This is a quick and easy recipe for a tasty meal. It’s an authentic spicy Asian recipe with a touch of sweetness. You can add a variety of vegetables to make the dish more nutritious and colourful. It can be served with rice, noodles or bread.

Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes

Diet: Vegan, Gluten free, Nut free, Dairy free                                

Serving: serves 4

Ingredients

• 450g extra firm tofu
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 2-3 long red chilies(mild spicy)
• 5tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ½ tsp grated ginger
• 1 medium sized onion, finely sliced
• 1tbsp black peppercorn
• 1tsp brown sugar
• 1tbsp corn starch
• 2tbsp water
• 3tbsp light soy sauce
• 2tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 small red chilli, finely chopped (optional, if you prefer the dish spicy)

Instructions

1. Dry the tofu blocks with a paper towel. Make sure the tofu blocks are as dry as possible, since moist blocks will not be crispy.
2. Cut the tofu into 1cm cubes, mix with 1tbsp light soy sauce and corn starch and pan fry with 3tbsp oil until golden brown. This takes about 5-6 minutes. Transfer the cooked tofu into a separate bowl.
3. Mix the remaining light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl and keep aside.
4. Add the remaining oil into frying pan and heat up for a minute. Add chopped garlic, grated ginger and onion and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add broccoli florets and 2tbsp water and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add fried tofu and sliced long chillies and toss well together with the sauce mix.
6. Heat the small pan, add 1tbsp pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes while stirring until you feel the fragrance.
7. Transfer to a blender and grind to a coarse texture. Coarse pepper is preferred, but finely ground pepper also works.
8. Toss the ground pepper together with tofu until well mixed.
9. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and (optionally) small chopped red chillies to serve.

You can heat the peppercorns before you start the cooking process, but I prefer to do it just before serving to get a fresh peppery fragrance.