Is it possible to make Kale and Tofu Appetizing?

Tofu is a curious food, It's almost an un-food. I know it is supposed to adapt chameleon-like to whatever dish it is in and assume the same flavor, but on the rare occasions I have cooked with it, it seems to remain as little moments of Zen Nothingness in the midst of palate stimulation.

Kale too seems to me to be less of a food and more of a garnish. It's the wilted green curly leaf that fruit gets placed on. It's a food groupie - hanging around with the rest of the band hoping that it can become cool by association.

In one of my random searches across the Internet I somehow came across the following recipe for Lemon Chickpea and Tofu stir fry. For some reason I printed it out, and, as I consumed way too much food the last two weeks at Hesychia I figured it was a good time to get back into healthy eating and try something new. This is the result.


Buy a block of Extra firm tofu. Put it between sheets of kitchen towel with a weight on top to draw out the moisture.
I was amazed and rather astonished as to how much fluid came out! I think I changed the paper towels three times of the course of the couple of hours that it sat in the refrigerator!

And here's everything else. 2 shallots. 1 lemon (juiced and zest). 1 cup of chopped Kale. I can of chick peas (drained), 2 small zucchini (finely chopped), olive oil and salt. Doesn't that all sound yummy????

First, stir fry the chick peas and the shallots in the olive oil and some sea salt until the chickpeas get golden with a crunchy exterior. This took a lot longer than anticipated!

When they reach that point, stir in 8ozs of Tofu, diced, let that heat through and then add the chopped Kale and stir till it wilts. Transfer the mix into a bowl and keep warm.

Add a little more oil and stir fry the Zucchini. Originally I had the zucchini in slices, but I figured it would take too long to stir fry so I chopped it up instead.

Mix it all together and add the juice and the zest of the lemon and voila!

I was actually pleasantly surprised. The Lemon juice worked some kind of magic giving the kale and the tofu a nice flavor and tying the whole dish together.

Would I make it again? - Yes I would, and I even think I would serve it to others.

Any Issues? - I would double everything, that way I wouldn't be stuck with half a block of drained tofu in my freezer. Also the recipe said it made enough for 2 - 4 people. That seemed quite a wide margin to me, and as I was so hungry I ate all of it that means I just consumed food for 4-8 people!!! Oh well, at least it was healthy eating.

Is it possible to make Kale and Tofu Appetizing? -Yes, through the magic of lemon juice!