This is an adaptation of a recipe from Eats Well With Others which I found when googling “tofu and cauliflower” to try and find an interesting recipe to try. I often do this when I have random ingredients left in the fridge.  This dish caught my eye as it was dry-fried rather than having a sauce as is more typical with Chinese dishes. I also liked that it uses similar flavourings to one of my favourite Chinese regional dishes from Xinjiang province, cumin spiced barbequed lamb skewers. I’d eat these most weeks when I lived in China.

This is of course a vegetarian dish and is only a distant friend of the original inspiration, I would not call this an authentic or traditional Chinese dish by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s just as satisfying, really tasty and packed full of nutritious ingredients so why not give it a go!

Serves 4

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 onion finely sliced

• 1 fresh red chilli, sliced

• 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and chopped finely

• 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped

• 1 head of cauliflower, leaves removed and broken in to chunky bitesize florets              

• 150g sugar snapped peas

• Small bunch of fresh coriander

• ½ a lemon

• 1tsp toasted sesame oil

• Oil for frying

• Salt and pepper

  
  

  Marinade

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1tbsp Shaoxing wine

• 1tsp toasted sesame oil

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 block of tofu (about 280g), cubed in to bitesize pieces

• 3 tbsp cornstarch

  
  

  Spice mix

• 2 tbsp ground cumin

• 2 tsp chilli flakes – I use gochugaru, a fine Korean chilli flake which has a slightly milder heat than most crushed chilli flakes but also has a really tasty smoky flavour.  If using a very hot chilli flake, then reduce the amount you use.

• ½ tsp sugar

• ½ tsp salt

Method

First, mix together the soy sauce, shaoxing wine, toasted sesame oil and salt in a bowl. Add the cubed tofu and mix well, then leave for about 30 minutes whilst you prepare everything else.

Combine the cumin, chilli flakes, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix then set aside.

Put the cornstarch in a large bowl.

Prepare your vegetables and aromatics (ginger, garlic, fresh chilli) ready to use. I like to slice the sugar snap peas into long diagonals, but you can also leave them whole. I prefer to keep the cauliflower quite chunky, essentially large bitesize pieces. Finely chop the coriander stalks but only roughly chop the leaves.

When ready to cook, remove the tofu pieces from the marinade (reserve the excess marinade in the bowl), and place in to the cornstarch. Toss the tofu so all sides are well coated.

Heat about 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan on medium to high heat and once hot carefully place the tofu in to the pan to fry. Leave it to fry on each side until it turns golden, about 1-2 minutes, then rotate until all sides are fried. Remove the tofu to a plate lined with kitchen paper.

Clean out the pan as you may find the remaining oil has some excess corn flour in it which you don’t really want in your finished dish.      

Add about ½ a tablespoon of oil to the pan and heat again then fry the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli for about 1 minute until fragrant.

Add the cauliflower florets along with the excess marinade from the tofu. Cover the pan with a lid if you have one as this will help the cauliflower steam cook. If the pan dries out add a couple of tablespoons of water. You don’t want to create a sauce, just a little moisture to help the cauliflower cook. Let the cauliflower cook for about 5 minutes then stir in the sugar snap peas and coriander stalks and cover again, leaving to cook for a couple more minutes.

When the cauliflower is cooked through (it should be just cooked and fork tender, not super soft) then add in the spice mix and stir so everything is coated. Then add the tofu pieces, the longer you cook the tofu for at this point the more you will lose the crisp finish on the tofu so it’s best to just give everything a quick toss to finish with a little drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

Give it a final taste for seasoning with salt and pepper, then serve with steamed rice sprinkling the coriander leaves generously on top and adding a really good squeeze of lemon juice.