So most of the cooking posts here are from Karen, but this time I, Dennis, am going to talk about the meal. Tonight was a perfect storm so to speak. First: I am a lover of peanut sauce. Second: The kids got Karen a vegan cookbook for her birthday. And third: Our Misfits Market (not a sponsor) box that arrived today had bok choy in it.
Karen was really excited about the variety of fruits and vegetables that came today and we will talk more about Misfits Market in another post. But tonight she decided we were going to try bok choy for the first time. The recipe she found (and somewhat followed) was for a “Baked Tofu with Peanut Sauce and Bok Choy.” Of course the tofu we had on hand was not the suggested ingredient in the recipe, it called for an “extra firm” texture but I really don’t remember that being an option at our little grocery store. We picked up the tofu we had on a whim with the intent to improve our diet with a little less meat.
After researching the difference between “firm” and “extra firm” on the web, we learned we had to “press it” to drain it of excess water. To do that you wrap it in a paper towel and then a dish towel, then stack a bunch of heavy books on it (for about a hour). So we did…. but what we didn’t know was that the tofu would start to compress and lean and to our surprise we soon heard the books crash to the kitchen floor. So we put the “stack” between the mixer and the blender for support and hoped for the best.
After the tofu was pressed, we decided to cut it much thinner than recommended and place on parchment paper on the baking sheet. We also added some hot pepper sesame oil to elevate heat level on the dish. We tasted the peanut sauce and thought some garlic might kick it up a notch, but after doing a test taste decide to add only some of the garlic that we had prepared so that it didn’t overpower the flavor.
I can honestly say we were pleasantly surprised. We didn’t think we would like tofu and the bok choy seemed like just a variety of celery but in the end I went back for seconds.
Bok Choy & Tofu with a Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
Bok Choy and Tofu
- 2 heads bok choy stems removed, stalks separated
- 14 oz pack of tofu drained and cut like chicken strips
- 2 tbps sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp hot pepper oil
Peanut Sauce
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 1 tbsp ginger root chopped
- ½ tsp pepper flakes
- ½ tsp garlic chopped
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup water
Garnish
- ¼ cup peanuts chopped
- ½ cup green onion small diagonal cuts, white and green parts
Instructions
Bok Choy and Tofu
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Remove stem from bok choy. Divide stalks, rinse and set aside.
- Press tofu, if needed, to remove some of the moisture. Cut tofu into multiple chicken strip like pieces.
- Place tofu pieces on parchment on a baking sheet in a single layer. Coat both sides of tofu with ½ of the sesame oil, soy sauce, and black pepper.
- Tightly cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove foil, flip tofu and push to one side. Add bok choy to pan. Coat bok choy with remaining sesame oil, soy sauce, hot pepper oil and salt.
- Bake tufo and bok choy uncovered for 15 minutes until tofu is browned and bok choy is wilted.
Peanut Sauce
- In a bowl wisk together peanut butter, water, salt, lime juice, ginger, hoisin sauce, red pepper flakes, and garlic.
Garnish
- Chop green onions and peanuts.
