Home away from home

Before I moved to my happy little middle of nowhere, I was living in Memphis.  More specifically, Midtown Memphis.  Ya know, that arty farty hipster part of town.  The part of town where everyone rides bikes and is a painter or photographer or obsessed with Ray Bradbury.  Which worked out fine for me, since I like all of those things.  Ultimately, I learned that no matter how much I thought I should be in that great big city, I really belonged in the country.  Because as soon as I got further away from bright lights and noise to the big ol' nothing, my heart just filled up.  I found home.

Blah.  That's so sappy.  I'm a sap.

Anyway, yes, I found home here in the country.  But the truth is, there are and will always be things I miss about cool midtown.  And, sadly, they are almost all food related.  It's Memphis.  Obviously the food makes an impression.

There was this little Vietnamese restaurant on Madison Avenue, between a dry cleaner and an Irish bar called Pho Ha Bin that was this little slice of heaven I visited regularly.  And I only ever ordered one thing: Lemon grass tofu.  Give it to me.  So when I found lemon grass stalks in the produce section of Piggly Wiggly in Batesville, MS, I squealed!  No really - I did. 

Lemon grass looks sort of like a shallot and is super fibrous.  So in order to use it in a recipe, you'll want to slice the base (the lighter part) of the stalk into thin rounds and then pulse them in a food processor or spice grinder.  Like I said, I found it at our local grocery store in a small town.  It can also be found in Chinese grocery stores if you have them around you. You can save the rest of the stalk and boil it down for tea or soup bases.  It smells AMAZING.  Maybe I could use it as an odor diffuser for those terrible diaper occasions...

What a terrible way to dive into this recipe.  Come back to me!

The thing about frying tofu is that tofu usually comes packed in water.  And wet stuff is not ideal for frying. You'll need to take your block of extra firm tofu out of the package and wrap it in a towel and place something heavy, like a cast iron skillet, to push out the excess moisture.  Let it dry for 20-30 minutes and then cube it.

Spicy Lemon grass Tofu (adapted from Epicurious)

-2 lemongrass stalks, outer layers peeled, bottom white part thinly sliced and finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

-1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

-2 teaspoons chopped Thai bird chilies or another fresh chili

-1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes

-1 teaspoon ground turmeric

-2 teaspoons sugar

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-12 ounces tofu, drained, patted dry and cut into 3/4-inch cubes

-4 tablespoons vegetable oil

-2 shallots, thinly sliced

-1 teaspoon minced garlic

Combine the lemongrass, soy sauce, chilies, chili flakes, turmeric, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the tofu cubes and turn to coat them evenly. Marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat. Add the shallot and garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.

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Add the tofu mixture and, using chopstick or wooden spoons, turn so it cooks evenly, about 4 to 5 minutes. 

Remove from the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Serve immediately with steamed rice.