I couldn’t decide which would be the star of this dish, the star anise tofu or the leaves…still not sure as the chard and mustard greens I picked today on the farm are so full of prana and very tasty too. Tofu is a high protein (33% more than beef!) food but it is heavy and cold in the digestion. It’s best to eat it no more than 2 or max 3 times in a week, and not too soon before bedtime. Star anise is warming and frying the tofu* with a drying brassica oil helps. ‘Star’ is its name, so go with that for a title.
I was alerted to the issue of getting vitamin K in the vegan diet. Green leafy veg have K in abundance A stir-fry is a good way to get fat-soluble vitamins such as K; A and C are particularly abundant in carrots and peppers too. Brown rice has all the B vitamins, and the squeeze of lemon juice enures the iron in the lovely leafy veg available, as well as giving a complementary sour taste that lifts any oiliness and makes the dish extra delicious.
Gluten-free: brown rice and use tamari (not soy sauce).
Anyway, a quickish meal for 4, all in the therapeutic veg chop.
kale – vitamin K
For four people
- 250 – 400g brown rice, depending on how much physical work today
- 200g carrots cut into batons
- 1 medium courgette cut into batons
- 1 red pointy pepper cut into batons
- two nice big handfuls of chard and mustard greens (you can also substitute spinach, kale, tenderstem broccoli or other green leafy veg, even half a sweetheart cabbage shredded; good to stick to two maximum for clarity of taste, but not a problem to mix and match)
- four or five ‘petals’ of star anise or two smaller flowers
- 1.5 tbsp rape seed oil (or sunflower)
- 1 400g block of firm tofu, ideally drained for at least 30 mins
- a thumb of ginger peeled, and finely grated
- a couple of glugs of tamari or soy sauce
- turn the oven on, 180C. Rinse the rice and cook**; it will take 25 – 30 minutes while you prepare the tofu and stirfry
- grate the ginger and place in an oven proof dish with 1tbp oil, tamari/soy sauce, the star anise. Cut the tofu into slices and place on top, turning each one once so the top side is slightly coated in the marinade. Place in the oven
- wash and chop your veg batons; wash leaves and cut out the mid-rib
- heat the rest of the oil in a wok, and add in the veg. Stir fry and after 5 mins or so add in the leaves and add a lid so the veg soften down in their own juice
- Plate up, tipping the marinade over the rice and veg Some may want to add extra tamari
- half a lemon squeezed
**1 volume of rice to two volumes of water; pan with a close fitting lid; low heat and do not disturb