Amazing Vegetarian Friendly Sticky Chilli Tofu

|Andrew Calder
Delicious sticky chilli tofu served with rice & guacamole

Adapted from a recipe published in The Guardian newspaper by Meera Sodha, this is one of the tastiest chilli dishes we've tried in ages, never mind the fact it's vegetarian, vegan friendly and pretty healthy too!

Meera's original recipe can be found here

We have added roasted aubergine and only used 500g of tofu instead of 800g, we oven roasted our tofu in the oven after coating in rapeseed oil, and finally we added a generous table spoon of Calder's Kitchen Spicy Tomato Chutney to slightly increase the heat and give it a nice sticky texture.

 

Being completely honest, we were not really big users of Tofu until we made this dish, but it was absolutely incredible. A big thanks to Andrew's cousin Rachel for sharing the original recipe!

 

Sticky Chilli Tofu

Calder’s Kitchen

Cook Time

30 minutes

Cuisine

Indian food and drink, Asian, Street Food, Spicy Food

Category

Midweek evening meal, main course, supper, snacks, vegan food and drink

A delicious take on a traditional street food dish that can be eaten on its own or with rice, chapatis, samosas or dosas. What we love about this dish is that it combines Indian spice with flavours and the feel of oriental food. It's hot, sweet, sour, sticky, vegan, but above all else absolutely delicious. 

Not a huge fan of Tofu? Well we weren't either until we made this. Give it a go and you will be converted too!

Tips - the original recipe asks you to deep fry the tofu in a pan of rapeseed oil.

We oven roasted instead, but if you have an air fryer, even better!

Sticky Chilli Tofu

Ingredients

  • 500g firm tofu drained and cut into 3cm cubes
  • Cornflour
  • Rapeseed oil, for frying
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds, bashed  
  • 1 brown onion, peeled and diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 3cm piece ginger, peeled and grated
  • 4 green finger chillies: 2 very finely chopped, 2 slit down their length
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • 2 peppers (1 red and 1 green, ideally), cored and cut into 1cm slices
  • 1 large aubergine, sliced
  • 1 dessert spoon of Calder’s Kitchen Spicy Tomato Chutney

Directions

  1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees, and add the chopped aubergine, coating in sufficient oil.

  2. Spread the tofu on a large plate and dust with the cornflour, turning the cubes to coat.

  3. Shake off the excess cornflour, drizzle rapeseed oil over the tofu and heat in the oven for 25 mins or until crispy.

  4. In two tablespoons of oil fry the cumin and onion for 10-12 minutes, until soft and sweet. Add the garlic, ginger and the chopped and whole chillies, fry for five minutes, then add the ground pepper, tomato puree, soy sauce, sugar and salt.

  5. Stir to mix, cook for five minutes, then add the pepper strips and 100ml water. Cover and leave to cook for eight minutes, stirring every now and then, and adding more water if need be: there should be just enough “sauce” to coat the tofu.

  6. Add the Spicy Tomato Chutney, turn up the heat and stir to coat the tofu in sauce. Stir-fry for five minutes, then take off the heat.

  7. Serve by itself or with chapatis, greens or a leafy salad, rice, guacamole and non-dairy soured cream.