Super Crunchy Tofu Tacos with Mexican Rice

This is one of those recipes that's a game changer.  Seriously.  I have been attempting to cut back on my consumption of meat, and tofu is something I turn to fairly often.  However, I'm not at all confident about how to cook it.  This will forever be my go-to prep method for tofu.

I can not take credit for the recipe.  As with most of the wonderful food that comes out of my kitchen, I found this recipe on Pinterest.  The name of the blog where this recipe resides is The Woks of Life.  After reading this recipe, I added the blog to my reader feed and have seen several other things I want to try.

The thing that makes this recipe so great is the absolute crunchiness of the tofu.  And the recipe really isn't fussy at all.

The basic technique is to cube the tofu, then marinate it for an hour or so in a combination of sriracha sauce and honey.  Then you coat the cubes with a seasoned cornmeal mixture and shallow fry them in a black iron skillet.  You don't even have to press the moisture out of the tofu before you cube it!

I ended up using the exact same technique on some cubes of mahi mahi (my husband doesn't like tofu), and the results were fantastic!

I served the tacos with some homemade pico de gallo (chopped tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, salt, lime, cilantro) and guacamole (avocado, lime, salt) and homemade refried beans (a drained can of pintos, sautéed with onion and garlic, then mashed with a potato masher).

The second part of the meal was a recipe of mine.  To be honest, there really isn't a recipe.  I knew I wanted some kind of rice to go with the tacos, so I made it up as I went along.

I have a rice cooker and I probably use it more often than any other appliance in my kitchen, except the blender.  I love being able to dump rice and liquid in it and not having to think about it again until the little alarm goes off.  It came with a little scooper cup, so that's how I measure the rice and liquid when I use it.

I put 2 scoops of jasmine rice in the cooker, followed by 4 scoops of liquid.  I wanted to give some basic flavor to the rice, so the 4 scoops were comprised of:  liquid reserved from a can of tomatoes and chicken stock.  I put a sprinkle of salt in, closed the lid, and walked away.

When the alarm went off, I started making the rest of the veggies to mix into the rice.  I sautéed some Vidalia onion until it was soft, then threw in some chopped Anaheim peppers I had roasted the day before (I have a bush in my garden that is spewing forth peppers faster than I can use them fresh) and a clove of minced garlic.  After that I added the tomatoes I had drained earlier and a few handfuls of frozen white shoe peg corn.  I mixed in probably about 3 cups of the cooked jasmine rice, then seasoned with salt and pepper.  It turned out wonderfully!  You could add any veggies you wanted.  I'm thinking yellow squash or other kinds of peppers, zucchini, peas- you name it!

All in all, this was a wonderful meal.  It will definitely go in the rotation of dinners when school starts.