Last Sunday, after a low key, relaxing spend-the-night with friends in Warwick, NY, we wanted a low key, relaxing dinner to cap off the weekend.  Stir fry is great because we just gather a few of our favorite veggies, throw them into the wok, pan fry or *grill a block of tofu and hit the entire mixture with a simple brown sauce or a curry sauce.  There’s always leftovers and they’re the good kind, meaning they get more delicious the next day.

I try to impose a Rule of Three when we pick out the veggies b/c otherwise every piece of appealing fresh produce finds its way into our wok, but R always manages to skirt my rule so we end up with about 5 different veggies.  We picked up romanesco broccoli at the market, which I’ve been really curious to try since reading about on 101 Cookbooks (my review on romanesco: crunchy, fresh, slightly nutty flavor that’s different from broccoli, easier to cook with than a full head of broccoli and really pretty too).  You can use any of your favorite veggies.  The result was a saucy mix of chewy noodles and fresh, still slightly crunchy vegetables well coated in green curry coconut sauce to gently ease us into another Monday.

1. Heat about ~1 tbspn. of oil in a wok.  Cook the onions and green chili until the onions are translucent.  Add the romanescos, red bell pepper and mushrooms and cover cooking on medium heat.
2. In the meantime, pan fry the tofu in a hot skillet with a little oil periodically turning the cubes until golden brown on two sides.
3. Add the tofu and the cherry tomatoes to the wok.  I like the veggies to be a little crunchy and not wilted.  So, if the veggies are starting to lose their crisp, fresh look then turn off the heat until you’re ready to add the noodles and sauce. 
4. Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions on the box.
5. In a small bowl, mix the coconut milk, green curry paste and soy sauce and pour into the wok.  Add salt as needed (I add about 1 tpsn. of salt to cut the creaminess of the coconut milk).
6. Add the cooked soba noodles and mix so the noodles are well coated. Cook for another ~10 minutes on medium heat uncovered.  Garnish with cilantro.

*We often grill our tofu on our Cuisinart grill – it’s a healthy alternative to pan frying because it uses less oil and works really well with tofu that has been frozen then thawed.  If you decide to do this, squeeze the excess water out of the tofu, then quarter the block.  Lightly spray the hot grill plates with olive oil cooking spray and grill the tofu until golden.  After it cools, cut along the horizontal grill lines into bite size blocks.

**There are some shortcuts that I believe are shameless.  For example, I do not make my green curry paste from scratch.  We keep Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste on hand.   Keep in mind that some green curry pastes are spicier than others.  You might want to start off with about 1 tbpn. then work your way up by tasting the curry sauce before you add it to the veggies/tofu.