Red-Cooked Tofu Stir Fry with Rice Noodles

Let me just say, I love stir-fry. You can add any vegetable you like and should be called clean-out-your-fridge-dishes since I seem to buy produce in excess.

I have never actually cooked tofu before. I had this blubbery/slimy/and other texture phobia growing up and actually didn't like quite a few things that I do now. Yogurt, cottage cheese, slimy sandwich meat, barley, oatmeal, pudding, beans,... I am glad I got over those. So now I can safely add tofu to the list.

My friend loaned me a beautiful Chinese cookbook (which I think should really be called an Asian cookbook) and I married 2 recipes from in there :
Red-Cooked Tofu with Chinese Mushrooms
Spiced Tofu Stir-fry

Ingredients and Directions:

8 Oz pkg Firm tofu
2 TBSP Soy sauce
1 TBSP Chinese rice wine (which i did not have so used rice vinegar)
2 tsp brown sugar
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

 Drain the tofu and cut into 1" cubes. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and add cubed tofu. Let set 30 min and then drain, reserving the marinade for later use. Add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch to the marinade.

Fry the tofu in 2 tbsp of olive oil for about 5 min. Remove tofu and set aside.

Add to pan:

4 sliced scallions
2 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper seeded and sliced
1 yellow bell pepper seeded and sliced
1 8oz pkg button mushrooms halved
1 large zuchinni sliced
2 cups bean sprout (last few mintues)

Return tofu to the pan and pour marinade over and continue cooking until thickens.
Add :

1 TBSP Honey
2 TBSP Lime juice
salt and pepper

(serve over rice noodles, or rice)