Healthy Stir Fry Recipe

I'm not sure if it's because I have been making a bunch of Sprouted Kitchen's asian inspired recipes lately (like this one), but about a month ago my husband suggested that we have a stir fry night.  It sounds crazy because I cook fairly frequently, but the thought of making a stir fry recipe (whether it be someone else's recipe or my own) seemed really intimidating.  Not only had I never made stir fry before, but I didn't even have the basics, a wok!  I have always heard great things about woks (especially from my latest favorite cookbook) and recently was presented with the opportunity to create a stir fry recipe using the new Kyocera Ceramic Coated Wok (talk about the stars aligning!).  

I immediately got to work learning everything I could about how to make a stir fry.  Since I have been on such a major Sprouted Kitchen kick lately, I knew I wanted to create a recipe that was healthy and could accommodate an array of dietary needs/restrictions.  I took a trip down to DC's Eastern Market to get a little ingredient inspiration and boy was that successful!  The most amazing baby bok choy was among the delicious produce offerings at the market.  I quickly developed a game plan for this stir fry and it was finally time to put my new recipe to the test.  

Absolutely fabulous is really the best way to sum up my experience with this new wok.  The design of the pan made it easy to cook a large quantity of food in one fell swoop.  The high walls prevented oil from splattering outside of the pan while frying the tofu in coconut oil. The snug lid made steaming the veggies a cinch.  If that weren't enough, the ceramic coating (yay non-toxic!) also made cleaning the pan post-cooking super easy.  I kid you not, I could have easily just wiped it clean with a damp paper towel (don't worry- of course I used soap and water for the sake of hygiene).  I really wouldn't be gushing like this if I didn't feel this way.  This ceramic coated wok by Kyocera is an absolute gem and a piece of cookware that I would highly recommend to anyone in the market for a new wok.  

Oh, and the recipe was absolutely delish to boot!  Below is how I went about creating this flavorful and very healthy stir fry dish. 

Ingredients

• 1 pkg Extra Firm Tofu
• 2 Carrots (washed and cut into matchsticks)
• 1 Red Bell Pepper (cut into thin strips)
• 1 c Snow Peas
• 1/4 Red Cabbage (sliced into thin strips)
• 1/2 Red Onion (sliced into thin strips)
• 2 Baby Bok Choy (cut into quarters)
• 3 Tbs Scallions/Green Onions (sliced on the diagonal)
• Coconut Oil
• 2 Tbs Toasted Sesame Oil
• 3 Tbs Organic Tamari
• 3 Tbs Water
• 1 Tbs Lite Rice Vinegar
• 2 tsp Sambal Oelek
• 2 Tbs Muscovado Sugar
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 1 large Clove of Garlic (freshly minced)
• 1/2 tsp Freshly Minced Ginger
• 2 Tbs Corn Starch

Stir Fry Sauce

Before you begin cooking your protein and veggies, you need to make the stir fry sauce.  

1. In a bowl, combine Tamari, Water, Rice Vinegar, Lime Juice, Sugar, Garlic, 1 Tbs Toasted Sesame Oil, Sambal Oelek, Ginger
2. Set bowl aside along with 2 Tbs of Corn Starch (which you will mix in right before adding the sauce to the stir fry)

