Valentine's Day 2012: Firecracker Stir-Fry

Valentine's Day 02/14

Firecracker Stir-Fry

Long time readers will note that when we stopped posting stir-fries a few years ago I joked it was because we had run out of novel ideas on how to plate & photograph them. While this is technically a stir-fry, I did find a novel way of plating.

The origin for the "firecracker" was conceived ages ago, scribbled in my notebook, awaiting the right moment to spring on Liz -- and our 25th Valentine's Day together seemed like a good time to break it out.



The tofu was cut into hearts with a small cookie cutter much like last year -- along a trio of veggies: carrot, red bell pepper and daikon. The tofu was smoked with -- wait for it -- gunpowder tea.

The fresh Yuba sheets were filled with rice, snow peas, carrots, daikon, red bell pepper and tofu and rolled much like a spring roll. The yuba was then brushed with a mixture of hoisin, tamari, black vinegar, sesame oil, agave and sriracha. They were also sprinkled with black sesame seeds.

The firecrackers were put on a sheet pan (seam side down) and into a 350F oven for 10 minutes, then flipped and basted again for another 5 minutes or so.

At this point, keep a close eye on them as they'll start to darken, you want to see some reddish color, but because of the hoisin & agave they can get a little too crispy, er, over-caramelized.

The firecrackers were plated with the additional tofu and veggies. with a tip of green onion acting as the wick.

The only problem with making these? Now I have to figure out some way of topping them next year. ;)

Tags: valentine's day, tofu, carrots, stir-fry, yuba, sesame seeds, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666