Tofu and Mushrooms in Mustard Sauce
Very quick and easy!
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pound extra firm tofu, cubed
1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup flour
2 vegetable bouillon cubes, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
3 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon spicy mustard (horseradish mustard is the best, or you can use something like Gray
poupon)
Garnish with chopped green onions and chopped fresh cilantro leaves
In a wok, heat 2 tb oil to medium hot, add the tofu & fry until they change color. Remove the tofu & lightly saute the mushrooms. Remove & add the rest of the oil. Blend in the flour, dissolved bouillon, soy sauce, pepper & mustard.
The flour can get clumpy sometimes, and you can always add a bit more soy sauce and mustard to smooth it out. But be careful! The liquid from the mushrooms and tofu when put back in could make the sauce too watery. Put tofu & mushroms back in the wok, cover & cook over VERY low heat for 15 minutes. Stir occassionally. Garnish & serve over rice.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
ok, this is what I did and it worked out really well
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound extra firm tofu, cubed
1/2 C. chopped onions
3 cloves garlic
1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
1/8 cup flour
1 vegetable bouillon cubes, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon spicy mustard (horseradish mustard is the best, or you can use something like Gray
poupon)
I mixed stock, water, soy sauce, worcetershire, flour, half of the oil, and seasonings and then set aside. Sautéed tofu and onion in the other half of the oil until the tofu was lightly browned and the onions soft. Then add the mushrooms and garlic. Once the mushrooms are soft add the sauce. Once sauce is thickened its done. If my boyfriends tells me That he would eat it again than its pretty good.
Written as is this recipe is absolutely awful. It really does not work as the quantities seem to be totally wrong.
The problem lies with the amount of flour and fluid used to make the sauce. As a previous poster mentioned, you need to add the flour to the oil gradually, whilst whisking. Then add the water a little bit at a time whisking continuously.
However, half a cup of water with half a cup of flour = a big clump of gunk. Now I am quite experienced in making roux sauces so just by looking at the recipe I could tell that the quantities would not work.
I used 1/8th cup of flour and maybe 1 cup of water and this still ended up with a very thick sauce, and after simmering I needed to add a splash more water.
Aside from that, it was soooooo salty and I used less of the soy sauce recommended. That much soy sauce with my standard stock cubes really was way too much. Maybe if you're using low sodium stock or bouillon, you could get away with that much soy.
So as you can see as written this recipe really doesn't work at all. However, with proper amounts of flour / water and less saltiness (maybe half the soy and half the stock cubes) there is potential.
If you don't know how to make a white sauce you will have trouble with this recipe. But don't fret, it's actually quite easy.
You start with your fat, which in this case is oil. I prefer to use margarine. On low to medium-low heat melt marg in a saucepan, or if using oil let it get warm. Add flour. Add a tablespoon at a time, mix it in, then add another tablespoon. What you've got now is a roux. Keep cooking it and stirring it, cook for 2 - 4 mins to get rid of that yucky flour taste (you can turn this into a brown sauce by cooking the flour longer, and letting it go golden in colour). Add your liquid, which is generally stock or milk. I don't like soymilk in white/brown sauce though, so I always use stock. Add the liquid SLOWLY. A little at a time, then mix it all in with a wire whisk, fork or spoon. My boyfriend uses a metal spoon so that he can squash the flour lumps on the side of the pot. You can take the pot off heat for this process if you want, but be aware that it will thicken up when put back on heat. Once the first lot is all mixed in with no lumps, add another little bit of liquid. Stir constantly or it will burn. Don't rush this by adding too much liquid - you'll just make your job harder and it'll take longer in the end. Too much liquid will make it very difficult to get the lumps out. Keep doing this until the sauce is at your desired consistency. It is much easier to do this in a clean pot, so I would cook the tofu and mushrooms in another pot.
This is just the method, for measurements you'll need to find a recipe. It might sound like hard work, but it's not. It may take a while the first time you do this since you're learning, but after that it gets easier and quicker. Be attentive, stay with the sauce the whole time stirring constantly. Don't let it burn.
Many, many recipes have a white or brown sauce base; and now you know how to make them. If you can get your hands on vegan beef stock, follow this method to make a brown sauce using unbeef stock for a very yummy gravy.
This did not turn out well for me. I also had a problem with the flour gumming up. I could never get the consistency right and did not care for the flavor. I tried to save this dish by adding some Cinnamon and caramelized onions. The onions were great. I was thinking some green peas might have been a nice addition.
I halved everything and followed the recipe exactly, but the flour and mixture clumped up so fast before I could do anything about it. I even added more mustard and soy sauce to make it smoother, but I could not get it to even closely resemble a liquid. any suggestions?