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Szechuan Tofu Stir-Fry
with snow peas / carrots / barley

Active: 30 min Total: 1 hr 5 min
Using cubed tofu and lots of vegetables, this stir-fry is about as fast and colorful as they come. Feel free to increase the spice if you'd like.
Smarts: It will seem like a lot of vegetables when you first add them to the pan, but the carrots will shrink down considerably as they cook. Just keep cooking them until they are very tender and reduced in quantity.
Tags
Proteins
Cuisines

Ingredients

Metric
Servings:
4
Szechuan Stir-Fry Sauce:
  • Ginger - 2 tsp , grated
  • Garlic - 2 cloves , chopped
  • Stock, any type - 1/2 cup
  • Soy sauce, low-sodium - 1/4 cup
  • Cornstarch - 1 Tbsp
  • Brown sugar - 1 Tbsp
  • Vinegar, rice - 2 Tbsp
  • Oil, toasted sesame - 2 tsp
  • Chili garlic sauce - 1 tsp (sub any hot sauce)
Szechuan Tofu Stir-Fry:
  • Tofu, extra-firm - 16 oz , cubed (vacuum-packed preferable)
  • Carrots - 10 oz , shredded (look for pre-shredded)
  • Cilantro leaves - 2 Tbsp , chopped
  • Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
  • Snow peas - 8 oz (sub snap peas)
  • Lime juice - 2 tsp
Barley:
  • Barley, hulled and uncooked - 2/3 cup

Prep

  1. Tofu - If tofu is packaged in water, press out liquid first, like in this video. Then slice into 1/2” / 1.3 cm thick cubes. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
  2. Barley - (Double if making Thursday's meal.) Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Salt water generously and add barley. Simmer for 45 to 55 minutes until tender but not soggy. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
  3. Ginger / Garlic - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
  4. Carrots - If not pre-shredded, shred with a box grater or food processor.
  5. Make sauce - Whisk together ginger, garlic, stock, soy sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili garlic sauce. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
  6. Cilantro - Chop cilantro.

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Make

  1. Heat a wok or large saute pan with cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots and snow peas and saute until tender, 6 to 7 minutes.
  2. Move vegetables to one side of the pan and add tofu to the other side. Saute tofu until heated through, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir tofu into vegetables.
  3. Give sauce a good stir (or shake if using a jar with a lid) to be sure that the cornstarch fully dissolves.
  4. Pour sauce over stir-fry and bring to a simmer. Cook everything together until sauce thickens, ~3 minutes.
  5. Add lime juice and cilantro to stir-fry.
  6. If barley was made ahead, reheat in the microwave (reserve half if doubled).
  7. Serve stir-fry over barley. Enjoy!

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