Today's lunch

This morning I cooked for a client who had a "no salt" dietary restriction.  One of the entrees I made was a chickpea and quinoa pilaf with sauteed baby bok choy and shiitake mushroom.  It was tough restraining myself from adding tamari to the saute, so I decided to reserve some of the shiitake to freely augment according to my tastes for my own lunch.

I had half a block of tofu in the fridge which I decided to panfry since I didn't have the patience to marinate and bake it.  The key to getting the right texture is having a really hot pan (non-stick works best).  First, I swirled about a tablespoon of oil in the hot pan and let it heat up for about 30 seconds.  Then I added the sliced tofu, which sizzled as soon as it hit the oil (this is a good sign).

I let it go for about 5-10 minutes, while I did some weeding in the garden.  When I returned, the tofu was golden and firm enough to flip.  I tossed in some chopped red onion, then headed back out to the garden for another 5-10 minutes. 

While I was outside, I decided that the dish needed something green, so I rummaged the fridge where I knew I had half a bag of baby spinach.  That got tossed on top, then stirred together with about a tablespoon of tamari and cooked for several minutes until wilted. 

I added a sprinkling of sesame seeds and a drop or two of toasted sesame oil right at the end, just before plating.  Another quick and easy 15-minute meal!