Crispy fried tofu with sweet potato chips and spicy mexican rice

Say hello to the big bowl of orange stuff! Yes it’s fairly monochromatic, but who says that a good bowl of food has to be technicolor eh? Since becoming vegan I’ve really missed punchy flavour. So often I end up with just a bowl of veg or a piece of fruit and I think it’s kinda numbed my taste buds. Then I came across Uncle Ben’s rice pouches the other day and it was a true hallelujah chorus moment! They take 2 minutes in the microwave and come out all flavoursome, warm and tasty.

Another sticky point with veganism is the lack of protein sources. I know Huel is a popular choice at the moment, but I’m not that desperate so instead I’ve turned to tofu – a pretty flavourless, jelly-like soy curd. In the past when I’ve had tofu it’s been pretty grim, so I’ve tried my best to get some flavour and texture into it for this dish and I think deep frying it to get a crispy outside is really effective! Especially when served with the rice, it makes a really firey, balanced meal – (And add some sweet potato chips because lets be honest, they improve everything).

Recipe

Serves 1

Time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 Small sweet potato
• 100ml Sunflower or vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 30g Cornflour
• 40g Plain flour
• 1 tbsp Paprika
• 100g Tofu
• 1 packet of Uncle Ben’s spicey Mexican rice

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Roughly chop the sweet potato into batons, with the skin on.
2. Put the potato into a small roasting tin and drizzle with ½ tbsp of the oil. Then season with a little salt and pepper. Put into the oven to roast for 15-20 minutes until starting to brown and crisp. Stir around the tin every now and then to get an even roast.
3. Now move onto the tofu. Put the cornflour, flour and paprika into a shallow bowl or dish and mix together. Add a little salt and pepper and mix these in.
4. Cut the tofu into 1cm cubes and then toss them in the flour mixture. Leave the cubes for a couple of minutes whilst you prepare the oil.
5. Put the rest of the oil into a large saucepan or medium sized frying pan. Place over a medium heat and wait until it gets pipping hot. If you have any herbs to hand you can put one into the oil to check the temperature. If the oil bubbles and spits when the leaf is added it’s ready.
6. Toss the tofu in the flour mixture again as the moisture from the tofu might have made the flour wet. Then carefully add the tofu cubes to the hot oil and fry for 15-30 seconds on each side until crisp and golden brown.
7. Transfer the cubes to a plate covered in kitchen roll and then move onto the rice.
8. Cook the rice according to the packet’s instructions. Then serve with the tofu cubes and the sweet potato chips. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x