Long Beans and Delicata Squash Stir Fry with Tofu

Christine’s blog Vermilion Roots captured my attention from the moment I saw it – from her fantastic photography to great recipes. Her South East Asian background and living in the USA kind of resonated with how I sometimes think of ingredients and try to blend the food culture from the two different parts of the world. It was a pleasure when she asked me to a Diwali collaboration with her. She picked a Diwali recipe from my blog – Okkarai and has recreated it. I think she has done a wonderful job at that. You can find her post here.

I was immediately drawn to the Long Beans Stir Fry recipe on her blog and had no doubt after that as to which recipe to choose from Christine’s blog to try and recreate. I love long beans and was thrilled at the opportunity to use it in an Asian style stir fry as that is something I have never tried in spite of long beans being a part of our everyday cooking. That is one of the things I love about food blogs. It brings people from all over the world together, with one common ingredient – the food and the passion for making and eating good food!

I did make some modifications to Christine’s recipe and used some delicata squash that are very much in season right now, instead of peppers and I kinda wanted to make a stir fry side dish to eat with anything we wanted to. So, I made some quinoa on the side and it was a very delightful combination.

Long Beans and Delicata Squash Stir Fry with Tofu

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp olive oil
• half a block of extra firm tofu, drained (press between paper towels) and sliced into cubes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 inch piece ginger, crushed
• 15-18 long beans, cut lengthwise into about 3 inches
• 1/2 delicata squash, deseeded and sliced into half rings
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• crushed black pepper, to taste
• extra salt, if needed
• 2 tbsp water, to sprinkle over
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method:

Heat the 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet and fry the tofu cubes, arranging them in a single layer, till they are brown and crispy. Flip them over and fry till the other side is also brown and crispy. Drain over paper towels.

In the same pan, add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and add the garlic, ginger and onions slices. Sauté till the onions start to caramelize a little. Add the delicata squash and the long beans. Sprinkle a little water and sauté till the beans are soft. Now add the soy sauce, salt and pepper and the fried tofu cubes as well.

Mix well. Remove from heat and toss the sesame seeds over it.

Serve with noodles, brown rice or quinoa.