Spicy Vegetable Tofu

Hullo, my Pixels!

This recipe is definitely my go-to easy peasy lunch when I'm at home. It's so quick and simple to cook, as everything is cooked in the same frying pan - less washing up to do, too (which is something I always prefer)!

INGREDIENTS

• Half a block of Cauldron original tofu (about 200g)
• Any type of cooking oil
• 1 - 2 mushrooms, sliced
• Aubergine, quartered
• Courgette, quartered
• Onion, diced
• Soy sauce
• 1/2tsp chilli, chopped
• 1/2tsp garlic
• 1tsp chilli powder

METHOD

1. Pour about 1tbsp of oil into a frying pan on a medium heat to get the oil nice and hot. Meanwhile, measure out all of your ingredients and prepare them ready for cooking.

2. Place the tofu into the oiled pan to start cooking. I prefer to cut mine into little cubes as that's a more manageable size in the pan, as well as having more surface area to soak up the seasoning. Little triangles also work well, too, but I've noticed that these break a lot easier when stirring, compared to the cubes. Here's a super handy post which shows you several different ways to prepare tofu - I've tried them all!

3. Add in the aubergine, courgette, onion and the mushrooms, stirring after adding each vegetable. I usually add bell peppers as well, but we didn't have any in the fridge at the time. That's the good thing about this recipe, you can just add in whichever vegetables you have handy and it will still come out pretty tasty. Useful for using up leftover bits of vegetables, too.

4. Time to spice it up a bit! This is when I throw in my Very Lazy Chopped Chilli & Chopped Garlic (each pot is such a time saver) as well as some chilli powder to give it all a bit of a kick. I add in about a teaspoon of chilli powder because that's the level of heat I like it at, but my chilli tolerance is quite high, so you might want to add in a little less, or a little more, depending on what your taste buds can handle.

5. Nearly finished now, so this is when I add in the soy sauce. Personally, I enjoy quite a lashing of dark soy sauce, but it's entirely up to you how much you want to add at this point. Carry on cooking and gently stirring for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until the tofu is starting to brown.

6A. You can finish the recipe here if you want to enjoy the spicy vegetable tofu as a light lunch snack or maybe a side accompaniment to another meal.

6B. If you're looking for something extra to bulk the tofu out with to make it a proper, filling lunch, my favorite idea is to mix it in with some curry noodles. Another suggestion would be to cut a pitta bread in half to create two handy little 'pitta pockets' and then stuff them full of the tofu, to create a meal with a bit more substance.

I'd love to hear any more suggestions of how to make tofu into a great lunch time meal, or even what you thought of my thrown together lunch!

Sommer

♥