Tofu Stir-Fry with Rice Cakes

The hubs and I decided to snag a table at Mission Chinese Food, a hipster restaurant surrounded by Spanish markets and pawn shops, while we were visiting San Francisco back in September. As loyal (library) readers of Bon Appetit, we had already read about the rock star chef and knew the magazine named it one of the best new restaurants in the US in 2011. We enjoyed it but weren't overly impressed, but we were very intrigued by the Thrice Cooked Bacon dish, featuring tofu skins, bitter melon and Shanghainese rice cakes, which looked like water chestnuts but were gelatinous rice products of some sort... so we did some research and went in search of them in Chinatown.

Success! Turns out they come dried, so first we had to soak them overnight. The package did not give a specific soaking time, so we guessed a little. They were still firm once dinner time rolled around so we boiled them for a couple minutes to soften them up. They were just as we remembered - very gelatinous but strangely good.

The rest of the stir-fry was pretty straightforward. First we fried up 2/3 of a package of tofu. Next we threw in some veggies - broccoli, peppers and carrots. We also whipped up a quick sauce consisting of some kitchen staples: chopped garlic, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha and toasted sesame oil. After the veggies had cooked for a few minutes we stirred in the sauce and the rice cakes in the pan.

It didn't turn out to be the most colourful dish, with the white tofu and rice cakes, but it was damn tasty. An easy and filling dinner for a night of sitting back, drinking an IPA and watching the Warehouse 13 Christmas special.