Tofu is something that everyone in my house, with the exception of me, love. In fact, even my helper who is from India loves tofu. I am the odd one out, so this recipe is actually an anomaly. It was actually made my by my helper, but I am putting it down here, in case I need to make it when she is no longer with us.
This recipe is a local one, which has been adapted from Chinese cooking, but Indianised to suit an Indian palate.
Tofu Sambal
Ingredients:
- 2 packs of hard tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 red onions, chopped roughly
- 1 onion, chopped finely lengthwise
- 4-5 fresh red chillies (use more if you want it spicier)
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1-inch piece of ginger
- 2 tbsps oil
- Salt to taste
- Coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
- Dry the tofu lightly and bake in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Keep aside.
- In a blender, blend together the onions, garlic, ginger and red chillies into a fine paste and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a pan and when warm, add the onions chopped lengthwise and let it become translucent.
- Pour the blended chilli mixture and stir until the mixture becomes thick and the oil starts oozing out.
- In the same blender, blend the tomatoes until it becomes a fine paste. You can also use tomato puree here instead. Add the tomato paste to the pan and let it cook well.
- Now add the baked tofu into the pan and season to taste.
- Let it all come to a nice rolling boil and switch off the flame.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice.

