I absolutely love chilli paneer and assumed it would be easy to recreate the dish using tofu. Tofu and paneer look the same and they both soak up flavours. However, when I tasted my first vegan chilli paneer I was disappointed. It wasn’t the same at all and I couldn’t post the recipe as any paneer lovers out there wanting a vegan version would be disappointed.
I then played around with the recipe and finally came up with this version in a wrap. In this combination somehow you get your chilli paneer kick without missing the actual paneer. It is tangy, spicy, juicy, fresh, moreish – enjoy!
Ingredients – makes 2-3 wraps
200 grams firm tofu, cut up into 2-3 cm chunks
1 tablespoon coconut oil, (you could use any other oil if you do not have coconut)
1 white onion thinly sliced into half moons
50 grams of rice
50 grams of kale (unprepared weight)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Half a tablespoon of maple syrup
Half a tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons hot chilli sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons malt vinegar
Half a teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2-3 wraps to serve
Method
Cook the rice as per instructions
Cut the tough central stalks from the kale and finely shred the leaves. Place them into a bowl with the olive oil, maple syrup and white wine vinegar and mix together. Leave to marinade.
Place the tofu onto some kitchen roll and gently dab off excess moisture. Heat the coconut oil in a pan on a medium heat, when it is nice and hot add the tofu. Fry the tofu until it reaches your desired level of crispness, turning and checking regularly.
While it is frying you can make your sauce. Mix together the chilli sauce, ketchup, malt vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper and sugar.
When the tofu is crispy enough add the onions and cook until they soften, a few minutes or so.
Then add your sauce with 4 tablespoons of boiling water. Stir all this through until everything is piping hot.
Serve immediately in a wrap with some kale a rice – yum.
