Black Pepper Tofu

Chinese style stir fries have been our all time favorites and is almost comfort food to us. It's something we have grown up eating at the then emerging Chinese food scene in Delhi. Here is our attempt at recreating a basic-cook on a weekday night-recipe.

Ingredients

250 gm tofu, cut in squares
1 tsp plain flour
1 cup thinly sliced bell pepper trio (yellow, green and red)
2 white onions, cut in small pieces
1/2 cup finely sliced mushroom
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp chilli garlic paste
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Salt and white pepper to taste

Method

1. Coat the tofu cubes in flour and white pepper. Meanwhile heat a bit of oil (~2 tsp) in a pan

2. Shallow fry the tofu in the pan, tossing evenly to form a crisp surface

3. In a separate pan, heat another 2 tsp oil to start cooking the veggies.

4. Start with the onion (without the green shoots) and then add the ginger paste and garlic

5. Once the onion is a bit cooked, add the bell peppers and cook for another 5 minutes

6. Now add the mushroom slices and cook for another 5 minutes

7. Add the chilli garlic paste, soy sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper 

8. Immediately add the tofu cubes and cook another few minutes to make a uniform stir fry. You want to do all of this cooking relatively quickly at high flame to keep the veggies crisp and retain the flavor of the soy sauce

9. Finely add the green stems (finely chopped) of the white onion and serve piping hot and fresh. Can be served as an appetizer or with steamed jasmine rice