Pour the rice into a pot, rinse, drain, and add 1 cup of fresh water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Once the water begins to boil, reduce heat to low, and cook covered for 30 minutes if using volcano rice and 40-50 minutes if using brown rice.
Meanwhile, chop and prepare all your veggies. Try your best to cut them all the same thickness so they will cook evenly. Then heat 2 tsp of oil or fat in a pan over medium heat. Once hot add onions and stir frequently. You can test the heat of a pan by getting your fingers wet and splashing a little water onto the pan. When the water sizzles a little its perfect and you are ready to add the veggies. If nothing happens its too cold and you need to wait a little longer for the pan to heat up, if it sizzles and steams a ton its too hot and you want to remove the pan from heat to let it cool back down to the desired heat.
After a few minutes, when the onions just start to soften, add the bell pepper, carrots, and broccolini. Stir frequently. If the pan and veggies start to get a little dry at anytime, add more oil or fat. If they don't get dry, wait to add it. When the veggies start to soften, about 5 or so minutes after you added them, add the ginger and mushrooms.
Once all the veggies are soft and a few minutes away from being done, add the collard greens, salt, 5 Chinese spice, and cayenne. Stir well, then add a dash of soy sauce. This will cause the pan to steam a lot since you are adding a cold liquid to the hot surface. You want to take advantage of this steam and partially cover the veggies for a minute or two with a lid right after you add the soy sauce. This will braise the veggies a little and soften the interior. Once the veggies are soft, lightly browned and you can easily stick a fork through any of them, they are done.
While the veggies are cooking, prepare the tofu. I use extra firm tofu because it is less likely to crumble or fall apart. Cut the tofu into 1cm X 1 1/2cm X 3cm chunks and set aside. In a small bowl mix together rice flour, 5 Chinese spice, cayenne, and salt. Then heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Let the pan heat for a minute or two then drench your tofu chunks in the spicy rice flour blend. Turn the tofu around to make sure you coat every side. Then place them on the pan. You can add the tofu to the pan when it is a little cooler than you did for the veggies so the oil won't splatter on you. Check on your tofu and once the bottom starts to harden and turns golden brown flip them to the other side. Cook till both side are hard and golden brown and then transfer them to a paper towel to absorb the extra oil. The goal is to make them crispy!
Meanwhile, toast the walnuts or pecans in a pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally till lightly browned.
Once everything is done cooking, divide the rice, veggies, and tofu among 2 bowls. Crush and sprinkle the toasted walnuts or pecans on top, serve with soy sauce, and enjoy!
2 servings