Hunan Tofu..or Hunan Chicken, Beef or Seafood if you prefer.

Lessons learned from this recipe:

• You can over-fry tofu. In an attempt to get the golden-brown color pictured on the recipe's original website, I let the tofu sit in oil too long. Take a look at the picture of the tofu to your right for what not to do. If you follow the time guidelines, you shouldn't have this problem and  your tofu should look a bit more like this:

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/fried-tofu-recipe.php

• This dish can easily evolve into a very salty dish. This is likely the only meal I've cooked where I would use reduced salt soya sauce.
• Whether there is a typo in the recipe I followed or not, I thought it called for too much pepper for my liking. I've adjusted the recipe to suit my tastes. On the other hand, I was using pre-ground and relatively fine pepper for the first time in ages, which I wouldn't do again. 

If tofu isn't your thing, substitute it with chicken, fish, seafood (shrimp would rock this dish) or beef and saute the meat in a bit of oil as opposed to frying it. 

Despite a few errors in the making, I loved this dish. I took the entire thing to work and ate it all week. It's one of the few I've made that has a sauce that's restaurant quality. I ate this with long grain brown rice, but any kind of noodle or other rice would be lovely too. I will be making this again, factoring in all of the points above. 

Adapted from: http://userealbutter.com

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup country ham, julienned
• 1 T Chinese cooking wine or sherry
• 20 oz of firm tofu plus oil for frying
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 3 green onions, julienned
• 2 red chilis seeded and sliced thin
• 1 T garlic, minced
• 3 T chinese black bean sauce
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1t dark soya sauce
• 1/2 t sesame oil
• 1 t cornstarch
• 1 T water

Method

Mix the ham and wine/sherry in a bowl and set aside to soak. Cut the tofu into half-inch thick slices. Pat the tofu dry.  Cover the interior surface of a large frying pan with a good dose of oil and heat on high. Once hot, add the tofu to the oil a few pieces at a time, frying for 2 minutes on each side. Remove and set on paper towel, adding more to the pan as space becomes available. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan or wok on high. Once heated, saute the onions, chili and garlic for about a minute. Add the black bean sauce, pepper and the ham. Stir in the chicken broth, soya sauce  and sesame oil. Mix the cornstarch and water together in a bowl. When the liquid begins to boil, add the cornstarch mixture, reducing the heat to let the contents simmer until it thickens. Add the tofu, coating it with the sauce and let simmer for another 2 minutes. Serve with long grain rice or noodles.