If you have a chance to visit Vietnam, you’ll see there are a plethora of noodle dishes, ranging from soups to stir fry. Tofu noodle stir fry is a dish that uses vegetables and lo mein noodles (egg noodles) tossed in a stir fry sauce.
I personally love stir fry dishes because it allows me to use up any leftover vegetables.
The noodles
Typically lo mein noodles are used in stir fry dishes. These are egg noodles. Originated in China, “lo mein” means “stirred noodles.” If you cannot find these egg noodles, use ramen noodles instead. For some reason, I bought a big box of ramen noodles the last time I made homemade ramen noodle soup 🤣, so I decided to use these instead of the egg noodles. As an absolute last resort, you can use the prepackaged instant ramen. However, I do prefer these over the instant ramen because they taste better and contain less sodium.
I like to cook the noodles the al-dente. This way the noodles will not be overcooked after it’s combined with the veggies and stir fry sauce.
Tofu as the protein
Different kinds & uses for tofu
I know tofu is not a popular ingredient. Most think it is bland, which I agree with, but if done correctly it’s delicious. My mom used to cook with tofu all the time. When she goes meatless, her protein of choice is definitely tofu. There are a variety of different kinds of tofu at the Asian store: fried, firm, extra firm, super firm, regular and silken.
The non-fried tofu are used in many dishes like soups or stir fry. One of my favorite tofu soup dish is the vegetarian sweet & sour soup (canh chua), which uses the extra firm tofu. The fried tofu is reserved for stuffing with ground beef in a dish called đậu hũ nhồi thịt (more about this in a future post).
Preparing the tofu for stir fry
When using tofu in stir fry, I like to use the firm or extra firm kind. It makes it easier to work with because the tofu is able to maintain its shape. The firm tofu I bought came in a square shape, so I just cut it up into 1/2 inch to 1″ cubes. Because tofu is so bland to start, in order for it to pick up flavors, it needs to marinade in whatever sauce you’re cooking it in for at least 30 minutes. Since I’m making a stir fry dish, I had it marinating in the stir fry sauce. The stir fry sauce contains oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, garlic chili sauce, hoisin sauce, pepper, garlic and shallots.
Frying the tofu
After the 30 minutes, I placed the marinated tofu pieces in a hot oil pan and let each side brown. This makes the tofu crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Delicious!!
The vegetables
You can use any vegetables for this stir fry. I just happen to have baby bok choy and carrots on hand, so that’s what I used. Commonly used vegetables in Vietnamese stir fry include carrots, broccoli, baby corn, snap peas and mushrooms.
Baby bok choy is similar to regular bok choy. The main difference is baby bok choy is smaller and they have a much sweeter taste compared to regular bok choy. Even though they are smaller in size, I like to chop it into thirds to make it easier to work with. Sautéing baby bok choy is similar to sautéing spinach in that they wilt. A big batch of baby bok choy will reduce in volume once it’s cooked, so keep this in mind when trying to figure out how much baby bok choy to purchase.
Storing leftovers
This is a dish that is best eaten fresh. However, if you do end up with any leftover, place them in a sealed container in the fridge. It will still taste good the next day, but the noodle might not hold its original shape.
Tofu Noodle Stir Fry (Mì Xào Đậu Hũ)
Ingredients
Ingredients for the tofu marinade/stir fry sauce:
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp garlic chili sauce
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 pound firm tofu cut into pieces
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 shallot chopped
Ingredients for the stir fry:
- 2.5 pounds baby bok choy wash and cut into thirds
- 1.5 medium carrots thinly sliced
- 6 rice ramen cakes
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil plus more if needed
- ½ cup water or vegetable broth to deglaze the pan
Instructions
Instructions for the tofu marinade (stir fry sauce):
- Combine the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, garlic chili sauce, hoisin sauce, pepper, garlic, shallot and tofu pieces in a bowl. Mix well, cover and let marinade in the fridge for 30 minutes. While you wait for the tofu to marinade, boil the ramen noodles and stir fry the vegetables.
Instructions to cook the ramen noodles:
- Add water and 1 TBSP salt to a pot and bring it to a boil.
- Add in the 6 ramen cakes and let them cook until they are al-dente.
- Drain the cooked ramen noodles into a colander and rinse the ramen noodles under cold water. This will help them not stick together. Then set them aside.
Instructions to cook the vegetables:
- Add vegetable oil to the pan and toss in the baby bok choy. The bok choy will wilt as they cook. Once they start to wilt, remove them from the pan and set the bok choy aside.
- Add to the same pan the thinly sliced carrots and sauté them until they are soft, but not too soft. You still want a bit of a crunch to the carrots. Approximately 3-4 minutes, then remove the carrots from the pan and set them aside.
Instructions to pan fry the tofu:
- Add vegetable oil in a pan and let it heat up. Add the marinated tofu pieces and let them brown on each side. After all the tofu have been brown, remove them from the pan. Don't discard the stir fry sauce you used to marinade the tofu in because you'll add this stir fry sauce once everything is combined.
- The pan will appear to look burnt from the tofu pieces, but don't worry, add either water or vegetable broth to deglaze the pan.
- After the pan is deglazed, add the sautéd bok choy, carrots, cooked ramen noodles and stir fry sauce back into the pan. Toss to combine all the ingredients.
- You can add the pan fried tofu to the noodle mixture or you can serve it on top of the noodle mixture.
The next time you’re craving vegetable stir fry, don’t order take-out. Instead, give this recipe a try.
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