Soy-Mirin Tofu Over Rice with Broccoli and Peanut Sauce
This should be harder than it is, considering how good it tastes. I’m a huge fan of peanut sauces, so I’m sure that makes me a bit biased. If you have coconut milk you can use that instead of water, but I didn’t feel like opening a whole can for just 1/4 cup, and it tastes just as good without it.
I love using raw shredded carrot on top of my meals. It’s so fast and easy, it looks pretty, and the pieces are small enough that you don’t need to cook it at all. I think this meal would be even better with some greens tossed it, but it’ll lend itself to all sorts of vegetables.
Soy-Mirin Tofu Over Rice with Broccoli and Peanut Sauce
Serves Two
1 Block Extra Firm Tofu, pressed, cut into small squares
1 tbs Canola or Peanut Oil
2 tsp Soy Sauce
2 tsp Mirin
Broccoli, steamed
1 Carrot, peeled and shredded
Peanuts, crushed (optional)
1 Cup Dry Brown Rice
Peanut Dressing
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Water (or coconut milk if you have it!)
1 Tbs Sugar
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Hot Chili Oil
1 Pinch Salt
Start cooking your rice. Mix sauce ingredients until smooth (be patient, it’ll look like hell at first) and set aside.
Pan fry tofu in the oil over high heat in a non-stick skillet until browned on both sides. Drain and return to hot pan (turn off the heat). Mix soy sauce and mirin together and pour over tofu, mixing well. It will bubble up and form a light glaze.
Plate rice, add broccoli, tofu, carrot, and crushed peanuts. Drizzle with sauce and serve.
crushed peanuts, the magic words. yum. and I think coconut milk lovers on the PPK should join so that opening a can for 1/4 cup only isn’t a problem anymore. whaddya think?
OH MY!!! Your dish looks so good. I love the colors the food, my mouth is watering!…
oh HELL yes.
i’m so glad you’ve been nominated.. or i would have never found your blog. LOVE IT. Good luck!
Cooked broccoli and raw peanuts are a wonderful combination. Yes, it tastes good, but what really draws me is the nice mix of textures: The smooth touch of the broccoli and the snap of the peanuts. Quite a tempting dish, indeed. Cheers!
I’m on the hunt for Mirin and it’s no easy task around here! I’m relieved to see such a small amount of it is needed in this recipe, because I finally found a bottle of it but for 5 bucks for a tiny one too. now I can look forward to trying this too!
(end novel)
Thanks everyone for the kind comments! You’re all so sweet.
I just made this! Wow, I’m on a yum yum kick this week – fourth recipe!
It’s wicked! My only change is that the soy/mirin glaze to pour over the fried tofu wasn’t enough – I had to double it so that it’d cover the whole block of fried tofu squares. Yummy!
That’s it, I am making that this week! Thanks for the great recipe : )
I found your blog today and actually heard the heavens sing. This recipe was perfect to find today, because I had a block of tofu in the fridge, some veggies, and a vegan-dubious friend coming over who loves the peanut sauce. I basically just used your tofu technique and peanut sauce… veggies were bok choy and sugar snap peas from the farmers’ market, and it was awesome. The tofu came out perfectly, even though I didn’t have mirin and used ponzu sauce instead. My friend said, “this doesn’t taste like tofu!” The peanut sauce is addicting- I think it’s the rice vinegar. Have you had the fresh spring rolls that the Herb Lyceum sells at the Copley Square Farmers’ Market? They have a similar peanut sauce that I actually crave in the winter. If you get a chance, I recommend. I will be making everything on your blog now!
Hi! first off, fantastic blog you’ve got here (I just found it–very excited to read more!)…I have one question about this recipe (I know this post is from a while ago, so hopefully you’ll see this comment!)…does tofu make good leftovers? I usually take dinner leftover to work for lunch, but I’ve never cooked tofu before, so I don’t know if it’ll be OK? Any advice would be appreciated!
I made this recently- with the coconut mulk – and it beame my favourite peanut sauce. The entire recipe was fantastic, but especially the sauce. I thought I’d lost the recipe and was happy when I found day later. It’s going to become a regular part of my repertoire.
Just discovered your blog and have been working my way backwards thru your recipes. This one was fantastic. As a working mom I’ve found these really great and if I’m running low on time I can substitute Quorn (the little chunk type) into the recipe instead of tofu. Sometimes one less step just makes things easier with a hungry kiddo waiting.
hi! just wondering if you think dry frying the tofu then throwing in the soy and mirin would be nice? i really love the dry frying technique.
I discovered your website actually through the iPhone app I downloaded. I is the first recipe I’ve tried thus far and it was delicious! Without coconut milk on hand, I used water, followed recipe as instructed and was very pleased. Simple to make!
Your site is beautiful, I can’t wait to try more recipies – the pictures are such teasers!
This was a wonderful and delicious dish. So easy to make as well. GIYF, cause I just plugged in tofu and mirin and you popped up! My family found this deeply satisfying and it was a refreshing dish to make on a hot day. So easy too. I will admit that we cheated and added chicken breast that I treated the same way as the tofu. I stuck with the tofu, though and didn’t miss the meat. My father thought the dish contained chicken, beef and pork, so he was happy. My mother loved it and said to be sure to save the recipe. I used chunky peanut butter and put toasted sesame seeds on top.
Tip: make the dressing in a jar, then just shake shake to combine. The leftover dressing will be great on noodles.
we made this tonight…delish! will def be making again.
I am eating this right now and LOVING IT. Thought I might switch from snow peas to broccoli (I used the book version), but I think I’m sold. This dish makes me feel clever and accomplished!
I’m making this now- just popped over to the chinese market and got mirin but also instead of pan frying the tofu, I just bought fried tofu which looks like will work perfectly too.
Lauren, you rock. I look at your book every other day for inspiration. I’ve been vegan for a while and your creativity is wonderful. xo
I love to use coconut milk in cooking but I never need a whole can. Do you think if I stirred it up and then poured the extras into ice cube trays that I could freeze it and then put it in baggies for future recipes?
I know it might separate a bit while freezing, but if you stir right before you pour into trays, it will all mix back together when it melts in the pan.
Okay I made this for dinner and it was AMAZING. I think i am now addicted to this peanut sauce.
For those asking about the mirin. I had the same dilemma, so I googled it. You can substitute white wine with a bit of sugar added. (I had brown sugar on hand). http://seattletimes.com/html/foodwine/2009252736_zfoo27qanda.html
I also added snow peas because I’m a veggie-aholic.