Szechuan Tofu and Vegetable Stir Fry

 my version

Having travelled across various parts of China, and having explored tastes from diverse regions within the country, I have come to learn and realize, that Authentic Chinese Cuisine and Indo-Chinese Cuisine, are in reality a world apart.. and being a foodie who values authenticity and feels it necessary to advocate the explicit version, here is a recipe you should consider trying.. One that's inspired from my travels around east Asia.  A spicy Chinese stir fry tofu recipe, with lots of fresh veggies.      

For those who are new to Tofu,  let me introduce you to tofu once again. Tofu is said to have originated in ancient China. Now, it is a part of Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Indonesian cuisines as well. Tofu is prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing down the curds into blocks of various textures. There are many varieties of Tofu available in the market. In this recipe I have used fresh organic Soft Tofu.

Ingredients :
Organic Fresh Soft Tofu	-		250 gms
Extra virgin Olive oil	-		2 tablespoon
Crushed Garlic	-		2 cloves
Fresh ginger, cut into fine shreds	-		1 inch piece
Scallion (white cut diagonally and green cut into 1" long pieces)	-		2 stems
Red chilli	-		1 no.
Celery	-		1 small stem
Black fungus mushroom	-		1/2 cup
Portobello mushroom	-		1/2 cup
White button mushroom	-		1/2 cup
Enikitake mushrooms	-		1 bunch
Yellow/green/orange/red bell peppers	-		1/2 cup
Cabbage	-		1 cup
Carrots	-		1/2 cup
White rice vinegar	-		1 teaspoon
Light Soya sauce	-		1 tablespoon
Black bean Stir fry sauce	-		2 tablespoons
Szechuan pepper	-		1 teaspoon
Freshly ground black pepper	-		As preferred
Salt	-		To taste

A little about the mushrooms:
Enikitake mushrooms or also known as Jin-gen-goo in Chinese translated as 'Golden-needle-mushroom' is said to kill cancer cells. Well, that's what I've heard..

Black fungus / Cloud ear fungus or Mok-yee is another mushroom commonly used in Chinese and Korean cooking and is said to help reduce cholesterol level and is rich in iron.

Portobello mushroom is a fleshy mushroom. I don't know it's Chinese name.

Preparation Method :

Drain the tofu and dice them into 1 cm cubes. Chop the vegetables into long strips. In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Traditionally sesame seeds oil or peanut oil is used, but, I personally don't like the smell of both. So I use olive oil. Throw in the while scallion, ginger, garlic and red chilli. Then throw in the mushrooms. Sauté for 2-3 minutes on high flame. I couldn't find Szechuan pepper, so I picked this Szechuan pepper, chilli and ginger salt mix by Jamie Oliver.  Crush it into the mushroom. Szechuan pepper isn't actually a pepper, it's a dried berry found in the Szechwan province in china, with a very pungent flavour. Add the veggies except the cabbage and enikitake mushroom, since both do not require much cooking. Add the Black bean stir fry sauce and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and enikitake mushroom. Add the crushed pepper, white rice vinegar and light soy sauce. Add hot water and when it starts simmering add the Tofu. Serve piping hot with steamed rice or just as it is for dinner.

Serves two