Masala tofu and fried rice

[sobrique]

OK, so I'm thinking about more cooking experiments. I'm aiming for somewhere shy of actually killing the person I'm cooking for, and I'll count that as a victory. But y'know, a bonus if they're actually enjoying it.

I'm thinking that I'd try an adapt a masala fish recipe, to do 'masala spice tofu', with a fried rice of some kind.

Pilfering from: http://www.grouprecipes.com/35472/masala-fish.html or something similar, to mix up a 'masala sauce' to marinade some tofu in, then pan fry it.

And then use something like: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/ricefried/r/basicfriedrice.htm
Maybe adapting to include some other vegetables. Peas, Carrot, pepper, maybe some red onion.

There seems to be a bit of debate as to which bit you cook first though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/eggfriedrice_67782.shtml

E.g. do you fry the egg and stir in the rice, or fry the rice and stir in the egg. I suspect I'll go with the latter, as I think that'll make the egg more subtle.

Anyway, was wondering if anyone had experience of doing something like this, and had any useful suggestions? (This one, unfortunately, violates my 'simple cooking' rule of - 'can be prepared in an hour or less' since you need to prepare/marinade beforehand.)
Specifically, can you just 'lightly fry' tofu for ~10 minutes and have it cook, or are you better off cooking it before hand? Fish cooks quick, and that's what I'm trying to adapt.

Edit: And actually this looks rather promising: http://www.bookofyum.com/blog/gluten-free-menu-swap-garam-masala-indian-tofu-scramble-recipe-3905.html

Comments

[hedya.livejournal.com]

Can't comment on this as I couldn't really take the time to read details. I have been meaning to pass on a recommendation to you for a while though... :)

[inbetween-girl.livejournal.com]

I have never been able to cook fried rice no matter which way round I attempted it, but my dad, who used to cook really good Chinese food, swore by doing the egg first in the bottom of the wok then stirring in the rice.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Well, I've been lucky so far with my cookery experiments... well, ok, at least ended up with something that qualified as 'edible', which is a start.

How did that turn out in terms of egg consistency? Did you get 'eggy lumps'?

[inbetween-girl.livejournal.com]

He managed to get it very professional looking with strips of omelette amongst the rice. I think the secret is to make sure the egg is sufficiently cooked before attempting to mix it. I always end up with a lump of sticky, eggy rice which was the opposite of appetising.

[mcnazgul.livejournal.com]

Can endorse the egg first thing or you end up with rice omelette unless you have a spacious wok.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

After some experimentation of my own (I like egg rice:)) I have found that an exceptable outcome is, cook the rice before hand and allow to go cold. (i usually use left over rice from previous meal, but you can use straight to wok rice too..). cook the cold rice in oil in a flat bottomed non-stick frying pan, until heated through (be careful not to get the pan too hot or it will scorch) season.. when rice is hot enough to eat. Make a small hole in the centre, pour in beaten egg. sllow egg to stand for a while and begin to solidify, depending on how big you want the egg lumps.

then stir into the rice..

I usually make the rice after everything else because it takes literally onlt a few minutes to put together. But that is a personal choice.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Ideally I want the egg lumps as small as possible.

[purp1e-magic.livejournal.com]

This may be a bit late for you, but I have lots of experience with cooking this sort of food.

Egg fried rice: it's a matter of taste, but my favourite way of doing it, which generally goes down well with guests etc, is to half cook the rice - so about 5 minutes, then drain and put in a wok. Add a generous amount of soy sauce and stir fry the rice. After it's very nearly cooked you make a well in the dome of rice, break in a couple of eggs and scramble like crazy until the egg is *just* cooked. It comes out very similar to egg fried rice you get from a Chinese takeaway.

I would think that tofu swaps with fish very easily, but I would marinade it a bit longer and a bit stronger than with fish.