Japanese Tofu Curry

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 20 minutes
• total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil (or a neutral flavoured oil)

1 brown onion (finely sliced)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 tsp curry powder

2 tsp plain flour (I use spelt because that's what we keep in the pantry)

1 ½ cups vegetable stock

3 tbsp tamari

1 ½ tbsp rice syrup or honey

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp garam masala

300 grams medium to firm (Momen tofu)

¼ cup soy or almond milk

2 tbsp flour

⅓ cup panko crumbs (vegan)

4 tbsp vegetable oil (to shallow fry)

2 cups steamed rice

1 scallion (sliced in to rounds to serve)

1 carrot (peeled and julienned)

Directions

To make the curry sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a pan over medium-high heat.

Add the onion, ginger and garlic and sauté until tender, around 3 minutes.

Add curry powder and stir until fragrant.

Stir in flour and cook for 1 and a half minutes.

Slowly whisk in the stock, add the soy sauce and rice syrup and simmer stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Stir in rice vinegar and garam masala and keep warm.

To make the crispy tofu, pop the tofu out on to a kitchen towel to drain for 10 minutes.

Slice tofu block in to 1cm (approx 1/2 inch) thick slices.

Put flour on a plate, the milk in a medium bowl and the Panko crumbs on another plate. Sit them beside each other with a large plate at the end to put the finished crumbed tofu.

Roll each slice of the tofu in the flour, then the milk and finally roll in the crumbs.

Heat enough oil to fill a fry pan 1/2 inch. Test heat by flicking some cold water in, if it sizzles, it's ready.

Shallow fry the tofu for around 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Place on kitchen paper to drain.

To serve, place a few good spoons of steamed rice on to a plate or in a bowl, place the crumbed tofu around and spoon a curry sauce over. Serve with fresh shallots and carrot

Notes

4,5