In my continued efforts to prove that tofu is, in fact, pretty bomb, I’ve been drawing inspiration wherever I can for what to do with that versatile little brick of bean curd-y goodness. This time around, I attempted to do justice to the wonder that is Jamaican food. Can I handle the spice of Jamaican food? No. I am a mayonnaise-faced white kid. However, this mayonnaise-faced white kid has aspirations, and huge respect for Jamaican cuisine, so I had to give it a go, even at the risk of a burning face.

I paired my tofu with brown rice and sweetcorn and a squeeze of lime juice, but by all means serve yours up with anything you please. In this recipe, I use one chilli, but if you are braver than I am with heat (and I can assure you, you almost certainly are), feel free to chuck a few more in and make things 100 times more interesting.

Ingredients

400g Firm Tofu

20mls Coconut Oil

2tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 Red Hot Chilli Pepper

20mls Lime Juice

16g Tapioca Starch/ Tapioca Flour (you can substitute this for cornstarch too.)

1 Medium Yellow Onion

2 Garlic Cloves

1tsp Cloves

1tsp Cinnamon

1tsp Nutmeg

1/2tsp Salt

Method

1. Press the hell out of that tofu. Press it for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, chop up your chilli/es, garlic cloves and onion, and set aside.

2. Put your nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, salt and tapioca starch in a sandwich bag, seal and shake. The tapioca starch will allow the spices to stick to the tofu and help the tofu to not stick to the pan.

3. Take a ramekin and mix together your coconut oil (microwave for 30 seconds if it is in a solid state), lime juice and soy sauce. Set aside.

4. Once 20 minutes has passed, slice your tofu into strips, about 1/2-1 inch thick. Chuck them in the bag of spices and starch, and give it all a thorough shake. Once evenly coated, empty the contents of the bag into a frying pan along with the oil, lime juice, soy sauce, chillies, garlic and onion. Cook over a medium heat.

5. As you cook the tofu, use a spatula to lift it and fold it over. This prevents the tofu from falling apart during cooking. The tofu may stick together after time- this isn’t a problem. Once cooked it will be easy to mix in with any rice/grain you serve it with and will separate pretty nicely.

6. The tofu should take 25-30 minutes to cook, until there is no more oil left in the pan and there is a slight crispiness to the edges. Serves 2, because you’ll probably want to eat this again relatively soon (or you like someone enough to share this, and I respect that).

Per Serving:

380 Calories

26g Protein

21.8g Fat

22g Carbs