Miso Stir Fry with BBQ Tofu

What I wanted was a stir fry sauce made from miso, so that's what I got, with a nice sweet honey contrast.

I paired it with a BBQ tofu "steak" and, of course, rice, which we managed, despite its long grain nature, to turn into sticky rice.

To Make Sticky Rice:

It's basically just a process. Put the rice in the rice cooker as usual with the asked for amount of water. Then, instead of turning on the cooker, let the rice sit there, soaking in the water for 30 minutes. Then, add back whatever water was absorbed (there should be measurement lines on the sides of the cooker) and turn that puppy on. When it's done, the rice should be sticky. Pretty cool, right?

BBQ Tofu:

Cut the block of tofu in half widthwise and then slice those in half lengthwise. Put the resulting "steaks" on a baking sheet and slather on your favorite BBQ sauce. Broil, about 5 minutes per side, more if you want it more browned than it looks after the first 5. Voila, BBQ tofu.

Miso Stir Fry

What you need:

1 bag frozen Asian veggie mix

1 carrot, sliced (if veggie mix doesn't contain carrots)

1 T miso

1 t hot water

1 t soy sauce

1 T honey

2 cloves minced garlic

ginger

1/2 t cornstarch

a few shakes sunflower oil (optional)

1. in a bowl, mix the miso, hot water, soy sauce, honey, garlic, a few shakes of ginger, cornstarch, and the sunflower oil.

2. In a skillet, stir fry the carrots about 6 min. Add veggies. Stir fry to heated through. Add the miso sauce mix. Fry another min, mixing well.

Now, you can plate the stir fry with the tofu and add a nice bowl of the sticky rice. It's very flavorful and makes for a nice light meal. Fair warning, if you want to make miso soup with the leftovers, remember (as I didn't) that there's already a lot of miso in the veggies already and adding the entire required amount of paste for the soup will make a very very potent soup. So don't do that.

Because I succeeded with the sticky rice, I also had fun playing around with making rice balls, which are like Japan's delightful answer to the tuna melt. First, combine 1 T of mayo with a can of tuna and a splash of soy sauce. Then take a handful of sticky rice, put it in a bowl, plop a bit of the tuna on the rice, and then use a spoon to mold the rice into a ball around the tuna. To really make it look authentic, add a strip of nori wrapped around the outside of the ball. It's an odd but welcomed change for a little kid's lunchbox.