Description[]
This recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetarian cookbook "Plenty". It was published in guardian.co.uk
- Serves four.
Ingredients[]
- 800 g firm tofu
- vegetable oil, for frying
- cornflour, for dusting the tofu
- 150 g butter
- 12 shallots (350g), thinly sliced
- 8 mild red chillies, thinly sliced
- 12 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
- 3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce (shoyu)
- 4 tsp dark soy sauce (tamari)
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 5 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely crushed (use a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder)
- 16 small, thin spring onions, cut into 3cm segments
Directions[]
- Start with the tofu.
- Pour enough oil into a large frying pan or wok to come 5mm up the sides; heat up.
- Meanwhile, cut the tofu into large cubes, about 3cm x 2cm, toss them in cornflour and shake off any excess.
- Add the tofu to the hot oil in batches (so it doesn't stew) and fry, turning it around as you go, until golden all over and with a thin crust.
- As each batch is cooked, transfer the tofu pieces to kitchen paper.
- Remove the oil and any sediment from the pan, then add the butter.
- Once it has melted, add the shallots, chillies, garlic and ginger, and sauté on a low to medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients have turned shiny and are totally soft.
- Next, add the soy sauces and sugar, stir, then add the crushed black pepper.
- Add the tofu to warm it up in the sauce for about a minute, stir in the spring onions and serve hot, with steamed rice.