“Sounds weird,” said nearly all the students at field camp. Fast forward to the after dinner campfire, and everyone was asking for the recipe! My most requested field camp favorite! Makes 4 servings.
I will sometimes pre-squeeze, slice, and marinate my tofu in a ziploc bag when I am planning to make this on a trip. Use extra firm regular tofu, not silken.
If you want to use as little oil as possible, bake the tofu at home before leaving and add to the dish at camp. 40 minutes at 400 degrees on a baking tray turning the pieces over after 20 minutes. I actually use a large tray with a rack in it that acts like an air-fryer so I don’t have to flip the pieces. If you are going to cook the tofu at camp you will need a little bit of olive oil to fry them up.
I like the taste of sriracha in this peanut sauce, but you can use a similar amount of your favorite hot sauce or even a small amount of ground cayenne if you prefer. The important thing is to add a little bit of heat to the salty sweetness of the rest of the sauce!
Ingredients
1 package of extra firm regular tofu
1/2 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 small broccoli crown, broken into florets
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
Marinade
3 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch or two of freshly ground pepper
Peanut Sauce
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon tamari (or soy) sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/8 teaspoon sriracha or similar hot sauce
Let’s make this dish!
If you haven’t prepared the tofu in advance, squeeze out the excess water and slice into thin pieces. I will usually slice it into rectangles about a quarter inch thick, but will also sometimes slice them into triangles. Either shape will taste delicious! 😉
Once you have your tofu squeezed and sliced, mix up your marinade. Combine the tamari, maple syrup, garlic powder, ground ginger, and ground pepper in a bowl and wisk until well combined. Place the sliced tofu in the bowl making sure that all the pieces are coated with marinade. Cover and set aside. While preparing the rest of the dish give this an occasional light toss to make certain the marinade is evenly distributed.
Cook the quinoa according to package directions. Quinoa, like most grains, calls for a 2 to 1 ratio for water to dry grain. If I have brought some, I like to add a teaspoon of Better than Bouillon veggie stock per cup of water to add some nice flavor. This is optional and you can easily use some salt added to the water instead.
While the quinoa is cooking, saute the diced red pepper in a little bit of water or broth until just softened. Transfer peppers to a large bowl. Next, add the broccoli florets to your skillet with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and steam for about 2 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. Transfer the broccoli to the bowl with the pepper.
Make the peanut sauce by whisking the peanut butter, lime juice, water, tamari, maple syrup, freshly grated ginger, and sriracha in a small bowl. You can use ground ginger instead of fresh if you need to, but I really love the way the fresh ginger smells and tastes in this dish! The juice of one small lime will be plenty, but you can substitute bottled lime juice if you prefer.
Now it’s time to finish the tofu! If you have chosen the oil-free bake at home method mentioned above just add several pieces of the tofu to the warm dish after assembling. If you are cooking the tofu at camp, give it a final toss to incorporate as much marinade as possible before removing it from the bag. Fry the marinated tofu slices in the olive oil over medium high heat until edges are golden, turning them over several times to evenly brown. This will take approximately 2-3 minutes per side, 4-6 minutes total. Once the tofu slices are evenly browned, place them on a plate lined with a paper towel and set them aside until the quinoa is ready.
When the quinoa is done, transfer it to the bowl with the veggies and toss everything with the peanut sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve the quinoa mixture with several slices of tofu and top with a sprinkling of chopped peanuts.
Camp Packing List
Cooking Gear Needed | Cold Storage (cold ice chest) | Cool Storage (insulated bag/cooler) | Dry Storage (cool dry container) |
1 big spoon | 1 red bell pepper | fresh ginger root | 1/2 cup quinoa |
1 medium pot / large saucepan | 1 small broccoli crown | sriracha | peanut butter |
1 cutting surface | 1 package extra firm tofu | 1 small lime | garlic powder |
1 knife | maple syrup | ground ginger | |
1 skillet | tamari | peanuts | |
2 mixing bowls | salt and pepper | ||
1 large bowl | olive oil (optional) | ||
measuring spoons | |||
Check out the Big Spoon recipe tab for more delicious plant-based camp cooking dishes to fuel your outdoor adventures.
…camp, hike, eat well, repeat!