First Nutrition Lab

Last night was, duh, the first Nutrition lab of this semester and each team was assigned a vitamin or mineral to highlight in their recipe. My team had Calcium. Yay, Calcium! We picked a sesame tofu stir-fry recipe that we modified slightly.

The recipe called for asparagus, and chicken stock. Easy enough, we switched the asparagus for broccoli, which is a better texture, and vegetable stock, which would make this edible, in my opinion.

We went through the hole lab and I took a picture at the end, and I was planning on taking the remainder home. Well, someone thought they would trash it instead, so I had to make it at home.

This called for a trip to the brand-spanking new China Market in town. I bought 12oz of tofu for 60 cents. How crazy is that? I enjoyed the stuff we mad in lab better, because I put way too much chili paste into my sauce and I left out the sesame seeds and the peanut oil. I wanted to leave out some of the fat and I don't have sesame seeds, but do as you will.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp black sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tsp peanut oil
2 tsp dark sesame oil
Cooking spray
4 cups thin sliced shiitake mushroom caps
3 cups broccoli
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
2 cups cooked long-grain brown rice

1. Combine the sesame seeds and 1/4 tsp salt in a large bowl.
2. Add the tofu and toss to coat.
3. Combine the oils in a wok over med-high heat.
4. Add the tofu to the wok and saute until golden in color. Remove from heat and keep warm.
5. Spray the wok with non-stick cooking spray and return to the heat.
6. Add the mushrooms and broccoli. Saute until tender.
7. Reduce heat to med and stir in the green onions.
8. Combine the vegetable broth, the soy sauce, the hoisin sauce, chili sauce and the cornstarch.
9. Add the broth mixture and the tofu to the wok and add the remaining salt.
10. Serve over rice.

Note: Try using bulgar or quinoa in place of the rice.