Tofu and Vegetables Stir-fry

September 19, 2003
Filed under Asian cooking, Chinese recipes, Cooking with Tofu

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The nicest thing about Chinese stir-fried dishes is that you can get just about any combination of vegetables available, cut them up in the same sizes, and throw them in the wok with a little meat (or even none at all) and some good sauce. The best combination, of course, follows the basic Chinese cooking principle that the cooked dish should be good in appearance, texture and flavor.

Tofu and Vegetables Stir-fry

To come up with a good-looking vegetable stir-fry, it is best to choose vegetables that vary in colors and textures. Popular choices include carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, snow peas (chicharo), green (Baguio) beans, cauliflower, baby corn, bamboo shoots and broccoli. In some countries where vegetables are seasonal, the choices are limited by the season. Actually, that is perhaps the very reason why the Chinese invented so many ways of cooking their stir-fries. They use vegetables in season.

In tropical countries like the Philippines where vegetables are abundant almost all-year round, stir-fried vegetable dishes are easy to make. One practical guideline is that prices of certain vegetables vary depending on the season. As a rule, vegetables are more expensive during the rainy months; cheap and plentiful during the summer months.