When you are a busy parent, budgeting student, or busy worker bee, getting dinner on the table can be a struggle. It’s great to have some easy and healthy options on-hand for the busy workday. That is why stir fries should be a staple in your household. This tofu and snow pea stir fry is easy, healthy, and delicious. It is satisfying and quick to whip up.
How Do I Make a Stir Fry?
- Use a large frying pan. Avoid non-stick because stir fries require high heat, which will release toxic chemicals in a non-stick pan. A wok is nice, but a cast iron pan works really well.
- Use high heat. I mean the highest heat your stove can produce. A proper stir fry has some level of smokiness from the pan. In Cantonese, we call it “wok hei” or the breath of the wok.
- Use enough oil. Plan to use 1 tbsp of canola or vegetable oil per pound of vegetables you are stir frying
- Use steam: Add 1/4 cup of water and cover with a lid to partially steam veggies and finish cooking. For harder veggies such as broccoli, or green leafy veggies, it is helpful to blanch them quickly and draining them before stir frying. If you do this, then you can skip the step of adding water and covering with a lid to steam.
- Add lots of aromatics: garlic, ginger, shallots, serrano chiles, fresh basil
- Add lots of umami: soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, fermented bean sauce
Keep Your Veggies Crunchy
One of the biggest mistakes in stir fries is to overcook your vegetables. A proper stir fry keeps a slight crunch in its vegetables for some texture. When in doubt, try to undercook your vegetables by a few minutes. The carryover heat should help to do the rest of the softening.
For my other quick and easy stir fry recipes, check out my steak stir fry and sesame ginger chicken stir fry.
The Case for Cast Iron Pans
With the recent body of research showing the health risks of Teflon and non-stick coating when heated to high temperatures, I’ve gotten rid of all my non-stick cooking pans. It might be fine to keep some non-stick items around that you do not plan on heating up to high temperatures. But if you do any kind of high flame cooking like the kind that is usually involved in stir fries and Asian cooking, I would suggest switching to cast iron skillets. Cast iron skillets can hold heat well, so they are a great substitute to using a wok with high flame.
What is Tofu?
Tofu is essentially bean curd made from soy beans. Soy beans are boiled, then ground into a fine paste with its water. After adding some chemicals to help with curdling (similar to cheesemaking), it is then filtered to remove the excess liquid, and then shaped. You are left with a jiggly bean curd.
Types of Tofu
- firm tofu
- medium firm tofu
- soft tofu
- silken tofu
- stinky fried tofu
- fried tofu puffs
- dessert silken tofu (usually served with ginger syrup)
What kind of tofu do I use for a tofu and snow pea stir fry?
Ideally, use fried tofu puffs. All other forms of tofu will be too wet and will fall apart in the stir fry. You can use a firm tofu, but you should pan fry it ahead of time to give it structure and make it hold its shape before stir frying.
For other quick stir fry recipes, check out my mapo tofu and steak and green onion stir fry.
Tofu and Snow Pea Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 3 cups snow peas deveined
- 1 cup fried tofu puffs
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Prep snow peas by removing the tips and pulling to remove the vein from the side.
- Heat a large frying pan on high. When pan is hot, add in oil. Add in garlic and ginger. Saute for 1 minute. Then add in snow peas and tofu puffs. Stir fry for 1 minute.
- Add in water to the snow peas, then cover with a lid. Allow to steam for 1 minute. Then add in oyster sauce. Continue to stir fry until sauce is well incorporated into the snow peas, about 1 minute.
- Remove immediately from the pan and serve. Snow peas should still retain a crunch.
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