Ginger-Miso Tofu Steak

Happy weekend! I hope everyone has been having as great of a weekend as we have, whether it's been relaxing and doing hardly anything at all, or going on some epic adventures. We have been in our kitchen less than usual for a weekend, but still have been creating a fair number of foods for the week. We went to the same bar we went to last weekend to watch the extremely predictable Tottenham game (at 7 AM this time, thankfully), and then realized we could knock out our meal-planning and grocery shopping before everyone else got up. So by 10:30 AM yesterday, we had accomplished all we needed to for the day! Doesn't get much better than that.




We're gearing up for a pretty quiet week, which we're looking forward to. Last week, we had an alumni event on Tuesday, went to Mt. Rainier on Wednesday, and went to the PLU Dept of Music's "Jazz Under the Stars" series on Thursday, so we were barely at home and barely cooking. We had some fun cookout food on Tuesday, splurged on Chipotle Wednesday (because who doesn't crave Chipotle after a day of hiking?!?!) and tried an awesome Mexican place called Andale!! on Thursday, since it's right down the street from campus and rated the best in Tacoma. It did not disappoint and we waddled back to Jazz Under the Stars after stuffing our faces with delicious, cheap tacos and guac. After such a busy week, our quiet weekend was called for.

Now about this dish. We were going through a week where we needed to use up a serious amount of ginger and so we were trying to find creative ways to use it - drink recipes, dessert recipes and of course, meals. While some of our recipes succeeded (like this one), others failed miserably (like our miso-ginger ice cream.....perhaps the worst thing we've ever made). But this one was a nice, simple dish that helped us use up the ginger AND some cabbage, so it was a win-win. You could easily use the tofu steak portion of this recipe and serve it with different food. We chose the cabbage because it was in the fridge and had no other dish to partner with, so Will felt it was best to stir-fry it and serve the tofu over it. It turned out great and we recommend this meal as a mid-week dinner when you know you should cook, but don't feel like committing to more than 30 minutes in the kitchen!

One thing that made this dinner easier was a new habit Will has adopted - on Sunday afternoons, he makes a BIG batch of brown rice (like 4-6 cups total servings), then uses our FoodSaver to individually freeze about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of brown rice per package. He got the idea when we bought pre-cooked brown rice at Trader Joe's and determined there was no reason not to do it himself. It works out well because one baggie of rice can easily be shared between the two of us for a meal and it eliminates a lot of cooking time, since brown rice takes 40+ minutes to cook. It also has helped us to eat more brown rice then white rice, which is ultimately better in the long run, so it's a win-win. We highly recommend it and if all else fails, just buy the pre-cooked brown rice from TJ's so you're always prepared to add rice to your dinner.

Cooking Notes: Will decided to add some leftover cabbage to the dish to amp it up from just a plain batch of tofu steak. He then decided to serve it over brown rice, so it worked out to be a delicious dish!

Ginger-Miso Tofu Steak (adapted from The Kitchn)
14-oz. extra firm tofu
1 tbsp white miso
6 tbsp warm water
3 tbsp finely grated ginger
Safflower oil, for frying and stir fry
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 head of cabbage
Sriracha (optional)

If you don't have pre-made, frozen brown rice, begin boiling a pot of water to cook rice. Begin to cook rice before preparing any other portion of this dish, to allow the appropriate amount of time for rice to complete at the same time as the main dish. Drain and rinse tofu, then cut into 6 long slices. Place tofu slices between paper towels on a dish. Gently press to remove excess water. In a small bowl, mix together miso, water and ginger. Crush your two cloves of garlic and in a separate small bowl, mix soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Slice your cabbage into strips, for stir fry.

Heat a little safflower oil (or other high-heat oil) in a skillet, then fry tofu until golden on both sides, about 3-5 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to low, then pour the miso mixture over and between tofu slices, cooking until you hear a sizzle.

While your tofu is frying, begin to heat your wok, determining its heat when flicking water on it and it achieves a sizzle. Remove wok from heat, then pour in about 1 tbsp safflower oil and 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, swirling and then returning to the heat. Add garlic and stir it for 10 seconds or until fragrant. Push garlic up to the sides of the wok and add the cabbage, cooking for about 2 minutes. Then stir-fry for an additional minute, until cabbage appears wilted. Pour in the soy sauce/rice wine vinegar mixture, stir-frying to coat cabbage, then cover and cook for 15 seconds. Uncover and stir-fry another 30-60 seconds, until bright green and done.

Serve brown rice and cabbage, then top with ginger steak and a little sriracha. Enjoy!

Recipe: The Kitchn: Tofu Steak with Miso and Ginger