Kung Pao Tofu!

I give vegan food a hard time, but it's actually pretty nice. I really like tofu, and the best nachos I ever had were vegan nachos from the spiral diner. I made this kung pao tofu without even realizing it was vegan until the end. It was really nice. I've got to stop giving vegan food a hard time.

I pretty much followed the recipe but I made a few substitutions. I couldn't get purple sprouting broccoli, so I replaced them with mushrooms. I didn't have rice wine vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar instead. I have no idea what Sichuan peppercorns are so I just used black peppercorns. I didn't make a separate stir fry, I put some thinly sliced bok choi in with the broccoli near the end. I severed with with a few egg noddles because my son is a growing boy who needs his carbs, so un-vegan-ified it, but I'm not a vegan, so that's fine.

I had to chop everything before I started cooking, which I have never in my life done before, because once you get going, it's a fast and furious recipe.  The crushing of peppercorns,  chopping of many vegetables, mixing of sauces and making of emulsions makes this a pretty labor intensive recipe for a mid-week supper, it was ready in about 30minutes, was very healthy, and very delicious.  I already owned the sherry and vinegar, so the total cost of ingredients for this meal was only $15!

Note: I burned the cashews - don't have the pan super hot when you throw them in. They were still good enough to eat but not ideal.