Crispy Ginger and Sesame Tofu

Ingredients

• 2 x 280 g packs of plain tofu
• knob of fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• cornflour, as required
• vegetable oil, as required
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 spring onions
• 1 red chilli
• 2 cloves garlic
• 360 g/2 cups basmati rice

Method

Take your tofu blocks and chop them up into little cubes. Dab cubes with kitchen roll to remove the excess moisture.

Place the tofu cubes into a bowl, and add 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, one heaped tablespoon of grated ginger, a teaspoon of grated garlic, and a teaspoon of sesame oil. Gentle mix together. Cover the bowl, place it in the fridge and leave to marinade for 15 minutes.

Remove tofu from the fridge. Pour a good helping of cornflour into a bowl, and then, one by one, roll each tofu cube in the cornflour so they are all coated on all sides. By the end, they should all have a gummy layer of cornflour on each side.

Get your rice on at this point. Pour 1 part rice to 2 parts boiling water into a pan and cook on a medium heat until the rice has absorbed all the water.

Frying time. Heat a large frying pan and pour in a good glug vegetable oil. Place your tofu cubes in the pan. On a medium heat, each cube will need about 3-4 minutes on each side. Just keep turning them until all sides are golden.

Once golden on all sides, remove the cubes from the heat and set them on a some kitchen roll so any excess oil is soaked up.

Sauce time. Place a pan on the heat and pour in the leftover marinade. Add 1 more tablespoon of soy sauce, a chopped red chilli, 3 chopped spring onions, a teaspoon of grated ginger and a glass of water. As the sauce is bubbling, mix one teaspoon of cornflour in with a glass of water until it is dissolved. Then pour this water into the sauce. Mix it in, and remove the sauce from the heat when it is thick and sticky.

Time to serve up. In a bowl, spoon in some rice, then lots of the crispy tofu, and pour over some of the sticky sauce. Garnish with some chopped spring onions and tuck in!