CHILLI BROCCOLI & TOFU, Vegan, Healthy

A dish to celebrate spring in all its colours: crispy, highly spiced and savoury Chilli Broccoli & Tofu...

updated May 2022

Celebrate Vegetarian Week with this crisp tasty Healthy Vegan dish
'Lively fresh clean plate with explosions of spicy flavours. Lovely!'  - Tester 

With broccoli bunches selling at M&S for an astonishing 45p (May 2022), it seems a shame not to take advantage. 

This intensely flavoured dish was adapted from a recipe the blogger developed for a high-end accountancy firm bored with the usual salads.  Served cold, Chilli Broccoli was a popular choice at lunchtime and perfect for perking up the brain cells before returning to work.

67 tested this dish on a (middle-aged) boss who loves chillis but has never eaten tofu.  He tried the warm version and liked it - a lot - and is ready to try tofu again.

There are two stages involved in the preparation but it's fundamentally a quick and easy dish.  It can be served hot with rice as a main course, or at room temperature as a salad. 

67 used tenderstem broccoli because the blogger was having a busy week and tenderstem needs little trimming.  Normally the special-deal broccoli would have been fine. 

67 prefers firm tofu for this recipe.  Ordinary tofu - the kind that comes in pads, in water -  needs more careful handling but cooking it in a very hot pan will allow it to solidify.  Silken tofu is not recommended.  

Cost: £3.50'ish
Serves: 4 as a main; more as a side 

Ingred:
   about 200gm/7oz tenderstem broccoli, bottoms trimmed and large stalks cut in two
    up to a dozen cherry tomatoes (opt)
    80gms French beans, ends trimmed (opt)
   1 red chilli, de-seeded & without membranes, in long fine slices (allowing people who like the flavour but not the heat to avoid the chilli) 
     280 g/9oz firm tofu, halved and cut in half inch/1 cm slices (67 used Clearspring)
     1.5 tbsp 25-30% reduced salt soy sauce
     2 tbsp sherry/Shaoxing rice wine/white wine/grape juice
     1 tsp grated garlic OR 1/2tsp dried
     1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger OR 1/2 tsp dried
     2 tbsp stock or water

     sesame oil (opt)

     groundnut (peanut) or light veg oil    
     
     garnish: sesame seeds (opt)

Method:

1. Mix soy sauce, sherry/whitewine/grapejuice, garlic, ginger & chilli - this is the marinade
2. Cut tofu in half; cut into half inch wide slices; place in a single layer in a shallow tray; add marinade.  Leave 20 mins.
3.  Slice bottoms off broccoli & peel stems;if usng green beans, top & tail
4.  Remove seeds & membrane from chilli; finely slice vertically,  set aside
5. Dry fry sesame seeds in a large frying pan over med heat until golden & toasty; tip into a bowl; set aside 
6. Once tofu has marinaded, replace frying pan over heat; turn to high; spray lightly with oil
7. When oil is smoking add broccoli in one go; stir fry for 1 min; add green beans if using & stir fry a further minute; tip into a bowl
8. Wipe the pan with a paper towel
9. Put pan back on the heat; turn up to high; add a thin slick of oil 
10. Carefully place tofu slices (leaving marinade in its bowl) in one layer (you may need to do this in two goes); leave 1-2 mins to brown (check by lifting a corner with a fish slice); when golden and beginning to crisp, flip slices over & repeat; carefully transfer to a plate and keep warm
11. Return broccoli (& beans) to the pan, heat still on high; add tomatoes; stir fry; after a minute, add a tablespoon or two of water; cover the pan and cook about 1-2 mins, shaking the pan frequently, until veg are done to your liking
12. Layer the vegetables with the tofu onto a platter
13. Add a tablespoon or two of sesame oil to the marinade and pour over the mound of vegetables and tofu
14. Sprinkle liberally with toasted sesame seeds; serve warm over rice
15. If serving as a salad, cool to room temperature.  

Comments:
 'Lovely! It's lively and very refreshing.   I've never had tofu before - it absorbs flavours well - and I'm tempted to cook with it now. The tomatoes exploded in my mouth releasing a variety of spices and chillii flavours.' Political Agent

Tips:

• diners with blood pressure issues should be served undressed salad with an individual portion of dressing diluted with a couple of tablespoons of stock or water 
• freeze leftover broccoli stems and leaves for soup stock                            

                       For more tofu dishes go to Nav Bar/Recipes/Vegetarian ...

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.