Recipe for Tofu w/ hot sour rhubarb sauce

14/09/2009
Originally uploaded by amoonpie

My sister very kindly shared this recipe with me quite a long time ago. I had never made it because I didn't have a food processor. But when Martin's dad gave us some rhubarb fresh from the garden I decided to give the recipe a go and see how well a blender would work. A blender in this instance is just as good as a food processor.

Now, I am not sure how copyright works with a blog but however I have seen this recipe blogged on several sites so screw it, I am posting it on the bottom. I have left my sisters notes in as I found them handy and added a couple of my own. This being the UK I had to do a one substitution and left the sesame oil out.

I really liked this recipe however I think I would have liked it more if I wasn't the one who had to cook it. Sometimes when you are eating something you have made you can be a bit over critical and this definitely happened to me with this recipe. I loved the flavour and texture of the meal, and the kale was excellent with the brown rice, which was a nice surprise. But I think I put too much sauce on mine and it was a little over powering. Or I put too much ginger in the sauce and this is what was overpowering. Plus, when cooking the kale I didn't trim it properly and was left doing it at the end when it was really hot and still cooking. I would give this 4 mooneys but Martin was a big fan and probably would give it 5. I made his with chicken, mine with tofu. I had tons of sauce left over so I have frozen it and look forward to eating it in the future.

Recipe inspired by Jamie Oliver’s Pork with Hot and Sour rhubarb sauce from Jamie at Home. There are three different sources of chilli in this recipe, so do miss one out if you want to.
Serves 4

The tofu and marinade
1 Tbsp honey (vegans substitute with agave nectar)
1 tsp five spice powder ( AEM note: I used all spice)
Quarter tsp dried chilli flakes
1 Tbsp vegetable oil (plus a little extra for cooking)
1 Tbsp rice wine (AEM note: I substituted this with a dry sherry)
500g plain firm tofu, cut along the horizontal and then into thin 1 inch strips

The sauce
400g rhubarb, trimmed and roughly chopped
A big thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled
A red chilli [LMM Note: I used 1 whole jalapeno – one-half for the sauce and one-half for the topping]
3 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce

The topping
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 Tbsp cashew nuts, roughly chopped
4 spring onions, finely sliced
A small handful fresh coriander
2 limes, halved

The rice
Brown rice [LMM Note: I actually used brown rice – a basmati brown – and it is terrific in this recipe]
Kale, sliced (as much as you can fit in your pan as it will shrink down massively) (AEM Note: Not too much though-it doesn't shrink down that much!)
Sesame oil (AEM Note: I omitted this)

A couple of hours before you want to eat, marinade the tofu by mixing all of the marinade ingredients together and pouring the marinade over the tofu. Mix and leave aside in the fridge.

When you are ready to start, begin by getting the rice cooking (you can leave this part until a little later if you are using white rice or noodles).

Put all of the sauce ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the resulting puree into a saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes (the sauce will happily keep warm while everything else falls into place).

Heat a tiny splash of oil in a non-stick pan and sauté the tofu slices until golden. Put aside somewhere warm.

Just before you are ready to serve, use the residual oil in the non-stick pan (add a little more if you need it) to cook the kale until it softens a little and turns a brilliant green. Add the cooked rice to the kale along with a scant few drops of sesame oil.

To serve, dish out the rice/kale mix into warmed bowls, followed by the tofu and topped with a good dollop of the sauce. Finish by sprinkling over the topping ingredients, giving each person half a lime to add to taste.