'Stir' Fry-Day - 4 Bean Stir Fry

Today's daily theme is called Freaky Friday and the definition published on the Vegan Mofo website was "trade with a fellow blogger". I wasn't 100% sure what this meant. Do you trade recipes?

The Vegan Mofo website also gave some other ideas for daily themes which were brainstormed at the Vegan Mofo workshop at the Vida Vegan Conference in Portland earlier this year. I liked the Fry Day for Friday's daily theme and today I've added a bit and made today's theme Stir Fry-Day, with of course beans!

Today is a 4 bean stir fry with a chilli, garlic and ginger sauce. Extremely tasty and super quick to prepare. The 4 beans in this stir-fry are, green beans, runner beans, bean sprouts and bean curd, otherwise known as tofu. See, beans get everywhere!

Ingredients
1 Packet Bean curd (Tofu) - Mine was 396g with water
1 Clove garlic
1 Thumb sized piece ginger
8 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Groundnut oil
1 Onion
150g Green beans
1 Red Chilli
150g Runner beans
200g Bean sprouts
2 Tbsp Sweet Chilli sauce150g Noodles of your choice
20g Fresh coriander

Method
First, press your tofu by placing it between a folded T-towel on a plate. Place another plate upside down on top of the tofu and add weight to the top. Cookbooks work a treat or a laden fruit bowl!

While the tofu is pressing make the sauce/marinade. Finely grate the garlic and ginger into a dish. Add 4 Tbsp of soy sauce to the dish with the ginger and garlic.

Once the tofu has been pressed cut into 1 inch pieces length ways and place in the dish containing the marinade. After 5 minutes flip the tofu strips and leave for at least half an hour more if you can afford the time. Sometimes I do this part in the morning before work and leave it covered in the fridge.

Add the groundnut oil to a wok and heat till smoking hot. Fry the tofu in the groundnut oil until golden brown on both sides and transfer to an oven proof dish. Bake in a moderate oven for the time remaining to prepare the stir fry, about 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile slice the onion and chilli and top, tail and slice the runner beans. Top and tail the green beans and slice them into 4cm pieces.

Next throw in the onion and green beans to the pan and saute for about 10 minutes over a moderate heat. Add the runner beans and finely sliced chilli and stir fry for another 6 minutes. Its up to you whether you remove the seeds or not - it really depends on how hot you like it. Next add the bean sprouts and stir fry for a further 3 minutes. 

Add the other 4 Tbsp of soy sauce and a splash of water now and again to stop the vegetables sticking to the pan. When the bean sprouts have softened add the sweet chilli sauce and stir to coat the vegetables.

Cook the noodles of your choice as per the packet instructions and drain if required. Add the noodles to the wok and toss so that the noodles and veg are incorporated. 

Remove the tofu from the oven. Transfer the noodles and vegetables to a serving plate and top with the crispy tofu.  Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve at once.