Salt and Pepper Tofu Recipe
Family favourite crispy Chinese salt and pepper tofu recipe made with fried tofu tossed with simple seasonings and veggies. Simple to make at home but better than restaurants and packed with flavour!
Servings: 2
Calories: 406kcal
Ingredients
- 300 g Tofu Firm or Extra firm tofu ( about 8.8 oz )
- ½ Onion ( Cut in slices ) Large sweet or white onion
- ½ Bell Pepper ( Cut in slices )
- 1 Red Chilli ( Cut in slices ) Optional
- 2 Cloves Garlic ( Fine chopped )
- ½ tsp Crushed chilli flakes Optional
- 1 cup Corn starch ( or potato starch )
- Oil for frying Vegetable or neutral flavour oil
Seasoning Powder Mix
- ½ tsp Salt ( Use fine salt )
- ½ tsp White pepper powder ( Or black pepper powder )
- ½ tsp Chinese five spices powder ( See detials in note )
- ½ tsp Chicken Powder Optional ( see details in note )
Instructions
Prepare Tofu and Seasonings
- Drain the water out from the tofu packet, place the tofu block on the few layers of paper towel. Cover with more paper towel and gently press and pat dry it.
- Add salt, white pepper powder, Chinese five spices powder and chicken powder in a small mixing bowl. Mix it well and set aside.
- Prepare all the vegetables buy cut the onions, peppers, spring onion and chilli into thin slices. Finely chop the garlic and set aside.
- Cut the tofu into half inch cubes. Dredge and coat the tofu cubes in the corn starch and toss the excess flour out before frying.
Deep Fry Tofu
- To deep fry the tofu cubes, fill the frying pan with vegetable oil over 1". Heat the oil to high heat about 350° F and fry until each side of coating are crispy for 5-6 minutes.
- Remove from oil and transfer to paper towel and set aside.
Stir Fry with Seasonings and Vegetables
- In a large wok or pan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add onion slices and stir for few seconds and follow with the chopped garlic.
- Stir for few seconds and add bell pepper, chilli slices and crush chilli flakes. Place the fried tofu cubes back in, sprinkle the seasoning powder mix. Toss all ingredients evenly for 1-2 minutes.
- Add sliced spring onions and mix well.
- Remove from heat and transfer to serving plate. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Use firm tofu as soft tofu can breaks easily when you deep fry and tossed again with spices. It is important to pat the tofu dry with paper towels to remove excess water from the tofu.
- Chinese Five Spices Powder is a powder mixture of cinnamon, star anise, cloves, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel. Available in Chinese or Oriental grocery stores or on Amazon.
- Chicken Powder is optional. You can add chicken powder if you want to taste your tofu like your favourite Chinese restaurants and takeouts. Vegetarian seasoning powder, msg, fine caster sugar, or dashi powder can also be used as a substitute.
- Recommend using white pepper powder to taste like authentic Chinese flavour, but if you don't have white pepper on hand, substitute with black pepper powder.
- You can serve up to 4 people as a side dish or appetiser, and serve 2 people as a main meal.
Nutrition
Calories: 406kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 726mg | Potassium: 201mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1295IU | Vitamin C: 73mg | Calcium: 210mg | Iron: 3mg
