Crispy tofu with brown rice and veggies

I'm trying to eat as clean as possible so I took a break from making pasta and concentrated on the whole grains.  I'm getting better and better at making grilled tofu; I rolled the tofu in flour to make it crispy.  I'm making another batch of grilled tofu now.


For this recipe, I used extra firm tofu, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce for the sauce.  I also grilled the tofu with grapeseed oil because it has a high flash point and can withstand high temps.  I grilled the tofu on medium heat and then added the rice and veggies in that order.  You add the veggies last so they steam on top of the rice.  Here are the recipe steps:

To make the grilled tofu, I pressed the tofu for about 20 minutes to drain the excess water.  Place the tofu on a plate and cover with a paper towel then put a heavy bowl on top.  Leave the bowl on top of the tofu so the water can drain.  After about 20 minutes, drain all the water from around the tofu and cut it into cubes.  Put garbanzo bean flour (or your favorite flour) into a ziplock bag and put the cubed tofu in the bag.  Close the bag and shake it so that all the tofu cubes are covered in flour.  Put the floured tofu cubes in the pan with the balsamic vinegar and oil.  Keep the heat on medium and the lid off the pan.

While the tofu is cooking, boil water for the rice and add the rice.  Cook until it's fluffy.  Add any spices you want, I added lemon pepper, powdered garlic and sea salt, the only thing missing was ginger!  If you have powdered ginger, add it!  Mix the rice and the spices, taking the rice off the heat when it's done.

When the tofu absorbs most of the oil, flip the pieces over, making sure the tofu is getting brown on all sides.  The tofu will begin to get crispy.  Once you think the tofu is done (brown on all sides, crispy, no oil in the pan), transfer it to another pan or bowl.  Grilling the tofu takes the longest time, be patient so that the flour sticks to the tofu and gets brown.

For the rice, add some more grapeseed oil to the pan that you made the tofu in and then add the rice, turning the heat up to medium.  Stir the rice, making sure it gets brown and cooks some more.  Add any veggies you want, I added green sweet peppers, baby carrots and spinach.  Put the veggies on top of the rice and cover with a lid.  This will steam the veggies and cook the rice a little bit more, making it brown and fried a little bit.  Add a little bit of soy sauce to the rice and veggies and stir.  Take the lid off the pan and stir the rice and veggies.  Put the lid back on.  Do this a couple of times until the veggies are softer.  They can be crispy when you eat this dish, you don't need to cook the veggies for a long time.

Transfer the rice and veggies to a bowl and put the crispy tofu cubes on top of the rice and veggies.  You are now ready to eat!  I made enough for dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow and another meal.  My second batch of crispy tofu was better than the first.  Make this dish your own, use your own veggies, use different spices.  Make it unique!  And enjoy :)