Tofu and vegetables are cooked in the aromatic Asian sesame oil and creamy peanut butter. This is a spicy, crunchy, healthy stir fry done in a few minutes time.
This is something which I had made quite sometime back for a quick lunch. All my half written posts from the draft need to be posted, there are too many of them. I had some half a block of Tofu left after we had Tandoori Tofu the night before for dinner. For this recipe, I just threw in whatever I had at home; the blend of tofu, vegetables, sesame and the creamy peanut butter worked together really well.
Use the vegetables you want for your recipe.
Braised Tofu in Spicy Sesame, Peanut Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1/2 block of Extra Firm Tofu, about 7 oz (I used the Nasoya Brand)
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 1 inch Piece of Fresh Ginger, grated
- 2-3 Hot Chili Pepper
- Broccoli
- Bell Pepper
- 1/2 Onion, Cut in to big chunks
- 2 Teaspoons Sesame Seeds, (Lightly toasted)
- 1.5 Tablespoons Chunky Peanut Butter (Use smooth peanut butter if you don’t want the pieces)
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- Hot Sauce, like Sriracha ( to taste)
- Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil + 1.5 Teaspoon oil (any cooking oil)
Preparation:Dry off the tofu by gently pressing the block with a paper towel. Slice the tofu into rectangles.
Squeeze half the grated ginger to extract the juice & pour the juice over the tofu & let it sit for at least half an hour. The more the tofu marinates the better.
Roughly crush half the amount of the toasted sesame, with a rolling pin or in a mortar & pestle. Set aside.
Mince the garlic & the hot peppers & crush them in the mortar or pestle (or with rolling pin). Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, hot sauce, the crushed sesame, garlic, ginger, hot pepper & salt + about 1/3 cup of water & whisk till well combined. This is going to be the sauce.
Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a skillet/pan. Place the tofu slices in a single layer & cook each side for a couple of minutes at medium heat. Remove & set aside.
Heat the rest of the oil. Add the chopped onions, broccoli, bell pepper (or whatever other veggies you would want to use) & quickly stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tofu slices carefully, so they do not break. Pour the ingredients for sauce in the pan. Bring it to a light boil, then reduce the heat & cover & cook for about 2-4 minutes. Uncover & increase the heat till some of the water in the sauce dries off.. there still will be a few tablespoons of sauce left, enough to cover the tofu & the veggies & little bit more.
Garnish with the rest of the sesame seeds & more hot peppers if you want.
We had ours with some steamed brown rice. This may be served over noodles too. This recipe is making its way to Susan’s MLLA #17, hosted by SRA of When My Soup Came Alive.
Related Posts:
Stir Fried Ginger Tofu and Veggies with Brown Rice
Would be such an excellent side dish. Peanut butter is a nice twist!
This is looking super delicious..but sad i’ve been told to avoid tofu and soya.
I’m big fan of peanut sauce. A wonderful recipe and match perfect with a spicy tofu 🙂
Cheers!
Gera
I think my husband would love this recipe. He is a tofu/chinese food fan, but doesn’t like peanut butter. I have to make some changes in that front.
Madhu, the peanut butter here does not much taste like peanut butter, since i used the crunchy one.. tastes more like crushed peanuts. May be you could use Coconut Cream instead? I was thinking of trying this out with coconut cream the next time.
A colorful bowl..I dont like peanut butter,but the gingee n sesame seeds n all that makes this looks rustic asian..total yumm..:)
The peanut butter here does not taste much like peanut butter here, as I told Madhuram. It is more like crushed peanuts in it. The sauce has almost no flavor of the butter 😉
That dish looks absolutely scrumptious!
Cheers,
Rosa
I love this dish. The quick meals that you can throw together in a pinch with what you have on hand are the best. I can’t wait to try this some brown rice.
I don’t like tofu, but looks delicious anyway 🙂 Your pictures are so beautiful!
I like the way you make your sauces. Tofu bhalo lage na … but paneer diye try korbo. 🙂
Yes, Paneer will be good 😉 I have done it with Paneer too.
This is a delicious combination! I have to try this.
ive been having a majot tofu craving and youre making me hungry (never mind that i just ate dinner!). peanut butter in this recipe is just magic!
Is it possible to prepare the same with chicken inplace of tofu? I am not sure whether I’ll get tofu here, will paneer be a good option?
