Laksa inspired tofu marinade.

Laksa Tofu (right) (and meat-less balls, left)

I love laksa.

I found laksa powder in the Asian grocery and made up this tofu marinade to have an easy laksa fix without the guilt of half a liter of coconut cream that comes with a great laksa.

Serves 2-3 as a side serve of tofu with a wombok salad. Or on jasmine rice with steamed vegies.

Ingredients:

1 x 375g block of plain tofu
1 x 275ml tin of light coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons of laska powder (3 if you like it spicier)
3 - 4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup hot water

Directions:

Press tofu well in tea towel to squeeze out the water so the tofu absorbs as much marinade flavor as possible. Then cut into 2cm cubes approx.

Prepare marinade by mixing coconut milk, laksa powder, peanut butter and hot water together in a tupperwear container until peanut butter and laksa powder have disolved and combined well. Using boiling water helps disolve the peanut butter.

Place cubed tofu in marinade and coat well, store in fridge over night or for as long as possible prior to cooking.

To cook: (In oven or on stovetop)

Oven bake - Pour marinade and tofu into pyrex baking dish or small lasagna dish and bake in oven at 180 degrees until most of liquid has been reduced, turning tofu occasionally and coating well in marinade. Bake until tofu has firmed and becomes slightly golden and some reduced marinade remains as a sauce.

Stove top - Pour marinade and tofu into large frypan or cast iron frypan and cook uncovered on medium-high, occasianlly stirring, until the marinade has reduced to a thick sauce and tofu has firmed and browned.

Vegan Laksa Recipe

I am on a spicy food kick again now that the weather has cooled down, the last 2 nights have been vindaloo! But it got me thinking about Laksa again. So in Googling 'Vegan Laksa' I found this recipe on delaksa.com to make it vegan you only need to omit the shrimp paste from the paste recipe.

http://www.delaksa.com/vegetarian_laksa.php

I would modify it with the tofu fried in a little sesame oil and would use maybe 2 fresh chilies, and only de-seeded one of them. I like my Laksa spicy!

I will make it ASAP and report back....

***LAKSA PASTE ***
Makes: 320g (1 ½) cups
Prep: 10mins (+20mins standing time)

6-8 long dried red chilies
8 purple (Asian) shallots, coarsely chopped
5 candlenuts
3cm-piece fresh galangal, peeled coarsely chopped
2 stems lemon grass, pale selection only, coarsely chopped
2 tbs peanut oil
1 ½ tsp finely grated fresh turmeric
Or ½ tsp ground turmeric
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

To make the paste, place the dried chilies in a heatproof bowl, Cover with boiling water and set aside for 20mins to soften,

Drain and chop them coarsely. Place chilli, escaholt, candlenuts, galangal, lemon grass, oil, turmeric, and garlic into a food processor and process until finely chopped…

Ingredients 1/2 Cup of Laksa paste from above 2 Tbsp oil (I think rice bran oil) 1 large onion cut into wedges 1 large carrot sliced thinly 1 ear corn - remove corn from husk 1 fresh chili 2 cloves garlic sliced 1 piece raw ginger sliced 1/2 cup Mirin 900 ml stock 1 can coconut milk 1 cup snowpeas cut into 2cm pieces 1 pack rice noodles 2 bunches bok choy washed and roughly sliced 200 gms firm tofu in 1 cm cubes

Instructions Place the onion in a large cooking pot and fry lightly in olive oil with garlic, ginger and chilli (about 2 mins over medium heat). Add the stock, the Mirin (available from an Asian deli) and the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins. Add the carrot and corn and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the rice noodles and snow peas and cook for another couple of minutes. Finally add the tofu and bok choy and cook for a final 2 or 3 minutes. Serve hot or cold. It's delicious both ways.