Hunan Fried Rice

For dinner tonight, I made Hunan Fried Rice on page 188 of the Vegan Fire and Spice cookbook by Robin Robertson.  The flavors in this dish are very good.  I added about 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes for a bit more spice, but it still wasn't spicy enough for my liking, so I'll add more the next time I make it.

After making brown rice and putting 3 cups in the refrigerator to cool and marinating the tofu, I chopped veggies and added the red bell pepper and green onion to the pan.  

I threw in a cup or so of cabbage, and sauteed the veggies for 2 minutes until they were tender crisp.

After two minutes, I added the marinated tofu and cooked it until the marinade was absorbed.

Finally, I added about 3 cups of brown rice and sauteed it until the rice was heated through and it was thoroughly combined with the tofu mixture.

It may have been prettier if I had used white rice, but I was going for nutrition, so I used a brown rice mixture.  

I really like this dish.  I think it has great flavors that melded really well.  I will make it again.  However, when I make it again, I'm going to try a few changes to see if I can perfect it to my specific liking.  

I didn't like the tofu cubes.  They weren't browned as they were added after the veggies had cooked.  This resulted in a spongy texture.  I've only eaten tofu a couple of times, so this was new to me and was very disturbing at first.  Most traditional fried rice dishes have scrambled egg in them,  not cubes of egg.  The next time I make this, I'm going to try making a tofu scramble and set it aside and then add it where the recipe calls for it.  If that's not successful, then I'll brown the tofu and add the browned cubes.  I think that would actually add be a better choice as it would add more flavor to the dish. 

Another change I'll make is adding more cabbage.  Instead of 1 cup, I'll add 2 cups at least.  I so enjoyed the cabbage in the dish.  It was just yummy!  And, of course, I'll add more red pepper flakes, probably a tablespoon.  This is in addition to the cayenne pepper that the recipe lists, although that's only 1/4 teaspoon, so that's not much heat at all.  In fact, this would be good with the browned tofu cubes without the rice.  That would be an excellent.  I had no clue that I would like stir fried cabbage so much, but I am definitely HOOKED!

This is the first dish I have made out of the Vegan Fire and Spice cookbook.  It was a winner!  I will definitely be trying more recipes out of this cookbook.