Vegan black pepper tofu
Vegan black pepper tofu
Tofu is one of those ingredients that has the ability to truly divide the crowd. I must admit that long before I went vegan, I tried several tofu dishes that left me seriously underwhelmed.
Now, I’ve changed camps completely and I am a huge tofu fan. The trick lies in the correct cooking method…
For me the tastiest way is marinating well pressed tofu in a little soy sauce, sprinkling it with cornflour (or cornstarch in the US) and frying it in a little oil until golden and beautifully crispy on the outside (yet nicely chewy on the inside). Seriously, whenever I make tofu that way, I must keep one eye on my wok and the other on Duncan, who suddenly appears by my side with his greedy little mitts ready to delve into my freshly fried tofu stack.
This recipe treats lovely chewy tofu pieces (you can bake them too for this recipe, see below) to a bath of deliciously aromatic black pepper sauce. Add as much pepper as you can handle, bearing in mind that chilli will also add another kick dimension. I went for just over a teaspoon and found it perfectly balanced.
- 400 g firm tofu, pressed*
- 30 ml / 2 tbsp all purpose soy sauce or tamari (for GF version)<
- cornflour / cornstarch
- 3-4 tbsp high smoke oil (or l-2 tbsp if you bake your tofu)
BLACK PEPPER SAUCE
- 60 ml / 4 tbsp all purpose soy sauce* or tamari (for GF version)
- 5 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp / 30 ml maple syrup or dark brown sugar
- 3 level tsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 4 large garlic cloves, pressed or chopped very finely
- 5 tsp grated ginger
- 1 hot chilli pepper, sliced thinly or chilli flakes, to taste
- 4 small spring onions, sliced thinly
- 2-3 tsp freshly ground black pepper, adjust to taste
- sesame seeds, to garnish (optional)
- Cut pressed tofu into equal size squares. Pour 2 tbsp of tamari or soy sauce over the tofu and stir a few times so that it’s marinated evenly. Only quick marination is needed as tofu will be later coated in sauce.
- Dust tofu in thin layer of cornflour, shaking any excess flour off. Skip this step if you prefer to bake your tofu – see next step.
- Heat up 3 tbsp of oil in a wok or pan. Once the oil gets hot start frying tofu in 4 batches. Watch over it and turn frequently so that it does not burn. Once first batch is golden brown, remove it from the pan and place it an a piece of kitchen towel to drain the excess oil off. Continue with the remaining 3 batches. If you want to bake your tofu instead, heat up the oven to 180º C / 360º F and spread tofu pieces on a baking tray. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, flipping tofu once half way through baking.
- In a bowl, mix tamari (or soy sauce), rice wine vinegar and maple syrup with 6 tbsp (90 ml) of water. In a separate small bowl prepare cornflour slurry (mix 3 tsp of cornflour with 2 tbsp of water), which helps to thicken the sauce slightly.
- Once you finish frying the tofu, wipe the wok with a piece of kitchen towel (be careful as it will be hot) to get rid of any cornflour residue. Pour another tablespoon of oil and add sliced white parts of spring onions (save green bits as garnish) and sliced chilli. Fry gently on medium heat until they both soften, for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes add pressed garlic cloves and grated ginger and fry for a bit stirring constantly so that they don’t burn.
- Push the contents of the wok to the side (or set aside on a small plate) and pour in the sauce you prepared earlier and cornflour slurry (mix well before adding as cornflour will drop to the bottom). Mix the two together and let the sauce come to the boil gently. Let the sauce bubble gently for a minute or two so that it thickens a bit. Now incorporate softened spring onions, chilli, ginger and garlic mixture back into the sauce and add ground pepper to taste.
- Add fried or baked tofu to the sauce to warm it up gently. Serve over a bowl of steaming hot rice.
*SOY SAUCE: Adjust the amount to taste and the type of soy sauce you are using. I don’t salt the rice and use all purpose soy sauce (which is less salty than LIGHT soy sauce)
thankyou
Thank you so much for developing this recipe
I love this meal, it's one of my favourites. It's so healthy and low calorie but SO tasty, to me it feels like I'm eating a takeaway. My fiancé loves it too, he's not as obsessed with tofu as I am but the way it's made in this recipe he can't get enough.
I also share it with all my friends who are wanting to try vegan recipes as it's simple enough but will show them how tasty tofu can be.
Thank you!
It is meant to be spicy so you may want to dial the pepper down a lot if you don't tolerate spicy food. Believe it or not, mine is already toned down a lot. Also doubling the sauce does mean that you are ingesting more spice! Ania
Thanks!
Did I miss It?
I'm not sure what you are referring to here as there is no mention of liquid smoke in this recipe at all. Ania
I would like to bake instead of fry the tofu but I am confused when to add the l-2 tbsp of high smoke oil which is listed in the ingredients - "l-2 tbsp if you bake your tofu"
Would you please clarify? Apologies if it is obvious 😟
I am looking forward to making this very soon. Apologies again for being a numpty :-(
I usually add peppers and I substitute rice vinegar for apple cider vinegar (just because I keep forgetting to buy it- it still tastes amazing).
Thank you for sharing your recipe
Thanks
I understand where you are coming from as I'm also rather careful about the amount of oil I use. Frying tofu does give you a better taste and texture, but if you are worried about your fat intake, simply bake your tofu instead (at 180° C / 350° F for about 25 min, flipping it half way through). It won't matter that much for this recipe and you have a beautiful sauce that will give you bags of flavour. Hope that helps! Ania
As a side note, I swapped out the rice for rice noodles and left off the sesame seeds. Additionally, I added a little veggie stock to the sauce to thin it out and provide a little more because we are saucy people. ;)
If anyone's thinking of trying this, do it. It blew my mind.
I have made Ottolenghi 's recipe for Blackpepper Tofu ,it is delicious but I used Food52 'S recipe version because it uses much less butter. Your recipe seems less labour intensive!
To have very firm tofu I freeze it first and then weigh it down with a cast iron frying pan, works really well.
Thanks for your thoughts. Hope you'll try my recipe! I've had lots of good feedback on it so I'm confident you'll like it too.
Ania
I added organic veggies from my garden and used leftover jasmine rice from another night. Really worked out perfectly and the flavor and texture of the tofu was just fabulous. Great recipe, thank you!
Good question! I would double the sauce as it isn't one of these dishes that has loads of sauce. It's not dry by any means but if you are adding stuff make more sauce just in case - I doubt it will go to waste :) !
Hope that helps,
Ania
We also let the oil heat up a little too long, so the tofu cooked a bit too quick. It didn't burn, luckily- it was our first time cooking with tofu, so we made sure to keep a close eye on it.
Thank your for your lovely feedback. I am pleased you liked this recipe as it is one of my favourites too! Asian kale salad sounds like a yummy addition, btw! I have re-read the recipe but I cannot spot the mistake :( . In step 4, you make the sauce and cornflour slurry and in step 6, you add them both to the pan and then incorporate chilli and spring onion mixture you made in step 5 back into the sauce. Would you mind telling me which bit is confusing you?
Many many thanks,
Ania
I thought it was a bit different originally, but haven`t got my printed out copy any more (wrote it into my recipe book by hand!). It all seems to be correct now, so either you`ve already corrected it or I need new glasses!
Love, Wendy
Ania
My other-half even enjoyed it and he isn't normally keen on my chinese cooking attempts. I will definitely be eating this again.
This is my first recipe from this site and after eating this I'm looking to see what I can cook for tea tomorrow from Lazy Cat Kitchen.