Eoin Gubbins

SOUR AND SPICY TOFU SATAY

Eoin Gubbins
SOUR AND SPICY TOFU SATAY
Satay Stir-Fry.jpeg

Tangy, spicy, peanut deliciousness.

I said, tangy, spicy, peanut deliciousness.

When I was a kid I only had satay sauce on chicken skewers from our local Chinese restaurant. They were delicious at the time, but I can’t have/don’t want chicken skewers anymore, and I’ve since realised satay sauce can be used in other meals too! This recipe is quite similar to my standard stir-fry, but the peanut butter transforms the dish, which really shows how easy it is to build a diverse, healthy and delicious vegan diet.

I had been cooking this for about a year before I realised that broccoli is a perfect texture and flavour for the dish, which really just proves how slow off the mark I am! I'm delighted I eventually figured it out though - it adds a firm, meaty fullness to the meal, and improves the flavour no end.

Ingredients
For the body of the stir fry
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
250g field or chestnut mushrooms, sliced about 1/2 a centimetre thick)
1 head of broccoli, break into florets and slice thinly (1/2 a centimetre per slice)
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into batons
400g of tofu, drained, pressed and chopped into chunks
For the sauce
4 cloves garlic, skinned
6 tbsp good quality peanut butter (choose a brand with peanuts as the only ingredient)
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp golden syrup
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp star anise powder
1/2 tsp allspice
2 tbsp miso paste

Method

  1. Put all of the sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

  2. Start cooking your rice, and keep an eye on this while you’re cooking the stir-fry.

  3. Prepare your tofu - drain it, cover it in kitchen paper or a clean dish cloth and put a heavy book on top of the block for fifteen minutes. When the tofu is sufficiently pressed, shallow fry it until the chunks are browned on all (or at least most) sides.

  4. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a wok on high heat.

  5. Add the mushrooms and fry thoroughly - make sure you’ve cooked off the water that comes out of the mushrooms and that they look firm. Ideally they should be starting to brown, but patience is hard to come by.

  6. Add the chopped carrots and broccoli and fry for another five minutes.

  7. Add the chopped scallions and blended sauce and stir thoroughly until all of the ingredients are fully coated with sauce. Fry until the sauce is piping hot.

  8. Serve on a bed of rice.