Day 10: Avoca-do or don't? (plus Thai Tofu Stir-Fry Recipe)

Tofu Thai Stir-Fry

Okay, before I get into this crazy stir-fry deal, I have to talk about avocados. I LOVE avocados. Wait, I should stipulate that I LOVE avocados when they are RIPE! It's just such a rare thing. Like seeing a shooting star or a Unicorn. Hell, why not even a Pegasus? I think this pic sums it up pretty well for me:

From: Simon Drew

For those of you, like me, who run into this problem on a near daily basis, I present the following:

I've also found that if I have a few ripe avocados in the house and no time to eat them all, I can cut them up into portions to freeze for smoothies later on.

Okay, now that the daily PSA is done, we can move on to this Thai Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry. I mentioned wanting to try this recipe back on Day-7 and last night the stars aligned (or my mom took Stella for an hour so that I could cook myself some dinner).  I borrowed heavily from this recipe: Thai Veggie Stir-Fry.

First I cut some medium firm tofu and marinated it in 3 tbsp. of Hoisin sauce. I then spread some almond flour on the cutting board and coated both sides. So far so good. The instructions then told me to put a skillet on high with some oil and fry those bad boys.

Now onto the veggies. I sliced up some orange and green bell peppers, a small yellow onion, a medium carrot, and broccoli. I made a marinade with the following:

• 1/4th cup of low sodium vegetable broth
• 4 tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Hoisin Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1 Tsp of Rice Vinegar

I tossed the veggies into the skillet with a little olive oil and about 1/2 the marinade.  I added the remaining marinade as the veggies cooked, meanwhile making some brown rice on the side to serve with.

What worked: The dish was actually pretty tasty! The marinade complimented the veggies well and the tofu had an excellent flavor. I think the almond flour gave it a bit of a nutty taste.

What didn't work: The instructions told me to fry the tofu on high heat. The almond flour coating seemed to come off and the tofu broke up a bit. I still got some good pieces out of the batch, but I think I will bake the tofu next time. On the positive side, once Amber got home and reheated some, she must have told me 5-6 times how great it tasted =)

Also, the sauce was a little sweet for my taste. I would probably cut down on the amount of Sweet Chili Sauce.  I'm a little torn using this many processed sauces in my diet as well. I will probably search out some spices that I can mix with a little oil and vegetable broth in the future to keep it cleaner.

Here is the final result:

Now it's time to check out the latest Rich Roll Podcast with Charlie Engle. Rich is my inspiration for the plant based diet and is also an ultra-endurance athlete. His podcasts are enlightening and the guests always have some great insights and advice to share. 

I'm familiar with his guest on this episode from the film, "Running the Sahara."  Here is a synopsis of the podcast, "From crack addict and prison to ultra running legend. Charlie Engle on breaking records at Badwater, running the Sahara and his upcoming attempt to become the fastest man to ever run across the United States." Sounds like a wild ride!