Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Wok Steamed Collards and Quinoa

I made this awesome vegan dinner tonight, because we randomly happened to buy limes, tofu, collard greens, and quinoa at the store in one shopping trip. When I came home and found this recipe and I knew it was written for me! And since in the winter time, I go into super lazy mode and don't really get excited about making food in the same way that I am during the summer time (all that fresh produce!), I figured, hey, this would be a good blog post! So away I went.

I, too, love geometry.

And I excel at tofu geometry!

The pan is dry when you fry up the tofu, which is interesting, because I'm used to frying it in oil, which gives it a kind of crispy, crunchy texture on the outside, almost like a thin batter. This makes it crispy in a different kind of way, a less in-your-face crispiness. If that makes any sense at all. Bottom line, it was good.

The sauce became "saucy" very quickly, so keep an eye on it, and don't let it all evaporate. I sent Dad to the store for the fresh mint that the recipe calls for, but they didn't have it, so I ended up omitting it. I do not feel like I was missing a huge part, but next time, I'll definitely try it with the mint.

Greens cook down like nobody's business. So if the recipe calls for a whole head and you think that might be pushing it, go ahead and cook it all up anyway, because you'll end up with about 1/3 of what it looks like uncooked.

See, I can do fancy presentation, too!

I was worried it might be a little sweet (I used agave nectar in the sauce instead of sugar, and didn't add the garlic), but it was a really lovely marriage of flavors. The lime was amazing. It was so fresh and light and just brought the whole thing together. I didn't add the cardamom and cinnamon to the quinoa, but I did use the lime zest, and I'm pretty sure it's the best way I've ever had quinoa before. I think from now on, any time I make quinoa for a salad or whatever, I'm going to use a little lime zest. It totally transformed the grain. I can't recommend this enough. Even if you're not a vegetarian or a vegan, and especially if you're not crazy about tofu, I really urge you to try this recipe. Very, very tasty!