I'm a creature of habit when it comes to grocery shopping. Weeknight dinners are so much easier when you always have a few failsafe ingredients the fridge. Broccoli, red bell pepper and tofu are some of my mainstays when I'm home. (Now that I'm not home, I can't tell you how much I would pay for easy access to this stuff. Instead I'm now living on butter and scones...)
Today we're using them in a dish I started making when I got Donna Hay's Instant Cook about ten years ago. The original recipe calls for chicken, but I've been making it with tofu and it's still pretty tasty. But you can easily sub in chicken and follow the same basic recipe.
I love this stir fry because it is SO simple. No futzing about with cornstarch and mixing up sauces in extra bowls. The sauce literally has three ingredients. If you don't already have chili sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce, I promise you'll get a lot of mileage from them down the road.
I sear the protein first and remove it from the pan, but other than that, everything basically gets thrown into the same skillet. The dish maybe takes 15 minutes, start to finish, it's packed with veggies, and it has a totally addictive sweet/spicy thing going on. That's why broccoli noodle stir fry has clinched a spot in my weekly repertoire.
Broccoli Noodle Stir Fry
Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 min Cook Time: 10 min Total Time: 15 min
Ingredients
8 oz / 225 g dried egg noodles or linguini
1 tsp grapeseed or canola oil
1 block firm or extra firm tofu, diced into 3/4" cubes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large head broccoli, cut into florets
1 red pepper, diced
0.5 cup / 120 mL sweet chili sauce
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
handful of cashews, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper
Fill pot 2/3 way with water and bring to a boil. Cook noodles according to pack directions. Drain.
Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Season tofu with salt and pepper, then sear til browned on all sides, about 6 minutes. Remove from skillet.
Reduce heat to medium. Add broccoli and stir fry til bright green and still crisp, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper and stir fry another 2 minutes.
Add tofu back to skillet. Add chili sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce and stir through. Add noodles and cashews and toss til coated. Add more chili sauce if too dry.
Serve in wide bowls and some Sriracha for extra spice.