I'll look into using a wok. I don't like the mushy consistency the tofu has on the inside. The stuff I made last night wasn't really that bad, the pieces were just too big. My favorite Thai restaurant does long thin chunks and they're chewier and less mushy.

A Wok will help it from being as mushy as well imo. Although the key to great Wok cooking is having a good patina on the Wok and practice apparently. I don't use it a ton but even I seem to be able to make pretty solid dishes with it.

Anyway, outside of deep frying tofu, I feel like preparing it in a Wok really helps. It's not why I got the Wok though, so I dno if that will be worth it to you if that's the only reason you get one.

I agree with Yugo (except for the eating tofu part); wok cooking is very tasty and pretty easy:

--heat oil, steam veggies with a little water
--remove veggies, heat more oil, brown protein
--add veggies back into protein, add sauce, stir around
--serve

That's really all there is to it, and there are a ton of good sauce recipes available online (or you could make them up yourself once you get a little experience). It's also pretty quick because the wok is designed to be used with pretty high heat, so it's not very time consuming.

I'll let others speak to any specific tricks to stir frying tofu though; I don't expect there would be, but then I never cook with it so what do I know.

You don't steam veggies in a wok.

Yes you do?

Sure, you can steam in a wok, but that isn't the main purpose. Woks are designed to create certain textures. High heat, smaller amounts create a seared texture, not a braised or a steamed texture. This is why you should be listening for a sizzling sound when wok cooking, if the sound goes away it means you have too much food in the pan, lowering the temperature too much.

If you are "blanching", it's different, and you don't need to do that in a wok. Besides, adding water to hot oil is a good way to get hurt if you do it incorrectly.

But, this isn't a cooking thread.

I'm aware of all of this. An alternative option to searing your veggies in oil is hot oil->veggies stirred for a bit->1/4 C water->lid for 6 minutes, and it's pretty easy. It depends on the texture you prefer. In any case, you are correct, the heat needs to be way up and the oil needs to be hot before you start cooking.

Sorry for the derail Giz.

I generally don't steam my veggies in a Wok either, but I really like getting that crispiness and don't see why you couldn't steam your veggies first or just steam them instead of frying them.

One issue with Woks though is that basically no one has a stone ideally hot enough so if you don't have gas with a high output, it's going to be even harder to get the nice Wok finish to them.

So basically, more oil. Awesome. Lol veggies.

I don't get what you mean, soulman.
Yesterday (and Friday) were bad days food wise. Last night I had a "dinner party" with a friend that involved imbibing of alcoholic beverages as well as too many drunk-munchies. I was all, "I'm going to be healthy and bring salad, falafel, and some dip that I'll make the others eat!" Buffalo dip, pita bread, and guacamole later....
Oh well, I'll just get back on track with diet today. Taking the day off from even walking to and from places because my everything hurts from pulling weeds yesterday.

Dis is what I started with.

And the end-ish project. I didn't get to the right side of the house because I ran out of time. I'll probably do that plus the side of the house and some backyard maintenance next weekend.

I still have a pile of leaves I gotta wrangle into a compost bag.



I have a huge rash on my arm now

Gotta get more hosta out there imo and never have to pull a weed again!

Sounds like my kind of party (solely based on there being guacamole I guess, lol), although I'd prefer really unhealthy chips to dip in the guac than pita bread.

I meant that the Thai restaurant uses more oil to fry the tofu in since they're thin and long. More surface area = more oil = more nomz (and probably way more calories). Assuming they fry the tofu or use some sort of oil, otherwise I guess the egg is on my face.

Oh, I see. Yeah, obviously the thai place coats everything in as much oil as humanly possible, but it's the texture of the smaller pieces that I prefer. It's less... fluffy... in the middle.

Anyway, three days in a row now of binging Took the day off today from exercise, too, cause of general running errands business + feeling super crappy :/

Hopefully the WIM kicks in and I do good tomorrow. I think I may just plan what I eat tomorrow, tonight.

This has always been one of the keys to my eating well (when I'm eating well).

I turn it into a little logic puzzle, where I have to plan X meals for tomorrow that result in fewer than XXXX calories and more than XXX grams of protein, using only what I have in my refrigerator.

My WIM is totally gone with the poison Ivy. But today I ate under 1300 calories (so I got a little room!) and walked a bunch (4 miles) and did this "bootcamp" class that my friend paid for.
We did KB swings (instructor had terrible form) and my hip started to hurt. I'm going to roll some more (rolled before the class, too) but I'm hoping it goes away. I'm trying to be better with warming up and everything, but I've been really achy everywhere lately.