I have finally got round to making the black pepper tofu, and can confirm it is as every bit as good as everyone has been saying and really does taste as if it has come out of the kitchen of a really good Chinese restaurant.
As it has been absurdly hot today I did tone down the chilli and pepper several fold and even so 15 minutes later my mouth is still burning. I made it with homemade tofu which was so fresh it was still warm. I used my jar of Steenbergs* Spanish Black Pepper, to save me having to crush some peppercorns. I realised afterwards that the pepper is a blend, also containing orange, lemon, thyme, onion and coriander. I am sure that these extra flavours only enhanced the tofu.
Like everyone else who has made and blogged about this dish I urge you to make it as soon as possible.
* Ottolenghi The Cookbook recommends both Steenbergs sumac and za’atar.
Sounds fantastic! I make a lot of salt and pepper tofu, so I bet I would love a more flavorful version like this too.
Hannah, it truely is amazing. A zillion times scrummier than the salt and pepper tofu. The original recipe uses lots of butter, but that is an easy one to substitute.
My brother who lives in Singapore, brought Ottolenghi to my attention and I tried one of their dishes (he has a palestinian partner and right arm) and loved it , it combines mideastern flavors we are familiar with and asian ones we are not so familiar with. Very interesting dish you are displaying here.
your black pepper mix sounds wonderful – would be happy with some of those in a salt and pepper tofu! never heard of ottolenghi’s but you have piqued my interest
Wow, I’ve never used the salt-n-pepper combination with tofu. It is a priority to learn new ways to cook and season tofu properly– I will definitely give this recipe a try! Great photos– your dish looks really appetizing!
Cor, that looks amazing. I’ve bookmarked that to make sometime soon.
I’ve already got that one in my “must make” file, can’t wait now!
I have not heard of this black pepper tofu, but it looks divine.
Also, I bow down to you for making homemade tofu, that is quite a project!
Amber,
If you have a soymilk machine then tofu is so easy to make, mine paid for itself in about 6 months, cheap fresh soymilk with no nasty additives, and no cartons being thrown in the rubbish.
Tofu that is so fresh that it is still warm is utterly amazing, and well worth making at least once even without a machine.
Can you make tofu with bought soymilk?
Ooh, that looks great! I’m going to give it a try.
This looks and sounds like a great dish. I’ve just bought some sumac too.
While Sophie and I have never been fans of tofu, I think this might just change our views. We would need to tone down the chiles a lot to ease our children’s taste buds somewhat unless we used a milder Hungarian chile rather than a hot Birds Eye.
[...] although I do agree that watery slimey tofu is a very sad experience indeed. I first made this at the start of June and unbelievably I have lasted over a month before making it again. As [...]