Chairman Mao Goes Vegan

As promised, this recipe is a vegan riff on Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork, in honor of my vegan daughter.

Chairman Mao's red-braised tofu

serves two

1 lb extra firm tofu, sliced and pressed, then cut into 2 cm x 3 cm x 1 cm pieces. It should be dry to the touch.
2 T canola oil
2 T sugar
1 T black bean paste
4 T cheap dry white wine
fresh ginger twice the size of your thumb, julienned
2 fresh red chillies, finger thick, as hot as you fancy
1 star anise
cinnamon stick the length of a finger joint
soy sauce [always use the good kind, Kikkoman etc.]
12 scallions, trimmed and sliced diagonally into pieces the size of a finger joint
1 c vegetable broth I used the vegetable bullion that comes as a paste, which works great.
cooked noodles, spaghetti works just fine

Heat the oil and sugar in a wok. When the sugar starts to melt, boost the temperature until the sugar caramelizes. Add the black bean sauce and stir until it sizzles.

Add the tofu in one layer. When it has started to sizzle, check the bottom sides. When the hot side has browned nicely, flip the tofu and brown the other side.

When the tofu has browned nicely, add the wine, ginger, anise, chillies, and cinnamon. When that all starts to sizzle, add the vegetable broth, just enough to cover what is in the wok.

Warm a bowl.

When the mixture boils it's turn up the heat, add the scallions. Season with soy sauce and ground white pepper and turn the mixture into a warmed bowl.

Put another splash of oil in the wok and add the noodles. Scoot those noodles around in the wok until they have wiped up the remaining sauce.

Serve the tofu mixture over the noddles

Eat it up friends.
I love you.
We will dine together.
Until then...
Martin