Instructions

1. Cube tofu in roughly 1" pieces, place between paper towels with a weighted object on top and allow tofu to sit for about 20minutes.  This will help to press the water out of the tofu, which will yield crispier pieces when cooked.  See this post from The Kitchn for more detailed instructions. 
2. Once tofu has been pressed, heat one heaping spoonful of coconut oil and a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil in a wok over medium high heat.
3. Once the oil is hot, add tofu and cook until just crispy on all sides.
4. Remove tofu from wok and set aside on a plate lined with a few paper towels
5. Return the wok to the heat, with the remaining oil.  You should have enough oil to sufficiently coat the pan, but if not then add a little more.  
6. Once the oil piping hot add the veggies, stir them around and then cover with the lid for about 3 minutes until they turn bright in color and have an al dente cooked texture
7. Remove lid, add tofu back in along with the scallions/green onions and stir to incorporate
8. Before adding sauce to the wok, mix the cornstarch into the sauce.  The cornstarch will help the sauce to thicken and create a stir fry slurry. 
9. Add the sauce to wok and stir contents until everything is well incorporated.  
10. Allow contents to cook for about 2 more minutes until you see the sauce has thickened. 
11. Remove wok from heat and serve stir fry over a bed of long grain brown rice.   I am a huge fan of Lotus Foods Organic Brown Rice.
12. Garnish with black sesame seeds and serve. 
13. Note- you can easily substitute chicken for tofu in this recipe.  Simply chop chicken breasts into 1" pieces and cook in the same mixture of coconut oil and toasted sesame oil. 

Thank you Kyocera for sponsoring this post. Recipe and opinions are my own.

Kitchen Knives 101: Everything You Need to Know

If you ask any professional chef what kitchen tools are most essential, kitchen cutlery will most likely rank at the top of their list.  Reason being?  There is so much in the world of cooking that can be accomplished with a good quality knife!  For today's post, I wanted to share my guide to kitchen knife 101 with you all.  I will run through the essentials for any knife block, my tips for basic knife care and a few of my personal favorite kitchen knives.  Kitchen knives are a huge part of cooking, so it's important to be empowered with the necessary information regarding the basics of kitchen cutlery to ensure that you are set up for culinary success!

Knife Block Essentials

• Paring Knives- knives with 3inch blades.  These knives give you the most flexibility for peeling, coring, cutting and shaping various fruits and vegetables.  I recommend having both serrated paring knife and straight paring knife.
• Chef's Knife- a large knife (either 6", 8" or 10" blade) known to be the most versatile.  Traditionally used for slicing firm vegetables, mincing garlic, crushing spices, etc.
• Slicing Knife- a blade that is at least 10" long and used to slice fruits very thin, as well as both raw and cooked meats. 
• Santoku Knives-  I recommend having both 5" and a 7" Santoku knife.  This style knife is thinner than a chefs knife, making it ideal for easily slicing those tougher vegetables and chopping produce with great precision.  
• Steak Knives- I recommend having at least 8 steak knives.  These knives are ideal for single use when cutting through tougher entree meats (such as beef or pork). 
• Serrated Knife (aka Bread Knife)- This knife has a long scalloped blade that slices easily and cleanly through hard crusts as well as tender crumbs.
• Honing Steel- this metal rod is used to realign or reset the knife blade after each use.  Note- a common misperception is that the honing rod is used for sharpening, when in fact it is not a sharpening tool.  
• Kitchen Shears- used for finely/precisely chopping herbs and even cutting up an entire chicken!  A good pair of kitchen shears is essential for any cutlery set.  

Caring for Your Kitchen Knives

• Always hand wash your kitchen knives (both blade and handle) after each use.  Never use the dishwasher to clean your knives as they tend to dull the blades and warp the knife handles. 
• Always dry your knives really well post wash and prior to storing.
• Have your knives sharpened a few times a year.
• Store your knives in either a knife block or drawer storage.  If knives bang into each other while being stored, the blades can become damaged. 

My Personal Favorites

• Shun Kanso Chef's Knife 8"- Attempting to chop up a butternut squash used to be a nightmare!  True story- I have actually broken knife blades in the process of dicing squash. It wasn't until this past summer, when I was introduced to the Shun Kanso Chef's Knife that I finally realized squash prep work didn't have to be that laborious.  This knife easily glides through even the toughest of vegetables and has made food prep an absolute pleasure!   
• Kyocera 4.5" Utility Blade Ceramic Knife - This knife has been featured in my August Kitchen Tools post and now again in this post because it really IS that fabulous!  Never in my life would I have thought that a knife would be able to slice tomatoes paper thin until I came across this knife.  When it comes to slicing soft produce with great precision, nothing beats this fabulous piece of cutlery.  
• Victorinox Serrated Paring Knife- This is another knife that has been featured as a kitchen tool of the month and for good reason!  It cuts like a dream, costs less than $10.00 and is the only knife I know of that can go in the dishwasher time after time without ever going dull!  

