Grilled Tofu with Sesame Rice

Yeah, I know its been a while since I turned up here… The reasons are plenty, I can safely hide behind the curtain and say its been work, but who am I kidding… I’ve been lazy, plain lazy. And anything else is just a silly excuse. There are too many things happening on the home front, all of which will make it into a detailed blog post on The Other Side, but I really hope I will get over the laziness and start being more active in my kitchen!

Every month, I read the BBC GoodFood magazine the minute it arrives and then make a list of all the dishes I’d like to try. This dish is from one such list, customized of course to suit my taste buds and choice.

I detest the idea of using paneer/tofu instead of meat in any meat based dish, but some dishes do not go well with anything else. In my opinion, this is one such dish.

Grilled Tofu with Sesame Rice

Level – Medium
Preparation time – 30 min
Serves – 2
Recipe inspired by – BBC GoodFood

Ingredients

Soya sauce - 2 Tbsp
Sugar - 2 Tbsp
Red wine - 2 Tbsp (I used Port wine)
Tofu - 200gm, cut in large inch sized slabs

Basmati rice - 1 C
Sesame seeds - 2 Tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1 Tbsp
Green Peas - 1/2 C (Frozen or fresh)
French beans - 1/2 C, finely chopped
Green chillis - 2, slit length wise in inch long pieces
Spring onions - a couple of bulbs, chopped fine

Sesame oil - 1 Tbsp

Instructions

Mix the soya, sugar and red wines together in a bowl till the sugar dissolves.
Now marinade the tofu pieces in this liquid for atleast 30 min

Cook rice separately on an open flame by boiling it in plenty of water and sieving it. Keep aside.
Boil French beans and green peas in the microwave.

In a pan, heat the oil and pour the marinated tofu along with the marinade. Let this stand on a medium flame for 5 min till the marinade will eventually boil and dry on the flame. Keep the tofu pieces aside.

In the same pan, heat some oil and sauté the spring onions and chillies. Add sesame and poppy seeds and sauté them all till the seeds are roasted.
Add beans and peas to this and sauté for a couple of min and then add rice. Mix this well, taking care to not break the rice grains.

Serve the fried rice with the tofu pieces on top. Garnish as required.

Can be eaten as-is or can be paired with a stir-fry.
I served this with a vegetable stir-fry made with Sriracha sauce.