Who's up for num num's?! For this is truly it.

A delicious, spicy, sweet sauce over crispy, Panko coated marinated Tofu. Then served over rice (or noodles if you fancy).

This was great and I cooked the Tofu in the Air Fryer. You could do it the oven if you don't have an Air Fryer or even Deep Fat Fry. I'm not judging..

This seems like a lot of Garlic in this recipe but just trust me on this....just don't kiss anybody afterwards or plan this before any hot dates.

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Serves 4

Special Equipment - Tofu Press, Air Fryer (but you could do this in the oven)

Ingredients:

For The Tofu

425g Extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

180g Panko Breadcrumbs

80g Cornstarch

2 teaspoons Garlic powder

2 teaspoons Baking soda

Pinch of Salt and pepper

80ml Water

1 Tablespoon Rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon Gochujang paste or chili paste

For The Sauce

150g Chestnut Mushrooms finely sliced

2 Tablespoons Gochujang paste

3 Tablespoons Agave or maple syrup

1 Tablespoon Soy sauce or Tamari for GF option

1 Tablespoon Rice wine vinegar

12 Cloves Garlic, chopped

1 Tablespoon Sesame seeds

125 ml Vegetable broth

1 teaspoon Cornstarch

1 teaspoon Water

Instructions:

After you have drained and pressed the tofu, cut the tofu into cubes, or break it into chunks. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, garlic powder, baking soda, salt and pepper.

Add the water, rice wine vinegar and gochujang to the bowl and whisk until fully combined.

Put the tofu into the bowl and toss to coat. Set aside and let the tofu sit in the coating for about 10 minutes or more, while you make the sauce.

Now, make the sauce, in a medium sized mixing bowl, add the gochujang, agave, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, sesame seeds and broth. Whisk to fully combine. Set aside.

Now, time to cook the tofu. Coat each piece of Tofu in Panko. This is messy and don't get too precious about having every millimetre of Tofu covered. Then you have a choice - pop the Tofu in an Air Fryer for 20 mins at 200C turning once during cooking or pop it in the oven at 210 for 30 min turning once during cooking. Choice is yours but if popping in the oven some baking parchment sprayed with a little oil may be a good idea.

Finely slice the mushrooms and fry off until soft in a separate pan. Take off the heat and set aside.

About 10 mins before the Tofu is ready heat the sauce in a small sauce pan on medium. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water for the sauce until there are no lumps of cornstarch left. 

Pour that into the sauce. Whisk to combine and simmer for another minute or until the sauce has thickened. Stir in the mushrooms.

Add the tofu to a large bowl and pour the sauce on top. Toss to coat.

Serve immediately with rice or noodles.