Kale is one of those ingredients that is pretty easy to work with, flavorful and highly under used. It is SO good. I mean really. And the only thing better than plain kale is kale, tofu AND shiitakes! Together! In a single meal! I'm going to let you in on a little secret and tell you that I actually know almost nothing about mushrooms. I never liked them growing up and it wasn't until I became vegan that I really began to appreciate their earthy flavors and texture. Now I LOVE them. They are so versatile and really add that "meatiness"(for lack of better term) to all kinds of dishes. Anyway, enough about mushrooms.
Pan-frying tofu is surprisingly difficult in my opinion. It's all fall-apart-like and gets super watery if you don't press it out first. Luckily, I have an amazing boyfriend who loves to press tofu for me while I'm at work, and a plethora of vegan blogs (like this one!) that give me both the inspiration and the basic instructions for cooking complicated things like tofu. You want to start pressing the tofu before you do anything else so that it is nice and ready to marinate before you even think about starting to cook. Be warned: If you don't press the tofu first you are going to have (a) a watery dish or (b) a needlessly long cooking period. So, wrap your tofu with paper towels and then cover it with a dish towel and place it under something super heavy (like a cast iron pan). Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and then it will be ready to plop right in the marinade!
For the marinade I basically just combined a bunch of things I had sitting around with some fresh ginger that was on the "half off" shelf at the local health food store across the street.
My marinade looked like this (roughly...I don't measure...do it to taste!):
2 cups soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3-4 tbs rice vinegar
3 tbs peanut oil (plus more for frying when you are ready)
2-3 tsp sriracha (hot chili) sauce
2 tbs agave nectar (or other sweetener)
1 tbs lime juice
2 tbs peanut butter (extra chunky!)
fresh ginger (grated) to taste
whatever else you have lying around that you think will taste good
So, after you let the pressed tofu soak up all those delicious, freshly whisked marinade flavors for about 20 minutes, put a couple tablespoons or peanut (or other) oil in a pan and start frying it. After mine browned up a little I added some of the marinade to the pan to cook the flavors in. Let the tofu sit for at least 5 minutes on each side until it is almost (but not) burned. While you are doing this, throw your rice noodles in some boiling water for about 6 minutes and sauté your shiitakes in another small pan. When the tofu is done, take it out and put it on a paper bag or paper towel to let it cool (which will firm it up a bit). Put some more of the marinade in your pan and throw the noodles, mushrooms and kale in the pan and cook over medium heat until the kale is wilted. Feel free to add oil and or soy sauce as you see fit.
Your tofu should now be firmed up a little bit, so you are ready to put it over your kale/mushroom noodle concoction and serve it with mojitos! Mojitos actually go with pretty much anything, but the go ESPECIALLY well with this. So do it. Make mojitos. You won't regret it. If you are in AA make virgin mojitos. Or heck, you can just drink lime juice. But make sure to put some mint in it (you can borrow some mint from me, I have more than I know what to do with in my garden).
Bah da dum! In case you didn't catch it all, here are all of the ingredients you will need to get BEFORE you start making this (except for the marinade ingredients which are listed above).
Serves about 4 (or 3 if you are myself, my boyfriend and my best friend)
2 stalks (is that what they are called? heads perhaps) of kale, sliced like you slice kale
1 package of EXTRA firm tofu, pressed
1 package-ish rice noodles
a bunch of shiitakes
peanut oil for frying
soy sauce because it is yummy
That's it my friends. Also don't forget to add any extra marinade to the top of your completed dish after it is done because it is seww guuuhd.
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