Combining ginger with a whole range of Japanese-inspired ingredients is a delicious way to give your body the nutrients it needs to power through the rest of the week.
In honour of yesterday’s National Tofu Day, we’ve chosen this delicious Japanese-inspired recipe by Joe Wicks for Gousto to jazz up your weeknight meals.
Vibrant, healthy and oh-so-yummy, this is a really easy way to add some of the nutrients you need to power through the rest of the week.
Here’s a closer look at some of the ingredients that make this dish:
- Pak choi has antioxidant properties that help protect against ‘free radicals’.
- Mirin, a staple in most Japanese kitchens, is a sweet rice wine that gives dishes a bit more acidity. It is similar to sake but has more sugar and less alcohol.
- Edamame are ‘immature’ soybeans that are high in protein.
- Spring greens are basically the first cabbage heads of the year and don’t contain the hard centre that normal cabbages do.
- A staple of Japanese cooking, miso paste is made from fermented soya beans and can sometimes take several years to make.
Have a go at putting these ingredients together with the recipe below..
Miso tofu with stir fried ginger greens
(Serves 2)
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove
- 15g fresh root ginger
- 8g soy sauce
- 2 tbsp white miso paste
- 200g pak choi
- 150g spring greens
- 280g plain tofu
- 15ml mirin
- 5g black sesame seed
- 80g blanched edamame beans
Method
- Boil half a kettle. Drain the tofu and pat it dry with kitchen paper, then cut the tofu into cubes.
- Rip the leaves off the spring greens, discard the tough stalks, then layer the leaves over each other, roll them up and slice into thin strips.
- Cut the pak choi in half, separating the white bases and green tops. Then cut the white bases into bite-sized pieces.
- Put the edamame beans in a bowl and cover with boiled water.
- Add the miso paste and mirin to a small bowl with 1 tbsp vegetable oil and mix until smooth – this is your miso glaze.
- Peel and finely slice (don’t chop!) the garlic and peel and finely chop the ginger into batons.
- Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with 1 tbsp vegetable oil over a high heat. Once hot, add the tofu cubes and cook for 5-6 minutes or until browned all over and starting to crisp
- Meanwhile, heat a separate wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with 1 tbsp vegetable oil over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the shredded spring greens and pak choi bases and cook for 2-3 minutes or until starting to wilt.
- Drain, then add the edamame beans, pak choi tops and chopped ginger and garlic to the greens and cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until fragrant and everything is tender with a bite.
- Add the soy sauce and give everything a good mix up – these are your stir fried ginger greens.
- Once the tofu is golden, add the miso glaze and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce has coated the tofu and is starting to caramelise.
- Sprinkle over the black sesame seeds and serve the miso tofu with the stir fried ginger greens to the side. Get in!
More in this series…
Midweek Meal: This spicy salad could become your next weeknight favourite
Healthy Midweek Meal: Spicy chicken chilli with feta and avocado
