July: Sweet and Sour Crispy Tofu

A crowd pleaser which is vegan.

It does require some preparation in advance so that you can crack on with the cooking. I cook the sweet and sour sauce several hours before and prepare and measure the other ingredients. It is quite easy once you have prepared.

I have also used the same recipe and made it with chicken. It works just as well.

Serves 2-4.

Ingredients

1 x 280g block of firm tofu

6cm piece fresh ginger

1 red onion

1 garlic clove

1 green pepper

200ml pineapple juice

60ml rice vinegar

60ml tomato ketchup

70g light brown sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder, optional

4 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp sesame oil

½ tsp chilli flakes

½ tsp salt 100g tinned pineapple chunks

Preparations

Either press the tofu or place it between clean tea towels/kitchen roll to remove any excess liquid and firm in up before cooking. Leave for at least half an hour.

Put the pineapple juice, rice vinegar, ketchup and sugar in a saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat to medium high and let it bubble away for about 7 minutes until you have a syrupy sauce. Take the pan off the heat and set aside.

Peel the ginger by scraping off the skin with a spoon and then grate it.

Peel and finely slice the red onion and the garlic

Cut the pepper in half and cut out the stem and seeds. Chop the pepper into 2 cm chunks.

Put the garlic powder and the onion powder, if using, into a large bowl with the cornflour and mix together.

Carefully cut the drained tofu into 1cm chunks and add them to the bowl. Toss them gently in the cornflour mix until they are well covered.

(If using chicken instead of tofu cut into small 2cm chunks and toss in the mix in the same way.)

Cooking

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add the tofu (or chicken) chunks and fry until they have started to brown and formed a crispy coating (about 7 minutes). Be delicate with the cubes of tofu as you want to keep them intact.

Take the pan off the heat and set aside.

Heat the sesame oil in another pan and add the onion slices and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the green pepper, chilli flakes, salt, garlic and ginger and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring all the tie.

Drain the pineapple and add to the pan, continuing to stir until the pineapple is warm. Tip the tofu (chicken) into the pan and heat. Pour over the sweet and sour sauce and fold around the vegetables so everything is well covered and hot.

Serve immediately with rice and maybe green beans.

Recipe taken from BOSH! Cookbook.

Road tested by Isobel Everett