Meera Sodha's vegan recipe for fried tofu with spinach and tomato sambal

From theguardian.com

Crisp, fried tofu in a spicy, sweet tomato sauce with wilted spinach

Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay

One brilliant thing to have come out of this year’s restrictions are the many restaurants that have pivoted to set up delivery businesses. One of the best things I ordered was Mandy Yin of Sambal Shiok’s tomato sambal: a jar of hot, sweet tomato sauce that I proceeded to pour over everything. It inspired me to make my own using ancho chillies – and it’s what today’s recipe hangs on. Here, I’ve suggested serving it warm, mixed with spinach, so the leaves wilt, and topped with fried, crisp tofu. But, really, you take the sambal as the starting point for your own kitchen adventure.

Fried tofu with tomato sambal and spinach

Instead of making your own sambal, you could just buy Mandy’s tomato sambal from pezu.com and throw this meal together in a near instant.

Prep 10 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 4

Rapeseed oil
3 ½ tbsp ancho chilli flakes
6 fat garlic cloves, peeled and minced
500g passata
1 tbsp caster sugar
Fine sea salt
2 x 280g packs tofu – I like Tofoo
5 tbsp cornflour
½ tsp five spice
250g baby spinach leaves
20g coriander leaves and stems, chopped
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, to garnish

Put 80ml oil, the ancho chilli flakes and the minced garlic in a saucepan and set over a medium heat. When the garlic turns a pale gold and the chilli flakes crisp and sizzle, add the passata, sugar and a teaspoon and a half of salt, cover with a three-quarter cocked lid and leave to bubble away over a gentle heat, stirring every now and then, for about 10-15 minutes, until rich, thick and delicious.

To make the tofu, first press it to remove the water, then cut it into roughly 2cm x 2cm cubes. Mix the cornflour, five spice and half a teaspoon of salt on a flat dish with a lip. Put a handful of tofu cubes in the cornflour mix, roll around to coat, then transfer to a second plate. Repeat with the remaining tofu.

Put 2mm oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat until very hot. Line a plate with kitchen paper and have to hand a slotted spoon or fish slice. Lower a handful of the tofu into the hot oil, leave it alone until it is fried enough to be lifted cleanly off the surface of the pan, then rotate the pieces and repeat until it’s lovely and golden on all sides – this should take about four minutes in all. Lift out of the pan, drain on the prepared plate and repeat with the rest of the tofu.

Put the spinach and coriander in a bowl, mix in half the sambal, ideally using your hands, so the leaves wilt a little. To serve, tumble the spinach out on to a serving plate and layer the tofu over the top. Dot with more ancho sambal, scatter over the sesame seeds and serve.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/dec/19/meera-sodha-vegan-recipe-fried-tofu-with-spinach-and-tomato-sambal