Vegetable Tofu (with Broccoli and Carrots)

I get creative when planning home-cooked dinners with my mom because she is into healthy, organic food.  We can't eat chicken because they are raised in a coop and fed manufactured food. We can't eat fish because they are raised in a cramped pen and are fed unspeakable chemicals. Beef and pork are not allowed for elders. The only option left for us to eat is vegetables. I don’t want to float any discussion on the growth conditions of vegetables because we might end up eating nothing.

One of the dishes we keep coming back to for dinner is Vegetable Tofu. It has everything I want and it meets my mom’s standards for edible, healthy food.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water (we use alkaline)
1 tablespoon reduced soy sauce (We use Kikoman 43% less salt)
1 teaspoon coconut sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 cup carrot, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups broccoli florets
6 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
A teeny bit of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Ginger powder (optional)
Garlic powder (optional)

Instructions:

1. For sauce, in a small bowl stir together the water, cornstarch, soy sauce, coconut sugar, ginger & the optional red pepper (if desired), then set aside.

2. On a non-stick pan, stir-fry carrots & garlic for 2 minutes. Add broccoli & stir-fry 3 minutes more, or until vegetables are crisp-tender, then push vegetables away from center of wok or skillet.

3. Stir sauce, then add to center of wok or skillet, & cook, stirring, until thickened & bubbly.

4. Add tofu & stir everything together to coat with sauce. Cook & stir for 1 minute more. Season with ginger powder and garlic powder.

Notes:

1. Olive oil is rendered useless when fried in high heat, so it is best to minimize the frying of olive oil.

2. Smaller garlic is better because the taste is more potent. We always add so much garlic in our food that our helper commented we can easily kill vampires.

3. Carrots are always best eaten cooked because the heat releases the beta-carotene.

4. Broccoli is God’s best gift to mankind because it has potassium for your nervous system, has antioxidants, calcium for bones, regulates blood pressure, repairs skin damage, HIGH IN FIBER, beta-carotene booster, prevents cancer. TLDR; broccoli is the best. #TeamBroccoli

5. Chinese believe that Sichuan women are the most beautiful (and Sichuan men seem more effeminate) because Sichuanese eat a lot of tofu. They believe tofu contains estrogen which accentuates one’s female characteristics. Regardless, tofu gives us an excuse to celebrate our female yang (yin-yang).

Live and love //FR