Although Brian become raised as a carnivore, he's generally had no problem adjusting to a more often than now not vegetarian own family. But there's one thing that he exhibits type of stressful about tofu: It generally is to be had in applications weighing a pound or more. That's an excessive amount of for one dinner, as a minimum for clearly the two of us, so whenever he chefs a meal with tofu, he ends up with leftover tofu he wishes to dissipate within a few days.
Last week, he determined himself in this example again, trying to think of a way to show a leftover half of-pound of tofu and some miscellaneous greens into dinner. His regular go-to recipe for such occasions is stir-fry, however we would already had it presently and I wasn't that enthusiastic at the same time as he proposed making it once more. So he decided to attempt something a chunk extra interesting by means of tossing in some rice noodles with the greens to make a version of Pad Thai.
However, whilst he went looking for the rice noodles, he positioned we had an unopened bundle of some issue known as
There were no instructions on the package for how to cook the noodles, so he just measured out an amount that looked about right—roughly two thirds of the package—and boiled them until they seemed reasonably tender, about five minutes. Then he drained them and added them to the wok with all the other ingredients he'd already stir-fried according to his usual protocol: a half-pound of broccoli florets, two grated carrots, four or five chopped scallions, and the half-pound of fried tofu cubes that had started the whole thing. Then he seasoned it with soy sauce, sesame oil, and some toasted sesame seeds, and called it dinner.
For such a seat-of-the-pants recipe, this actually worked remarkably well. The "Hot Pot" noodles turned out to have a light, slightly chewy texture, less starchy than rice or wheat noodles, which definitely made a more interesting contrast with the veggies than the white rice we usually serve with stir-fry. Since I've never had this type of noodle before, I couldn't say whether their age had affected their texture at all, but it certainly wasn't a problem. Altogether, it was interesting enough and tasty enough that I went back for seconds—something I seldom do with stir-fry—and was quite happy to lunch off the leftovers the next day.
This dish seems pretty healthy, too. The main ingredients are fresh veggies, tofu, and the noodles, which contain only 99 calories per cup, about half as much as regular pasta or rice noodles. That makes this an even lighter meal than fried rice or even our usual stir-fry/rice combo. And since the noodles contain nothing but peas, sulfur dioxide, and corn starch, this meal is suitable for gluten-free diets as well.
All in all, this was a healthy, satisfying, economical meal that I'd be quite happy to make again. In fact, it seems close to certain that we will, since we've still got about a third of the packet of vermicelli to use up. But even when that's gone, I would consider going back to the H-Mart for more, maybe even on a regular basis, so we can have this dish on tap as an alternative to our usual stir-fry. After all, the whole point of this Veggie of the Month experiment, back when I started it in 2013, was to make fruits and vegetables a bigger part of my diet, so any recipe that turns veggies into an appetizing meal is one that definitely deserves a place in the regular rotation.
