I have the best of intentions when it comes to vegetables. Unfortunately, they get purchased with my mind full of intent and then languish in the fridge, turning bad and ending up in the compost bin. It’s a terrible, wasteful habit I never do with chocolate or cookies. My resolution with this blog and to myself was to follow through and think beyond the grain and meat. And this tofu stir fry came to mind pretty easily.
While I’ve been doing pretty well, I sometimes get derailed by the kids or am lazy. That’s when stir frys come to the rescue. This is what one calls a cleaning out the fridge meal. There was an eggplant about to go wrong, egg tofu bought on a whim and forgotten about and ground pork at the ready. I Googled these elements and returned this recipe from myrecipes.com, a site I have never used before, but it looked like a good recipe, so I took the risk. It was a risk worth taking. This tofu stir fry recipe came together quickly, used up all the ingredients and had the flavour punch I was looking for.
It was supposed to be a spicy stir fry, but I had a toddler to feed, so I put the Sriracha on the side for the husband. I didn’t miss the heat in the dish, nor did he. The sesame oil, ginger, garlic, soy and rice vinegar gave it a strong layered Asian flavour. Plus, the creamy egg tofu balanced the crumbly texture of pork and the slight tender bitterness of the eggplant.
Savoury Pork, Eggplant, Tofu Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
1 medium eggplant (brinjal, aubergine, or guinea squash) - cubed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon ginger - minced
1 tablespoon garlic - minced
8 ounces ground pork (minced pork)
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar (white sugar)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
8 ounces tofu - drained and sliced
Instructions
- Heat oil in a medium frying pan on medium-high heat. Fry eggplant until softened (8 minutes).
- Remove and place in a bowl lined with a paper towel.
- Fry ginger and garlic until fragrant, and then stir in pork. Stir pork until brown and crumbly (5 minutes).
- Stir together soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and cornstarch in a bowl. Add to pork mixture and stir until sauce thickens (1 minute).
- Add tofu and eggplant until heated through.
- Serve with rice. You can also top with chopped green onions for a hit of freshness.
