Tofu with Lemongrass and Thai Basil

I braved our lemongrass thicket the other day to harvest a couple of stalks. They combined well with some Thai basil, serrano peppers and fish peppers from our garden to make our tofu dinner delicious.

Seriously delicious. Larry thought it was the best tofu ever, and he was an accomplished tofu-veggie stir-fry maker even before I met him.

It's a dry dish - no sauce to be soaked up by rice. I served it with a salad and some grilled vegetables for a light dinner that tempted the tastebuds on a hot summer evening.

Tofu with Lemongrass and Thai Basil
14 oz package firm tofu
2 stalks lemongrass
1 1/2 tbsp tamari soy sauce
4 red chiles - serranos and fish peppers are good
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 scant tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup Thai basil leaves
3 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts

Rinse tofu and press in a towel for a few minutes. Pat dry and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Peel the tough outer layers of the lemongrass, and grate the tender center part on a fine grater. Mix in a bowl with tamari, chopped chilies, turmeric and salt. Gently stir in the tofu and let marinate for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Warm oil over high heat in cast iron fry pan. Stir in onions, shallot and garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Push them to the sides of the pan and place the tofu cubes and marinade in the middle. Turn the tofu cubes occasionally as they cook until they are browned around the edges. Stir the onions too so they cook but don't burn.

When the tofu is lightly browned, and the onions are cooked, stir it all together, and add the coarsely chopped basil and peanuts.

Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3

Lemongrass Tofu

We have a flourishing lemongrass plant. It's six feet tall and spreading - a beautiful arching grass with the downside of razor-sharp leaves. It's in the back of a bed where I don't have to get too close to it unless I'm harvesting.

It seems silly not to use it, however, so I'm always on the look-out for recipes that use a stalk of it. If you don't grow lemongrass, you can find it in summer at the Hollywood Farmers Market and at Asian groceries. You'll get the stalk but not the leaves, which means you won't end up all scratched up like I do when I'm hacking a stalk off my plant.

This is a recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfield. I find vegan cooks use a lot of apple juice, which is not something I keep in the house. I don't like to drink it and I rarely cook with it. However, some time in the last few months I bought a jar of organic apple juice, used the 1/2 cup or so called for in a recipe, and then froze the rest in 1/2 cup containers. So when I saw this recipe using both lemongrass and a small amount of apple juice, I had to give it a try.

Lemongrass is stringy - at least mine is, maybe because I don't water it very much - and when I tried to pulverize it in the blender it stayed stringy. I used it anyway, and we picked the strings off the tofu before eating it, but you might want to use a food processor for that part instead of a blender.

The flavor of this tofu is excellent. I cooked it in the toaster oven so as not to warm up the kitchen, and it made a great meal with grilled eggplant and brown rice.

Lemongrass Tofu
12 oz packet firm tofu
1 stalk lemongrass, leaves removed and discarded
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger root, peeled
1/4 cup apple juice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup tamari
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup oil
2 serrano peppers, sliced
1/2 cup cilantro

Press tofu 30 minutes. I put it on a plate, rested another plate on top, and put a jar of barley on top for weight.

Peel off any really tough layers of lemongrass stalk. Chop it and put it in a food processor with the garlic and ginger. Process until finely chopped.

Whisk together apple juice, maple syrup, tamari, lemon juice and oil. Add lemongrass mixture.

Place slab of tofu on its side and cut into 3 thin slices lengthwise. Cut each rectangle into 4 triangles. Place in a single layer in a shallow (2 inches) casserole dish. Pour the marinade over top. Sprinkle with chives and cilantro. Let marinate at least 30 minutes, turning the tofu at least once.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pour off excess marinade so it reaches only halfway up the tofu. Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes until the tofu is golden and most of the marinade is absorbed.

Serves 2-3

Marinating the tofu