food to glow

Quite a mouthful to say, and to eat. Sweet potato noodles are not commonly found in UK supermarkets, but you will find them in Asian and Chinese supermarkets, and online from places like sous-chef.co.uk, where I purchased mine. Of course use any wheat, buckwheat or rice noodles you fancy. And for that matter please use bought marinated tofu, fat prawns or the more usual sliced beef if you don’t have the time/inclination to marinate and bake the tofu. But I highly recommend it!

Marinated Baked Tofu:

200g pack firm organic tofu

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce or shoyu/tamari

1 tbsp rice vinegar, lemon juice or white vinegar

1 heaped tbsp yuzu ‘honey tea’/marmalade OR 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

White pepper, about ¼ tsp

The Noodles:

50g sweet potato noodles (or two ‘nests’)

½ tsp rapeseed oil (for boiling the noodles)

200g baby spinach and/or young chard or other bitter green, chopped (I used both)

4 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce or alternatives

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp yuzu honey tea or dark sugar

¼ tsp white pepper

½ tbsp rapeseed oil

1 onion, finely sliced (I used red)

8 -10 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 spring onions/scallions, trimmed and sliced

1 young carrot, julienned or finely shredded

1 young courgette/zucchini, shredded or finely julienned

Toasted sesame seeds, to serve

1. First of all, if you are not making the tofu, use the tofu marinade on your chosen protein. Use your judgement on how long to marinate, but for most choices marinate for about half an hour. If you are making the baked tofu, press out the liquid between two tea towels, placing a heavy-ish pan on top to hasten this. Leave for about 15 minutes. Slice the tofu cake into two slimmer slabs then cut the tofu into cubes and place the cubes in a shallow dish.

2. Stir up the marinade ingredients, pour it over the cubed tofu, and gently toss; leave to marinate for at least half an hour. Lift out of the marinade with a slotted spoon (or just very carefully), saving any marinade for the stir fry.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Lay the tofu pieces on a baking tray lined with oiled foil, parchment paper or Silpat, and bake until the tofu is not longer wet and the surface is ‘bouncy’ and very firm – about 30-45 minutes. You may like it verging on quite crispy so leave it a little longer if you like. For other proteins, marinate for half an hour then set aside while you prepare the noodles.

4. For the noodles themselves, place the dry noodles into a deep pan of boiling water with the ½ tsp of oil and boil for about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse. You may like to use scissors to cut up the noodles as they are quite long and unwieldy for mixing in the stir fry.

5. Now blanch the spinach in a little water until collapsed. Drain and press as much water out as you can. Pop on a chopping board and roughly chop. You can also wilt the spinach in the stir fry itself, but it can be unwieldy if you don’t have a large wok. Set aside.

6. Now we can get cracking and get eating! Heat the remaining ½ tbsp oil in a wok or large wide pan. While it is heating, stir up the liquid ingredients in a small jug and have handy by the hob/stove. If you are stir frying marinated beef or prawns, drain and cook these quickly over a medium high heat and set aside. Pour a little more oil to the pan.

7. Add the onion to the hot wok and stir fry for three minutes or so, then add the mushrooms, the garlic and spring onions, stirring and tossing for about two minutes. Slide in the shredded carrots and courgettes/zucchini, the blanched spinach (or the raw spinach, as you prefer), little jug of marinade and any leftover marinade, tossing and stirring for another minute or so. Now add in the cooked sweet potato noodles, tossing well to coat and warm. Stir in the cooked prawns/beef if you were using either of these.

8. Divide the vegetable noodles between four deep bowls or onto plates, and top with baked marinated tofu and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Leftovers are also delicious warmed the next day.