Sweet & Sour Tofu

The original fakeaway! Recreating a takeaway experience when the usual options aren’t possible.

We’re not big fans of Chinese food as a family – which is probably lucky because i’m not sure a Chinese takeaway would fit well with food allergies, and especially a sesame and peanut allergy. But the other day, I fancied cooking something different from the norm…

Years ago when the girls were small I made a homemade takeaway to make up for them never experiencing what a takeaway felt like. For most people, takeaways seem to be a part of popular culture, a treat at the end of a busy week, or something for a special occasion. But we’d never had that experience as a family.

These days we will have an occasional Dominoes (the girls will get chicken strips and wedges which are cooked separately or collect a Nando’s, but these are once in a blue moon occurrences. To order a Nando’s takeout you have to place an order and then phone the branch direct to ask for them to take their usual allergy precautions when cooking it. They sometimes make a fuss but i spoke to head office once and they told me to do that, so that’s what i say and do :-). On the whole takeaways and companies like Deliveroo and UberEats are not advised if you have allergies – the important messages you’re passing on can get lost and you can’t risk that.

So, to make my homemade takeaway, I bought the foil boxes you get in UK takeaways, as sadly we don’t seem to get those white boxes so familiar from US TV sitcoms. I made Chow Mien and Sweet and Sour vegetables, and rice. Then i snuck out with the boxes in a carrier bag and rung on the door bell at supper time, the takeaway was delivered! This was received to much delight and when we were talking about it more recently, they both fondly remember the Chinese takeaway evening 🙂

So in looking for something different to cook, the Chinese takeaway at home came to mind. I wanted a really delicious sweet and sour recipe that had the richness and gloopy sweetness, without the artificial undertones. After much research, I came across what looked to be perfect, a recipe on the BBC Good Food website that has more authentic origins from John Torode. I have to say it’s a top notch recipe – sweet, sticky but natural tasting, with the vibrant colour coming from red peppers and chillies, rather than anything artificial. It also has a nice level of spice which really helped cut through the richness of the dish.

So book 4 of my cookbook challenge isn’t actually a book, it’s a recipe from John Torode, slightly tweaked for our requirements. John’s recipe is for chicken but i’ve used the firm Tofu from Tofoo, coated in cornflour and fried before adding to the sweet and sour sticky sauce. It’s a perfect combination. Who needs a takeaway when you can make even better dishes at home with little fuss. As I always say, there’s no missing out with Lucy’s Friendly Foods!

I served this with veggie chow mien (a Ken Hom recipe again from BBC Good Food) which was really good but maybe it didn’t stand up to the punchy sweet and sour that well. So if anyone has recommendations for the perfect Chinese takeaway dish to serve with sweet and sour then let me know!

lucylox

Sweet & Sour Tofu

Recipe from John Torode, slightly tweaked and using tofu instead of chicken

dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan

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Servings: 4

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 425 g can of pineapple chunks in juice
• 1/2 red pepper roughly chopped
• 1 red chilli double for spicier
• 1 tbsp Hendersons relish or Worcestershire sauce (if not vegan)
• 100 g caster sugar
• 100 ml white wine vinegar
• 6 baby corn in large slices
• 280 g firm tofu 1 pack
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp flavourless oil for frying

Method

 

1. Start by making the sauce: drain the juice from the pineapple into a saucepan, add the red pepper and chilli and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
2. Puree in a food processor and then return to the pan, add the sugar, vinegar, Henderson's relish, 1/2 the chunks from the tin of pineapple and the baby corn
3. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until slightly reduced and sticky. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, dry the tofu on kitchen paper and then into small cubes, toss in the cornflour to coat and fry over a medium heat until goldena dn crispy on all sides. Once cooked place on a plate until ready to use.
5. When ready to serve, heat the sauce, then stir in the tofu. Cook for a couple of minutes to heat the tofu and then serve with rice.