Oriental stir-fried tofu and hoisin dish!

Oh my goodness! - Now I need to begin by saying that this is one of my favourite meals that I have ever made. It's utterly delicious, quick and easy to make, and nutritious too. If you want to eat healthily, but deep down you're craving some Chinese food or a Wagamama meal, DEFINITELY make this instead. It tastes just as good but without the fatty-overload and guilt that you get after a Chinese takeaway. Also, the hoisin-style sauce that I made to go with this is super simple, but really tasty. If you're unsure about the amounts in the 'you will need section', scroll to the bottom to see images showing the amounts that I used.

Cooking and preparation time: 30 minutes

You will need:

• A handful of green beans
• 1/5 of a broccoli plant
• 3 medium mushrooms
• 125g natural tofu
• Olive oil
• Soy sauce (dark or light)
• 1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil
• 1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of finely chopped garlic (e.g Lazy Garlic)
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of honey

Steps to prepare simple hoisin sauce:

1. Mix 2 tablespoons of soy sauce with 1 large tablespoon of smooth peanut butter. Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of honey. Add 1/2 teaspoon of finely chopped/crushed garlic. Add 1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil (or other oil e.g groundnut oil if you don't have sesame). Mix together with a whisk until you get a smooth and even texture. Put to one side ready for later.

Steps:

1. Start by washing the broccoli, beans and mushrooms. Cut off the tips of the green beans and cut the beans into 1/3 or 1/2 depending on length of bean. Cut off the mushroom stalks and cut the mushrooms into quarters because you want your slices to be quite chunky. Cut the broccoli into slightly smaller sections as these won't cook as easily as mushroom.
2. Add a glug of olive oil and a teaspoon of soy sauce to a frying pan and place on the hob at a medium heat. Whilst the pan and oil is heating, cut the tofu into small cubes, as you would a block of feta cheese (for sizing see images). Then add the cubes of tofu to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, occasionally stirring and turning the cubes over until golden brown on the outside. Once the cubes of tofu are cooked place them on a plate aside to stop them from burning or crumbling.
3. Top up the pan with another glug of olive oil and another teaspoon of soy sauce and add the cut up green beans, mushrooms and broccoli to the pan. I find that the pan gets dry quite quickly and you don't want the veg to burn but also don't want to overload on oil, so I add between 100-200ml after about 1 minute and top up if necessary. Stir the vegetables frequently to avoid burning and this should take around 6-8 minutes. Once the veg are soft and tinted golden-brown turn the heat down to the lowest.
4. Add the already cooked cubes of tofu and the hoisin sauce you made earlier and stir until all of the veg and tofu is covered by the sauce. Stir this for around 2 minutes until the tofu and sauce are heated like the veg.
5. Serve straight from the pan into a wide bowl and serve with chopsticks.
6. Season to taste and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and don't forget to leave your comments below! :)