The brown rice in this dish is nuttier-tasting and better for you than white. Long-grain brown rice tends to be a little milder than short-grain, but whichever you use, be sure to start this recipe using cold cooked rice.
This recipe was a "go to" for me when I was a vegetarian. However, I made a few changes to make it easier and more flavorful. 1) I cut my tofu block in half lengthwise & press it between several layers of paper towel with weight (can of veggies) on top for at least 1 hr. in the fridge.( I change the paper towels at least twice.) Then I cut it into the cubes & marinate it in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic powder & red pepper flakes for about 20-30 min.before cooking it. (I do not salt it after cooking since it's been marinated in soy sauce.) 2) I use a frozen bag of stir-fry veggies instead of cutting up the various veggies in the recipe. (But I do still add the cilantro because it's delicious.) But before I add the rice to the skillet, I drain off the water that comes out of the frozen veggies when I cook them. 3) I add lots more seasoning. I use garlic powder and red pepper flakes and about 1/3 cup soy.
With the following changes, this was just great: browned tofu on nonstick griddle with cooking spray (saved 120 calories!), added a big clove of garlic, a TB of minced ginger, and a hot thai chili. I also used more of each vegetable. Really tasty if you like the salty-hot-sweet combination of flavors. Served with steamed baby bok choi
I found it time consuming and bland. It might have hurt that I didn't use cilantro, but I can't stand the stuff.
