed a clove of garlic)
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

  1. Combine the ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag, a shallow bowl, or a baking dish.
  2. Add 2 pounds of poultry, meat, seafood, or vegetables (or one package of tofu) and refrigerate, covered, at least 20 minutes and up to overnight. (For fish and scallops, marinate for no more than 15 minutes or they may become mushy.)
  3. Turn the food occasionally so all surfaces are exposed to the marinade.
  4. Before cooking, remove the food from the container, shake off the excess liquid, and discard the marinade. (Always toss a marinade once you’ve soaked raw meat in it―the mixture may be contaminated with bacteria).*
  5. Cook on a lightly oiled grill to the desired doneness.

*Since I was just using tofu, I threw the extra marinade into the pan. The whole thing was a lot saucier that way.

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