I am blogging after a long time, and even the new schedule I have committed to – one post a month – seems hard to achieve. This is because I am busy building a business from the ground up and am blogging regularly on topics related to my business.
This recipe is actually the second of two I made, but I am blogging about this now since I have a better picture for this :). Who doesn’t love a stir fry? For me, it is the best thing for week night supper – something hot and homemade and as spicy sweet as you like it. While it is very easy to just dump the frozen stir fry veggies packet into a wok – believe me, I do that myself very often – there is some merit in using some selective veggies for a simple stir fry.
The mango chili marinade here was actually left over from some kebabs I made( the other recipe), and uses fresh mango pulp. Fresh mangoes are available almost the year round in the US, so you can pick up a couple of them, or just some canned mango pulp from the Indian grocery. Any leftovers can make a great mango lassi which will be a cool accompaniment to this fiery stir fry. The recipe is as follows –
Mango Chili stir fry is high on nutrition and taste. Mango adds a luscious heady sweetness, peanuts add crunch, chili adds heat.Perfect balanced vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 cup thick mango pulp
- 2-3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp chopped garlic
- 1 Tbsp chopped ginger
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 Tbsp chilli powder or chipotle or ancho powder
- salt to taste
- 2 packets firm or extra firm tofu ( or Paneer)
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1 large yellow bell pepper
- 1 large orange bell pepper
- 2 medium yellow/ white onions
- 3-4 dry red chillies
- 2-3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
- salt to taste
Method
- Whisk all the items for the sauce/marinade together in a bowl until they are well mixed.
- Drain tofu and cut in cubes. You can use a tofu press which is very handy. Cut the peppers and onions in similar sized chunks.
- Add the tofu and peppers/onions to the sauce or marinade, stir and refrigerate. This can be done a day in advance.
- If you are using raw peanuts, roast them lightly and set them aside.
- Heat the oil in the wok. Add the dry chillies and lower heat. Stand back because the chillies may splatter the oil. Add the peanuts to the hot oil.
- Immediately add the marinated tofu and veggies. Stir everything on a high flame until the peppers soften slightly and the sauce thickens.
- Add the soy sauce and salt to taste.
- Add a dash of Sriracha or hot sauce if you like it spicier.
- The stir fry is done when the sauce thickens and the oil leaves the sides.
- Serve hot with steamed rice.
This stir fry is a play on different flavors since we used a Mexican chili, but it comes together great and has the exotic touch. The sweet, spicy, smoky, sour and salty flavors mingle very well. The peanuts add great crunch and texture.
You can use other veggies too such as mushrooms, green beans, asparagus etc. to add to the vegetable count here. And you can play with the oil and try to add more to have that sinful ‘takeout’ feel. But believe me, even if you double the oil, you will not get that huge layer of oil that takeout food has. I tried! Kinda makes you think hunh?
So when are you trying this exotic mango chili stir fry recipe and making it your own?