Duck Sauce

A year or two ago, I purchased canned apricots. The idea was that if I love the fresh ones, I'd at least like the canned ones. However, canned apricots are just mushy and a tad overripe, or at least these ones were. I managed to get through all but one can, and there that can remained in the back of our canned-goods cupboard.

Then, there came one of those nights (ever so frequent now) where we needed a meal and just searched the cupboard to make a stir fry. I happened upon a recipe for duck sauce, remembered that can of apricots, and things just fell into place.

Veggie and Tofu Stir fry with Duck Sauce
What you need:
1 package noodles
assorted veggies (I believe I used red peper, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms)
1 package extra firm tofu
4 t soy sauce + more for marinating the tofu
1 can apricots
2 T white vinegar

1. Bake the tofu, marinated in a liberal amount of soy sauce, for about a half an hour, turning once halfway through the cooking time.

2. Cook the noodles according to package instructions.

3. Make the duck sauce. Put the apricots, vinegar, and 4 teaspoons of soy sauce in a blender. Blend to smooth. It will look a lot like egg yolk and frankly, really unappetizing.

4. Stiry fry the veggies until tender and add the tofu to them. Pour in half the duck sauce and fry for a few minutes.

5. Add the noodles and the remaining duck sauce and fry for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Dig in. The duck sauce is sweet with a hint of salt and really makes the stir fry special. You can also just make the duck sauce and use it on meatier dishes if you tend toward carnivorism.