Broccoli and Tofu with Black Bean Sauce

There's a restaurant in Vancouver called Foundation.  It's one of those uber-hipster places that blasts hip hop super loud in a dark restaurant and all of the menu items have these weird names.  They have pretty decent food, though.  Most of the menu is vegan and the portions are usually so huge I can get two full meals out it.  People around here either love that place or hate it.  I get bored of their food sometimes but then I branch out and try something that's a bit different than what I usually order and I love it again.

That's what happened with this one particular dish.  I forget what it's called on the menu, but it's this broccoli and tofu thing with black bean sauce over brown rice.  I don't eat tofu very often anymore, but sometimes I get a craving on for this.  Last night was one of those times.  I just started a cleanse and this is something I'm allowed to have so I decided to try and make it myself last night.

I think I did a pretty good job, actually.  It's pretty darn close and definitely really yummy.  I'm kind of excited to eat the leftovers.  I do think that the sauce could use a tablespoon or two of soy sauce to liven it up a little and make it a tad saltier.  I can't have fermented things on my cleanse, so I just added some salt.  It was still good, but I think the soy sauce would have been better.

I also kind of screwed up the broccoli.  I started steaming it a bit too early so it got too soft.  You could probably just cut to the chase and saute it with the tofu if you wanted or just steam it for a few minutes and then add it to the pan with the tofu towards the end.  Either way, it was still delicious.  I think you could use this sauce for a lot of different veggies, actually.  It might be great as a base for a Chinese type stir-fry with some snow peas, baby corn and water chestnuts.  Yum!

Broccoli and Tofu with Black Bean Sauce

1 can of black beans, rinsed
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt to taste

1 block of tofu, drained, pressed and cut into cubes
1 head of broccoli, chopped
brown rice

Cook your rice and start to steam or saute the broccoli.  Saute the tofu in some olive oil in a pan, preferably a cast iron skillet if you have one.  You can saute the broccoli with the tofu if you want.  I usually saute the tofu over medium heat for 10 minutes or so until it's just starting to get golden brown.

In a medium-sized bowl, mash the black beans with a potato masher or a fork until there aren't any whole beans left, but not so much that it's a puree.  In a pot over medium heat, heat up the vegetable broth with the garlic, thyme, cumin, chili powder, cayenne and lemon juice.  Let that simmer for about 5 minutes then add the mashed black beans.  Stir everything together and mash the beans a bit more with the back of a spoon.  Simmer the whole thing over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let the flavors blend together.  You can add a little bit of water if you need to keep the sauce from getting too thick.  Stir in the salt and remove from heat.

Put the brown rice on a plate and top with the broccoli and tofu and then some sauce.  Eat and enjoy.