Ah, one-pan dishes. What could be quicker? What could be easier? Easy prep, little cleanup, chop, fry, stir, flip, season..

..done.

Taking a page from the Chinese tradition, however, I’ve found that sometimes it pays to keep things separate. Say you’re eating some workaday tofu scramble. You’ve got your onions, your peppers, your tofu, your tomatoes, mushrooms, seasonings ad infinitum. All of the veggies are fairly happy to lap up whatever cooking juices and seasonings you throw at them, so your yummy glaze permeates them all, and what’s more- their own juices also commingle like drunken coeds at a keg party.

What’s the fuss, eh? Flavors marry, seasoning spreads, the love is felt. You cry silent tears of jubilation.

But what if you took a bite of tofu and had a lemon-ginger explosion in your mouth, then you followed it up with a craftily-speared little stack of peppers and mushrooms and took a roasted chili-dill hit? When you least expect it, that fallen bit of onion that you guiltily ate right off the table conjured cumin-soaked spasms of…

Ok, yes, I’m taking this a bit far, but multidimensionality is something I love in my food, and it’s not all that difficult to come by, if you’re crafty.

I hereby command thee to make this scramble next Saturday morning. If you like it, feel free to drop a comment!

Saturday Morning KaleidoScramble:

The tofu:
Cube 8oz of your favorite tofu* and drop it into a bowl. Grate or grind (BIGUP M&P MASSIF! BOH!) the equivalent of a 1/2″ cube of ginger over it and combine with the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of sea salt. Toss to coat all of the tofu pieces. As you go through the rest of the process, return to toss the mixture every couple of minutes.

The peppers and mushrooms:
Throw a few dried red chilis into a skillet until they start to smell marvy and brown a bit. Break the stem ends off and roll each chili between your fingers, open end down, until you’ve removed the lion’s share of the seeds. Chop the remaining chilies roughly.

Toss them and a small handful of fresh dill weed (or a teaspoon or so of dry if YOU’VE GOTTA) into your mortar and pestle or other tool of destruction and proceed to decimate. You want a slightly coarse paste (or powder if you’re rockin’ the dry dill).

Chop a red or yellow bell pepper into slivers (I can’t hang with the greens). Take 6 or 8 brown (crimini) mushrooms and smash them up with your fingers. Really. I wouldn’t lie to ya! You want a little pile of seriously troubled mushroom bits. Take these vessels of flavor and combine them forthwith and thusly with your dill-chili paste in a 2nd bowl.

Feel free to squish, moosh, squash and generally mistreat the ingredients. I mean, you are planning to eat them- you don’t have to play nice.

The aromatics:
Chop half a white onion, and thinly slice a few good-sized garlic cloves. Combine with a decent pinch of cumin seeds, a few good grinds of black pepper, and a squeeze of lime juice in yet another bowl. Add a handful of chopped cilantro and stir.

The wait:
Let these 3 bowls sit for a couple of minutes so they can rest and consider the task ahead.. Or, marinate on the matter, if you will.

Heat your skillet and your wok (See Tools 101a if you need help finding good ones) to medium heat. Deposit a tiny pat of butter in the skillet and a splash of toasted sesame oil in the wok. Wait until a wetted finger flick sends each pan sizzling a bit, then drop the aromatics in the skillet. Stir well, as you don’t want this stuff burning, just carmelizing.

When things look a little bit more translucent, return the aromatics to their (hopefully heat-resistant) bowl. Nicely played.

Kick the heat up in the wok a bit higher and toss the tofu mixture in with a bit of flair. Let it brown on one side for a moment then flip it around to allow the other surfaces to get in on the fun. Hissing will occur. Things may fly about. Have fun, just don’t catch yourself in the eye with a stray bit of superheated ginger. NOT RECOMMENDED.

Once all looks tan and happy in tofu village, compel the peppers and mushrooms to report to the skillet, immediately. Stir and watch, taste and calculate just until the most solid bits of mushroom have lost their nerve and gone soft.

Finally, bung all involved into the wok, raise heat to med-high, and stir fry, baby, stir fry, just for a bit. You wouldn’t want to lose that flavor distinction you’ve labored to establish for the last 15 minutes! Right? Squeeze in a healthy shot of Bragg’s, a bit more lime juice or rice vinegar, stir again, and serve.

If you’re not deathly hungry, try tasting each element separately at first, then try different combos of them. Fun, all this. Plus, it’ll look the business, too, since the pigments from each group won’t have mixed as much as they normally would. Form, function, what’s the difference?

Anyhow, have fun with this idea. Multiple marinades, multiple cooking surfaces, different treatments, different attitudes.. One can make some pretty singular stuff with a few good ideas and the confidence to try ‘em.

Enjoy, and sunny skies to you and yours,
-georgeC

* I usually try to make some arty shapes when I do this using dead-easy cutting techniques I’ll probably cover here when I’m feeling frivolous enough.

Filed under: Technique, Recipes

Leave a Reply