Pointed Cabbage and Soba Noodle Stir Fry with Pan Fried Tofu

Well, I had a lot of cabbage left over from the Jamaican Veggie Patties - it only called for 1/4 cup shredded and had a look to find what to do with the rest. I added some shredded to a curry we had the other day - very nice, made a huge batch of coleslaw and still had some leftover! 

Then I saw this Gordon Ramsey recipe and had a fiddle with it. Replaced the prawns with tofu, oyster sauce with thick, sweet soy sauce and the egg noodles with soba, but really only because that's what I had on hand, use any noodles you like, or rice. I also wanted to try soba noodles warm as I've only used them in cold noodle salads before.

It turned out very nice, if not a little bland - I think this was down to large and therefore quite mild chillies, but will certainly make again whenever I have some cabbage in the house (and hotter chillies!). You can use any type of cabbage, I bought pointed as that's all that was available at the time, and found it very nice.

Pointed Cabbage and Soba Noodle Stir Fry with Tofu

serves 1 generously

• 75g dry soba noodles
• 3/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 3/4 Tbsp peanut oil
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
• 80g mushrooms, sliced (I just used regular, use 4 shiitake if you have)
• 100g pointed cabbage, sliced thinly
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
• 1/2 red chilli, sliced
• 1/4 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 50g pressed tofu, cut into whatever size you like
• 1/4 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped

Mix the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce and rice vinegar. Marinate the tofu for about 15 minutes, save the marinade. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the tofu until golden on both sides. Remove to a plate and set aside. Cook the noodles according to package instructions in salted water then run under cold water till cool and toss in the sesame oil. Set aside.

Heat the peanut oil and fry the ginger, garlic and chilli until lightly coloured at the edges. Add mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook on high heat for 2 minutes until soft and wilting. Add cabbage and a splash of water. Toss well then cover and steam for a few minutes until cabbage wilts. Add the noodles, marinade and tofu and stir fry until noodles are heated through and it all comes together, stir in spring onion and serve.

♥