Curry Tofu

I have to lose some weight…This is a fact. I’m getting married in July and need to shed a good 10 lbs. No more home made Alfredo sauces (sniff sniff), no more donuts (my favorite food), no more greasy burgers for lunch and no more cookies for dessert.

Sometimes it’s hard to give up the good (read: bad) stuff, especially when you get into the habit of eating it so frequently. If you’re motivated enough and set a goal, you can break the cycle!

For example, I am a HUGE donut freak…Always have been, ever since I was 3 years old when my father used to take me to work with him and he and I would take a break and walk to this donut shop a block away. He’d buy me the chocolate frosted donut and we’d walk back to his office where I’d eat it underneath his drafting table. Ahhh…the memories!

Anyways, now that I’m on a health mission, I have to cut out my beloved donuts….And the worst part is the temptation is there staring me straight in the face every morning, Monday through Friday when I go to work and get some coffee and see that big pink sugary Pandora’s box beckoning me to open it. I do open it….and stare at that one sugar donut, lonely, calling out my name….begging me to lift her up. The best part is….THAT I DON’T DO IT. I simply close the lid, shake my head and walk back to my office. That empowerment is the best feeling….even better than a sugar rush.

Part of our weekly dinner regime is tofu. I’ve been trying to find several ways to make a good tofu dinner and last night I decided to make a curry. I looooove curry, so why not make a nice sauce to flavor the otherwise flavorless tofu.

It was quite the easy dinner (as always). Here’s how I did it:

Prep:

• Cut the tofu into cubes
• Add salt and pepper to the tofu
• Add sesame seed oil and garlic to a pan and heat
• Add the tofu cubes and let them cook for about 5 minutes on each side, flipping until they start showing a bit of golden brown.
• I also added some water chestnuts (leftovers from the wontons), broccoli and green pea pods. I like them crunchy still, so I added them towards the end of the cook time.

• I know this is out of sequence but, before you start the tofu, start boiling a pot of water for your rice noodles. The instructions say to boil the water and take it off the heat and add the noodles for 8-10 minutes. I left it in the water for 10 minutes to ensure they were cooked through.

• While the tofu and the noodles are cooking, add a can of Coconut milk (you can also use the light coconut milk) to a pan and heat.
• I added a red curry paste and a few drops of fish sauce to the coconut milk. The product I used for the curry paste is found in the Asian aisle/section of your supermarket. I love to use this brand especially for their Coconut Milk Soup!

When all is cooked, add the tofu and vegetables to the curry sauce. Plate your noodles and top them with the tofu and sauce.