Vegetarian pinakbet (Filipino vegetable sauté with tofu)
Squash, eggplant, okra and green beans cooked down with garlic, tomato and ginger in a savory miso-soy sauce with golden tofu, over jasmine rice.
- 50 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.30 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups jasmine rice
- 1 package extra-firm tofu, patted dry
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- 2 cups cubed butternut squash
- 1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 8 oz okra, trimmed
- 6 oz green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 2½ tbsp soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 590 calories, 23 g protein, 88 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $3.30 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No extra-firm tofu? Firm tofu works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No cubed butternut squash? Butternut squash works.
- No green beans? Frozen green beans work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice and bring it with 2¼ cups water and the salt in a .
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Stir once, cover, turn to low and cook 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Cut the tofu into 1-inch .
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot or deep over medium-high heat and fry the tofu, turning, until on most sides, 8 to 10 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Tofu is safe to eat straight from the package; cooking is only for texture and flavor.
Set it aside.
Add the last tablespoon of oil, then the garlic, onion and ginger, and cook until soft, 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until they slump, 3 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Stir the miso and soy sauce into ½ cup water and pour it in. Add the squash, cover and cook 5 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Miso and soy stand in for the shrimp paste that pinakbet usually gets its deep, salty flavor from.Add the eggplant, okra and green beans on top. Cover and cook until everything is tender, 8 to 10 minutes, gently turning it over once.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Stir as little as you can. Okra goes slippery when it’s stirred a lot.the tofu back in, with pepper and serve over the rice.
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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