Yes Sudeshna, paneer is really good! If you do it with chicken, precook the chicken before the stir fry.
Loved the color combination and the color of bell pepper is standout. I am not a fan of Tofu but I think I will like it the way you have braised it along with peanut buttter 🙂
Wow,love the recipe.I had made tofu satay and served it with peanut sauce.This looks as delicious.
That looks ever so delicious, not to mention colorful!
Very tasty and colourful – I need to cook with tofu more often.
Very do-able. If I can stop drooling, that is.
I need to buy some tofu, this is the second recipe I’ve seen today that I wanna try with it 🙂 YUM!
I looks so tempting and yummy!! Very colorful.
I had something similar recently and it tasted wonderful. I love the bright colours and the thought of peanut butter and tofu seems pretty enticing:)
I’m bookmarking this one, Soma. 🙂 Will let you know how it turns out when I make it.
I too have soooooo many recipes languishing in drafts (20 + when I last counted)! These days (and by days I mean months 🙂 ) I do not feel like blogging or blog-hopping and even when I do visit the few on my list, I don’t leave a comment.
Have a good weekend, Soma! 😀
Thanks ;-). I have got in to the bad habit of taking pictures of most of the things I make and writing down roughly, so my draft is overflowing. I am just not getting enough time to edit and post and I hate completing half written drafts esp. when I have newer ones. it is piling up bad. Same here with blog hopping 😉
This looks amazing! I wish we had tofu here.
Sounds great and appetizing!
@Soma : Thanks a lot for your suggestion.
This looks so delicious that I have got to make it soon. I think I can just have this with some rice and I’ll be contented already… the flavours sound fantastic.
yummy i am drooling here…
That picture alone is enough to tempt me to try tofu…….beautiful.
sesame and tofu has got to be the best combo ever!! i am bookmarking every other recipe of yours, btw!
long time back cooked tofu once no body liked it…..but I guess I should give it another try…nice dish there….
What a wonderful combination. I am not a very confident cook with Tofu. Thank you for the recipe. I will graduate here.
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This recipe looks amazing. I love braised tofu. And I gobble up anything with a peanut sauce! Great pics and great site.
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I want some of this with rice! Love the flavours!
I just made this and it was delicious!! I had to leave out the chili pepper because I didn’t have any so I added extra hot sauce to make up the difference. I also added a little more water with the sauce to make it a little thinner. All in all, this was a great recipe and I’ll probably make it again soon.
Thank you so much for letting me know. Am glad that you enjoyed, and also adjusted to suit it your way!!
I made this yesterday and it was yummy. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you!
My wife and I have eaten this meal twice and absolutely loved it! It’s food like this that makes me love being vegetarian. We used the sauce with another recipe too and it was great = ) Thanks!
Thank you so much for letting me know. ‘Am happy that you enjoyed.
I made this again, this time using green beans instead of broccoli and it was great.
Thank you again!
THIS WAS FANTASTIC!!!! and I am NOT a vegetarian. I did make a couple of substitutions [what i had in the pantry]: used Ancho pepper, dried. Used creamy PB. I used twice the ginger (I like ginger!!) . For veggies, I used chopped baby carrots, onion, and broccoli. Ancho is mild, but has great flavor. Hot sauce turns up the heat — in deferance to my wife, I add hot sauce to the plate. She’s a one/two pepper person; me, on the other hand, go as hot as the ingredients prefer. Served with Quinoa instead of rice.
Thanks a much for writing and letting me know. I loved the changes you made.. yes the more ginger and chile the better!.
Cheers
Soma
I so enjoy cooking with tofu. I generally buy the smoked version and cook it with butter nut squash, carrots and swede in a curried sauce made with lots of ginger. I then serve it with boiled plain wholegrain basmati rice with fresh green salad.
Eating vegetarian food and lots of green vegetable helps your skin to glow and slows down the signs of aging.
[…] mandolin to ensure uniformity. They would be good as a side dish alongside Ma Po Tofu, Braised Tofu in Spicy Sesame Sauce, or Vegan ‘Beef’ and […]
I tried this today…turned out awesome…sure keeper…thanks for posting this!
I have an excellent version of this recipe using a few tablespoons of pre-made General Tso’s sauce mixed in with the peanut butter/soy sauce mixture, and a teaspoon of Garam Masala; and served over rice.
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