Tuesday 27 August 2013

Looks good enough to eat...Korean sweet & spicy sauce

When I was a little girl I liked nothing better than sitting on the sofa looking at the pictures in my mum's cookbooks.  I still do it!  I love recipes with photos - it helps me imagine what the dish will taste like if that makes sense. 

Korean sweet & spicy tofu
I often go online and do a recipe search by image - that's exactly what happened a couple of days ago when I needed some inspiration for a tofu dish.  Not being a vegetarian, it's not something I have much experience cooking with and to be honest, I have had tofu that tasted more like a wet sponge than anything else, so I was a bit wary of what I might end up with. 
Well, this recipe for Korean sweet & spicy tofu (continuing yesterday's theme of world foods) was a revelation!  Before you recoil in horror, this would work equally well with chicken, pork or prawns :-)  The tofu was crispy thanks to a coating of cornflour applied before frying, the sauce was sticky, sweet and spicy and I demolished the lot in seconds.  The sauce is probably one of the best I have made - we will have this again soon with chicken and stir-fry vegetables! 

The recipe for this came from a lovely blog called "The Vegan & Korean" - please click on the blog name for a link.  I amended it slightly to the sauce recipe below:

Sweet & spicy sauce (serves 2)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp finely minced or shredded ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white or rice vinegar
1 tbsp white wine (optional)
4 tbsp sugar or agave syrup or maple syrup (I used maple)
1 cup water
1/2 - 1 tsp chilli flakes or fresh chilli
1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water

Method:
  1. Combine all the ingredients APART FROM the corn starch/water mix (see last ingredient) in a pan and slowly bring to the boil.
  2. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for a few minutes.
  3. Add the corn starch/water mix and stir frequently.
  4. The sauce should now be syrupy and thickened - if it is still a little runny, just add more corn starch/water mix to thicken further.
  5. Leave the sauce to cool slightly, then use to liberally coat your cooked tofu/chicken/...




9 comments:

  1. Looks delicious, i will definitely try this !!

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    1. I loved this one & hope you'll enjoy it as much :-) Kirsten x

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  2. That looks so good!- pinned to try ASAP!

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    1. Hi Hazel! I hope you'll love it as much as I did! We are having it again this weekend - this time with chicken. Yum! Kirsten x

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  3. I can imagine the sauce on pork spare ribs or chicken. Will have to give it a go.

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    1. Oh, putting it on spare rips sounds like a great idea. Please let me know how you like it whatever you use it with :-) Kirsten x

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    2. That should read "spare ribs" :-)

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    3. Made this sauce tonight and had it with chicken - really nice and will certainly make it again. Thanks for sharing:))

      Joluise

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    4. Oh, I an so pleased you liked it! :-) thank you for letting me know :-) We've also had it with chicken since the last time & loved it. Kirsten x

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