cooking on the grill - going beyond the burger

If you and your future spouse are vegetarians, you're likely looking for wedding reception dishes that will honor that choice while not alienating meat eaters at your reception. Why not try this delicious tofu dish? It includes a variety of delicious ingredients that will make it enjoyable for vegetarians and meat eaters.

Ingredients

This dish doesn't require a lot of ingredients, which will make it very easy to prepare. For every dish, you're going to need the following:

• Two ounces of tofu
• Three strands of asparagus
• One cup of brown rice
• One chopped red pepper
• One chopped green pepper
• One tablespoon of soy sauce

The trick to this recipe is that you are trying to make a dish that both the vegetarians and meat eaters at your reception will love. To do this, you are going to pan fry the tofu to make it more firm and give it the consistency of chicken. And you're masking its lack of flavor by giving it the chance to absorb the delicious tastes of asparagus and peppers.

Getting The Brown Rice Ready

Start your recipe by preparing the brown rice which you'll use for the bed of your tofu. Cooking brown rice is easy:

• Pour one cup of rice in a pot filled with 1.5 cups of water
• Set the pot on the stove on high heat
• Bring the water to a boil and then cover the pot
• Reduce the heat to simmering and let the rice boil for 20 minutes
• Let the rice settle for 10 minutes in the pot

Following this cooking method will thicken your rice and make it more chewy without making it mushy and gross. The lengthy cooking period for rice gives you plenty of time to prepare your other ingredients. Feel free to add salt or any other spice you like in the water to give your rice more flavor.

Pan Frying The Tofu

Pan frying tofu requires a little preparation, but is mostly pretty simple. Follow these simple steps to get started:

• Choose a tofu with a firm consistency
• Drain the tofu and slice into small inch-sized cubes
• Press the cubes gently between paper towels to eliminate excessive water
• Place in medium-sized pan coated with vegetable oil
• Fry the cubes evenly over medium heat

Preparing The Asparagus

While your tofu is heating, you should prepare your asparagus by steaming it. While there are a wide variety of ways that you can prepare asparagus, steaming it is recommended because it will help preserve most of the nutrients.

• To steam your asparagus, follow these steps:
• Place a small steaming basket on top of a pan filled with water
• Put the pan and basket on the stove and turn the heat to high
• Put your asparagus in the basket and wait for the water to boil
• Check the asparagus while it steams and remove it when it's firm, yet chewy

Bringing It All Together

After all your ingredients have been prepared, pre-heat a large wok and coat with vegetable oil. Now, add your ingredients: tofu, the vegetables (arranged according to type), and your soy sauce (in that order). Reduce heat to medium-high and stir as necessary to keep everything from sticking together.

Now, layer the bottom of each serving dish with the brown rice and then place the stir-fried ingredients on top. For extra fun, place chopsticks in a small bowl in the center of each reception table.

If you prepare this dish properly, you'll have a fully vegetarian wedding reception dinner that everyone in your family will love. The vegetarians will love not having to eat meat and the meat eaters might not even know they're eating tofu. If you don't want to prepare this meal for your wedding party yourself, consider hiring a wedding catering service that can create something similar.