Quick and easy, sweet and spicy and full of flavour, this Vietnamese caramelised tofu with red peppers is one of our regular weeknight stir fry dinners. We serve it with noodles and a side of stir fried Asian greens.

This recipe was adapted from a video recipe on herbivoracious – I eyeballed the quantities for the sauce and changed the method and ingredients a bit to suit us.

Ingredients

Serves 6

peanut oil for frying
about 600g (21 oz) firm tofu, dried on paper towel and sliced
2 medium onions, halved and sliced lengthwise
100g (1/2 cup) granulated (white) sugar
4 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine or sake
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
chilli flakes to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp)
1-2 red peppers (depending on size), chopped
2 spring onions (scallions), chopped

Directions

Heat a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil in a large skillet and fry tofu until golden on both sides (you may need to do it in 2 batches). Remove from pan and set aside to drain on paper towel.

Add a dash more oil if needed and fry onion on medium heat for a few minutes, just until softened.

Whisk together sauce ingredients (sugar > chilli flakes), pour into pan and bring to a simmer over high heat.

Stir in tofu and let cook over high heat until sauce caramelises, about 5 minutes.

Add red pepper and stir fry until just cooked but still crisp.

Serve topped with chopped spring onions.