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Ingredients
rice — 3/4 cup dry
oil — a splash or two
tofu — 1 pound, diced into half-inch cubes
one onion — chopped
cooked black-eyed peas — 3 cups (see Option #7)
collard greens — 10-12 ounces, after rinsing (if dirty) and destemming, then chop them up
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favorite topping — Bragg's Amino Acids, soy sauce, salsa, sweet hot chili sauce (whatever you like)
Instructions
1. Start the rice cooking. Rice is generally 2 parts water to 1 part rice, thus get 1 1/2 cups of water boiling, put in the rice, turn it down to a simmer, cover and cook until the water is boiled off, about 10 to 15 minutes. (For brown rice, use 3 parts water to 1 part rice and double or triple the cooking time.)
2. Put a tablespoon or two of oil in a big skillet and fry up the tofu cubes. Let the tofu cook for three minutes, then flip it and let it cook again for three minutes so that the cubes get a little crispy. Remove the tofu to a dish or plate. (See option below.)
3. In the skillet, add the onion and sauté for five minutes or how ever long it takes to wash, de-stem and chop the collard greens.
4. De-stem the collard greens by folding them in half lengthwise along the stem with the darker green side down and then pull up the stem until it comes off and you’re left mostly with leaf. Wash if needed. Chop it all coarsely.
5. Add the already-cooked tofu, already-cooked rice, peas and collard greens and cook for about five minutes or until heated through. Serve with choice of favorite toppings
Options
1. You can also bake the tofu for less fat in the dish. We often do this. Just cut it up into cubes, spray the bottom of a pan with a little oil and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes (the time doesn't matter much). We use the toaster oven.
2. Bragg's or soy sauce are the standard topping. Dianne likes salsa on top. Mark likes that syrupy red pickled chili sauce found at international markets in big bottles from Thailand or Malaysia.
3. To save time, you can just buy some smoked tofu or some other flavor of tofu and just cut it up rather than cooking your own. Two 8-ounce packages will do it.
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4. If you cook your own tofu, feel free to flavor it up by tossing in some teriyaki sauce or soy sauce or barbecue sauce while you’re frying it or baking it.
5. You can sprinkle some red pepper flakes when adding the rice/peas/greens for extra zing.
6. You can use other greens. Red chard is really good.
7. For black-eyed peas, there are a number of ways to secure them. The easiest is to just use two cans, drained. Cans aren't widely available in Reno. Frozen is another option. These have to be boiled for a while; follow the package directions. You can boil 1 1/2 cups of peas for an hour, or until tender.