chilli and garlic tofu

What do you have for dinner when you can have anything? My go-to treat type dish is chilli and garlic tofu. I may well have mentioned my chilli and garlic tofu addiction before, my old housemates talked about staging an intervention as I used to make it so often :) Mmmm, anyway this is the quick and easy way that I make it.

Get a firm block of tofu:

Pat dry and cut into cubes:

Put the cubes with two heaped tablespoons of cornflour into a box and shake until the cubes are completely coated (I find this the quickest way and stops cornflour getting everywhere):

Then fry the cubes on a medium heat for 6 minutes or so in a tablespoon of groundnut oil (or any other oil you won't mind these tasting of).

When lightly golden on all sides add the flavour ingredients to the pan. I would suggest minced garlic, a little bit of fresh ginger, and some chilli. My 'cheat' ingredient is ready crushed chilli that I keep in the fridge. Fresh chilli tastes much better so if you have it then use that. You could also add sliced spring onions and a few drops of sesame oil. Fry these added ingredients for a further 4 minutes until the garlic is cooked (make sure not to burn it!):

Then serve :)

In this particular version in the picture you can see I went quite chilli mad so they are bright red however you don't have to have that much.

I had a look in my recent photo archives for other photos I have taken of this dish and here is one from another week with soba noodles, beans and sesame:

And here it is cold in my new lunch box:

Isn't it the box awesome! It is a Sigg mini food box. What with the general worries about using plastic to store food I had been looking for a nice non-plastic lunch box for ages, this fits the bill exactly! It wasn't cheap but it seems very durable. Even though it is called 'mini' it is easily big enough to fit a lunch.

Also if we are talking about new things here is my new work bag that I have had for a couple of weeks:

I love it! Exactly the kind of thing I needed for cycling around and carrying all my things to and fro. There is this black foam block in the back that I sewed a piece of red and white checked cloth around, you can see it on the right. Makes it much more chic I think :)

Comments

[Anja]

Love the fjällräven! The foam block is for sitting on, when you're out taking your Sunday walk in the forest or mountains. So your bum won't freeze. It's Scandinavia, after all ;)

[hiki]

Hello!
When I first saw the title of this post i thought "ん!?!?!?" but it looks good! I guess it's a bit like "ma-bo-tofu". I must try it myself :)

[Kate]

looks like you've been to the new Waitrose in Headington? food mecca!

[alice]

Haha :) you are right about the Tofu coming from that store but the chilli comes from Ocado from whom we get our store cupboard type items from every few months - they do Waitrose items :)

[yasmin]

it looks great and i love the way you presented the recipe--very cute!

[ai]

That does look great. I'd love to try it.

Your lunch box is cute as well.

[Sarah Knight]

I tried this for lunch today - your tip about the corn flour makes all the difference! Completely delicious, all crispy and lovely, although I think I'll add a little more garlic next time.

[alice]

Aha! I am glad you made it :)

[Towe]

Cool, Fjallraven rocks! Just saw a note in a Swedish paper that this is so I N again! :) towe.