While this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything there is to know about kitchen cutlery, I feel that this post should provide you with a great knowledge base.  For those of you who might be looking to further your kitchen cutlery education, I highly recommend checking out these three resources:

• Williams Sonoma's Cutlery Buying Guide
• Sur La Table's "A Guide to Cutlery"
• Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook

August Kitchen Tools

This month's tools are three of my kitchen prep essentials.  Prior to getting married, and having hardly any disposable income straight out of Grad School, I relied heavily on the two kitchen knives I owned at the time to take care of all of my food prep work.  While the knives were perfectly fine and helped me to get the work done, it was always an extremely laborious process and would often take me significantly longer than the prescribed amount of time to accomplish each prep task.  With that said, there was still a silver lining to this situation.  Having such a limited number of resources showed me what tools would make my cooking process much easier and what tasks were totally fine to accomplish with just a regular kitchen knife, so when I was finally at a point where I could afford to invest in nicer kitchen tools, I knew exactly what I needed.  As you might expect, these three prep essentials were part of my list.  So without further adieu here are my picks for this month's kitchen tools feature. 

Cuisinart Elite Die-Cast Mini Prep, 4 Cup

I knew I would like this kitchen tool, but I had no idea that I would absolutely LOVE it and use it as often as I do.  The Cuisinart Elite Die-Cast Mini Prep is perfect for any small volume prep tasks like chopping herbs, making a salad dressing (like my latest favorite from Martha Stewart) or even whipping up a delicious dip (like this one from Ina Garten).  Of course I absolutely adore my 16 Cup Food Processor, but it is quite cumbersome to lug out of storage when I am only going to pulse something a few times.  Not to mention the cleaning involved with all of those different pieces on my big food processor takes forever.  This Cuisinart Mini Prep, take up very little space in my kitchen cabinet and all of the pieces are dishwasher safe (top rack only).  Definitely a favorite of mine and something that I would recommend for any cook regardless of skill level.  

Williams-Sonoma's Vegetable Chop & Measure, Mini

One of the cooking prep tasks that I used to despise the most was mincing garlic.  Garlic is sticky, messy and just a down right pain in the rear to chop.  There came a point where I had finally reached my limit and was about to take the plunge with purchasing a garlic press when I came across the William's Sonoma Vegetable Chop & Measure Mini.  This tool in my opinion is better than a traditional garlic press because it slices, dices, measures and is dishwasher safe!  This sounds funny to say, but garlic mincing has become a total pleasure ever since I bought this tool.  Simply place the garlic, shallots or other small vegetable on the grates in the chopper, press down and voila!  Instantly minced produce that has been uniformly cut and can easily be measured in the clear compartment fitted below.  A definite essential in my kitchen. 

Kyocera Knife

I have shared a few of my favorite knives in previous posts and I am sure that one would probably assume that if you've seen one knife then you've seen them all.  Well that couldn't be further from the truth.  Recently I had the opportunity to try out the Kyocera Ceramic 4.5" Blade Utility Knife on some of my delicious heirloom tomatoes (obsessed with summer produce!) and the knife's ability was definitely impressive to say the least.  The Kyocera knife glided through my tomatoes seamlessly and with incredible precision.  I was able to achieve paper thin slices with minimal effort on my part.  In addition to the knife's clean cutting, it is also dishwasher safe and comes with lifetime free sharpening courtesy of Kyocera.  That's right, Kyocera will sharpen your knives throughout the entire lifespan of the knife for FREE.  Love love love!!  The Kyocera knife is definitely a must have for any kitchen knife set.