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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Black pepper tofu

This is by Yotam Ottolenghi, from the Guardian.  I made it for the first time a while ago and it was good, if very very spicy.  That endorphin-triggering, intense heat.  Addictive, I guess - I seem to be wanting more...  This time I decided to reduce the heat by leaving out the chili and just using the black pepper: it's still hot, but not so mouth-blowing.

Serves four.
800g firm, fresh tofu / 200g
cornflour, to dust the tofu
Vegetable oil, for frying
150g butter / use veg oil ~ 2tbsp
12 small shallots (350g), peeled and thinly sliced / 1 medium onion
8 red chillies, thinly sliced / none
12 garlic cloves, crushed / 3 , finely chopped
3 tbsp chopped ginger / 3/4 tbsp
5 tbsp crushed black peppercorns / 1 1/4 tbsp
3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) / 3/4 tbsp sweet chili sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce / 3/4 tbsp
4 tsp dark soy sauce / 1 tbsp
2 tbsp sugar / 1/2 tbsp
16 small, thin spring onions, cut into segments 3cm long / 3 medium sized, cut into slivers

Cut the tofu into 3cm x 2cm blocks and toss them in cornflour, shaking off the excess. Pour in enough oil to come 0.5cm up the sides of a large frying pan, and bring up to frying heat. Fry the tofu in batches in the oil, turning the pieces as you go. Once they are golden all around, and have a thin crust, transfer to a paper towel.

Remove the oil and any sediment from the pan and put back in 2 tbsp of veg oil. Heat and add the shallots/onions, (chillies), garlic and ginger, and sauté for about 15 minutes on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the contents of the pan are shiny and totally soft. While you wait, crush the peppercorns, using a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder. They should be quite coarse.

When the shallots/onions and (chillies) are soft, add the soy sauces, sweet chili and the sugar, stir, then stir in the crushed pepper. Warm the tofu in the sauce for about a minute, then add the spring onion and stir through. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Ate it with boiled basmati rice and yellow peas.


I made various substitutions because of not having the right ingredients etc, but it still came out very tasty.  Considering doing it with the addition of some sweet pepper instead of chilis another time - I do feel like it misses an element of taste without the chili somehow.  Still really good though (and not as scary).  Made enough for two.  Would consider frying the rest of the tofu and keeping it to make something else the next day (this amount was half a regular-sized packet of tofu), as frying like this is so stinky and gross.
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