#194 sambal tofu with cashews and ginger pickle

from OTK: Extra Good Things

As a mostly vegetarian (and sometimes sushi-eater), I can always go for a good tofu recipe. And when I eat sushi, I am known to have multiple refills of the pickled ginger, so this recipe was a great fit for me. It does take a bit of work, first pickling the ginger (which is a little different than the kind for sushi, which uses milder young ginger), and then a lot of shallot peeling and chopping. The shallots were cooked down with garlic, markrut lime leaves, maple syrup, star anise, tomato paste, turmeric, fresh and dried red chilies to make the sambal, which was mildly spiced and had a depth of flavor from all of the cartelized shallot. The recipe calls for fried tofu, but I air fried it, then tossed in the sambal sauce. The whole thing was topped with the pickled ginger, cilantro leaves tossed in the pickling liquid, and cashews (which I only remembered about after the photo was taken, but trust me that they were there). It was not a weeknight meal, but a tasty one for sure.