Chilli Tofu [Video Recipe]

Batter fried tofu tossed in a spicy Chinese influenced sauce

Batter fried tofu in a spicy chinese sauce with green capsicum

Has the football fever caught up with you? I know I'm reeling with it. How exciting was last night's match, the match swung the Portugal side and then the Spain side and unfortunately ended up a draw. An exciting match always demands exciting food to accompany it. And this Chilli Tofu is definitely as exciting as it gets. Batter coated Tofu fried crispy and added to a sweet, sour and spicy sauce influenced by Chinese flavors along with some green Capsicums or peppers.

In my last post, I showed you How to make Tofu at home!! And I made this Chilli Tofu following that exact recipe for Tofu.

Firstly, how do you like your Tofu? I personally LOVE fried Tofu. The first time I ate tofu, I disliked it. But when I had it fried I was so hooked on. I now eat it in any form with relish. This Chilli tofu will convert any Tofu hater. Tofu is dipped in a simple batter made from corn flour or corn starch, ginger-garlic paste and red chilli powder or paprika. Pan fry the dipped Tofu. You can also deep fry it, but you know how I steer away from deep frying anything, so pan fried it was for me.

The sauce is an extremely easy sauce. It is heavily influenced by Chinese flavors. It starts with sauteeing onions, garlic and green capsicum. In goes Soy Sauce and Sriracha Sauce. I like the tang and heat that Sriracha sauce brings in. If you don't have Sriracha Sauce, just use regular chilli sauce or tomato ketchup and increase the amount of red chilli powder you add. Thicken the sauce with cornflour and mix in the fried tofu.

Who says Vegan food has to be boring? Serve this to all those who think so!!

You can make this with Paneer if you want a vegetarian option following the same recipe.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto.

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Video Recipe

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Chilli Tofu

Batter fried tofu tossed in a spicy Chinese gravy.

Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: Asian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Yield: Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

For the battered fried Tofu:

200 gms firm Tofu
3 Tbsp Corn Starch / Corn Flour
1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour (Maida)
1.5 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder or Paprika
Salt to taste
Water as required

For the gravy:

2 Tbsp Sriracha Sauce or Tomato Ketchup
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 Capsicum
3-4 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
1.5 cups Water
1 finely chopped Onion

Method:

To make the battered fried Tofu:

1. Take the cornflour in a large bowl.
2. Add in flour, 1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste and 1 tsp red chilli powder.
3. Add half cup of water and mix well to form a thin batter. Add salt to taste.
4. Dice the tofu into bite sized pieces.
5. Dip the tofu in the batter until each piece is fully coated.
6. Heat 3 Tbsp Oil in a pan.
7. Once the oil is hot, add the tofu.
8. Flip the tofu when it browns on one side. When all the sides of the tofu are brown, remove from oil and keep aside.
9. If you are using a small pan, you can fry the tofu in batches.
10. Remove from pan and keep aside.

To make the gravy:

1. In the same pan that we fried the tofu, there will still be some oil left. Add finely chopped onion to it and fry until translucent.
2. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry until fragrant.
3. Add diced capsicum and saute for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the soy sauce and sriracha sauce. Mix well.
5. Add 0.5 red chilli powder.
6. Add 0.25 cup water and boil for 2-3 minutes.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Add the remaining batter used for dipping the tofu. Add it by the spoonfuls as the corn flour will instantly thicken the gravy.
9. If the gravy is thick, add more water, if it is thin, add 0.5 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 Tbsp water.
10. Boil the gravy for 3-4 minutes.
11. Add the fried Tofu and mix well.
12. Simmer for 2 minutes and serve hot.
13. This can be enjoyed as an appetizer or served as a side with fried rice or noodles.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Gobi Manchurian

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Ginger garlic baked tofu, served in lettuce cups

Baked Tofu Lettuce Wraps

How to make Tofu recipe [Video Recipe] | Make Tofu without Nigari | Soya Paneer Recipe

Make Tofu at home with Soy Milk or from scratch using dried Soya Beans

homemade fresh tofu made from soy milk and lime juice

There are some things you think you will never make in your life. It is time to strike off Tofu from that list.

There are two kinds of people in the world - one that LOVE Tofu and one that hate Tofu. You can either love it or hate it, but you cannot ignore it. For a long long time Tofu ruled over all the vegan cuisine. You just had to say vegan and tofu would magically appear on your plate. Today, with so many more options like tempeh, seitan and mock meats that are readily available, tofu's dominance may have reduced a little. But for me, Tofu will always rule. I've tried the others and unfortunately my adventurous palate did not find a liking to them.

Last week I shared a recipe on How to make Soy Milk from dried Soya Beans aka from scratch. I got an overwhelming response to that post, Thank you guys!! So this week I am taking it one step forward from there - Making Tofu at home from Soy Milk. Making Soy milk wasn't difficult, making Tofu is even easier!!

FIRST, you need warm Soy Milk. Make your own or buy it from the store. Fresh soy milk will curdle easier than store bought as it has no stabilizers. But I'm sure you can work with the store bought one too, only, you may need a little more acid to get it to work.

SECOND, we will now curdle the milk. Traditionally Nigari or Magnesium Chloride is used to curdle the milk. While this gives a better texture, it is not something that is readily available to me. So I used the next best coagulant which works perfectly when I make paneer - Lime juice. The coagulant is mixed with water and added to the warm Soy milk and stirred until the milk curdles or splits. You should continue to stir until you see the milk solids. Then just cover and rest for a while until the coagulant does its magic.

THIRD, straining the curds. Use a clean cotton cloth like a muslin cloth. Strain out all the liquid and tie the curds up in the cloth.

FOURTH, pressing the Tofu. If you are a regular tofu maker, buy a Tofu Press. Or you can follow my video for a DIY way to make tofu press with readily available plates and boxes at home.

Tofu is READY!!

Tofu made with lime juice is slightly more crumbly than the one made with nigari. It is also firmer and not silken. You can scramble this tofu, bake this tofu or fry this tofu. While the other two are healthier, my personal favorite has always been fried Tofu. What is you favorite way to eat tofu? Leave me a comment.

Watch out for my next post, I have a fantastic recipe to use this beautiful tofu we just made.

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