Vegetables and Tofu with Black Bean Sauce

Vegetables and Tofu with Black Bean Sauce. This vegetarian dish was inspired by a dish that I had in one of the local Chinese restaurant when I was in Melbourne. The dish was called Budda’s Hotpot a vegetarian dish made up of a medley of vegetables and fried tofu in a thick black bean sauce serve in a hotpot.

The sauce was really tasty given the fact that the dish was vegetarian, this probably generous amount of sodium glutamate was used, which is a common practise in most Chinese restaurants.

Of course for my version I would not use sodium glutamate or Vetsin as we Pinoy call it. I would just rely on the flavours of the black bean sauce that I used therefore it is important to use a good quality black bean sauce. To really enhance the flavours I used shitake mushroom and oyster mushroom two of my favourite type of mushroom. In addition I used baby bok choy which is readily available here.

Again you may use any combination of similar type of vegetables that are available in your location. Here is the recipe of my Vegetables and Tofu with Black Bean Sauce.

Ingredients:

1 piece big block tofu, sliced into thin rectangles, fried
150 grams shitake mushroom, sliced
150 grad oyster mushroom, sliced
1 small bundle baby bok choy, trimmed cut into serving pieces
1 medium size bell pepper, cut into big strips
2 pieces red and green long chili, sliced (optional or reduce quantity)
2-4 stalked leeks or large spring onion, cut diagonally
1/2 cup black bean sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 thumb size ginger cut into thin strips
2 medium size onions, quartered
1-2 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
salt
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

Heat wok at high heat, when it starts to smoke ad in the garlic and ginger and quickly stir cook until fragrant. Add in the onion and mushrooms, continue to stir cook for about half a minute. Add in the fried tofu, the rest of the vegetables and stir cook for about 1 minute. Add in the black bean sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water, continue to stir cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the vegetables are just cooked. Correct saltiness and sweetness if required. Now thicken sauce with cornstrach diluted I 1/4 cup of water, cook for another minute or until the sauce has thickened. Serve immediately.

Other Tofu Recipes; 

Braised Pork and Tofu with Black Fungus 
Vegetarian Menudo, Tofu Menudo 
Pork Chop and Tofu with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce 
Braised Pork Knuckles and Tofu with Black Beans 
Tokwa't Baboy Adobo with Oyster Sauce 
Spicy Mapo Tofu 
Mapo Tofu 
Tofu with Black Fungus and Bamboo Shoot 

Other Tokwa Recipes; 

Tokwa’t Talong 
Tokwa't Baboy, Pork and Tofu
Tokwa't Isda, Fish and Tofu
Tokwa't Baka, Beef and Tofu
Tokwa’t Manok
Tokwa’t Pinakurat 
Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy, Crispy Fried Pork with Tofu