Salt and pepper tofu

Salt and pepper tofu (jiao yan dou fu) is a popular Chinese vegetarian dish that features deep-fried cubes of tofu, seasoned with chilli, spring onion, garlic and Chinese five spice. You can use the same coating and seasoning technique on chunks of eggplant, chicken or fish to add variety to this recipe.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  2

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• canola oil, for deep frying
• 500 g firm tofu, cut into 5 cm cubes
• 2 - 3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
• 3 cm x 3 cm piece ginger, finely grated
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 3 spring onion, thinly sliced

For the coating 

• ¾ cup cornflour
• ½ - 1 tsp ground white pepper, to taste
• ½ tsp ground sea salt flakes
• ½ - 1 tsp Chinese five spice, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat enough oil to deep-fry in a large heavy-based saucepan to 180˚C.

2. In a large bowl, combine the coating ingredients and mix well to combine. Add the tofu cubes to the bowl and toss well to coat. When the oil is hot, deep-fry the tofu in batches, until lightly golden, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over high heat, then sauté the onion, chilli, ginger and garlic, until softened. Add the tofu and toss to coat.

4. Serve the salt and pepper tofu, scattered with spring onion.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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