Schezwan Scrambled Tofu - a few nothces above your everyday scramble

There were some things lying in my fridge for a long time that needed to be used up pronto. There was a package of tofu, some aging red peppers and mushrooms, wiliting celery, you get the picture. I also had an un-opened bottle of Ching's secret schezwan sauce lying around that I hadn't sampled yet. The need of the hour was a 15 minute lunch leveraging what was in the fridge, and the taste buds demanded something tangy and spicy, maaybe Indo-Chinese.

All the typical things that come to mind like schezwan tofu/paneer, manchurian, paneer/tofu chilli etc. required time, effort and Oil. I was missing the simplicity of the 'bhurji days' when all you had to do was fry some onions and tomatoes and crack a few eggs in it.

I decided to combine all these myraid elements into making a simple tofu scramble using the ready made schezwan paste/sauce. The results cleared my sinuses and burnt my tongue, mostly due to my over zealous use of the paste/sauce and my greed !! This recipe uses a few vegetables, but you can pretty much use anything you have and want. I would probably prefer to have a home made sauce so that I can control the heat, but then it would not fall under the almost instant category. The recipe follows -

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped red/greeen pepper

2 TBSP Shezwan sauce ( more as needed)

salt and pepper to taste

1 package of firm or extra firm tofu

1 Tbsp Oil

Method:

1) Chop or slice all vegetables in a similar form and size

2) Drain and wash tofu and set aside

3) In a wok or heavy pan, heat the oil and fry the onion till it softens. Add the celery and peppers and then add mushrooms.

4) Once the vegetables soften a little, add the sauce and fry for 2-3 minutes

5) Crumble the tofu into the wok and keep stirring/sauteeing until any water from the tofu evaporates and the tofu is well mashed into the sauce

6) Adjust seasonings according to taste

Serving Suggestions: Serve hot with roti or paratha, USe as a spread for subs/hoagies and eat with lots of crunchy fresh veggies, steamed rice, or fry rice into this mixture for a bhurji fried rice