Mango Tofu
A delicious blend of tastes and textures, this mango tofu is a delicious side dish to any meal.
This blogging journey of mine has introduced me to friends, taken me places, and made me step outside of my comfort zone in experimenting with foods -and beverages- way more than I would have done on my own.
A couple of months ago, I was fortunate to be accepted as a Recipe Redux member. As a recipe redux member, we are challenged to come up with a healthy recipe using an ingredient/theme specified: one month it was edible flowers and another month it was teas, both times I was excited as I had had some experience cooking with both.
This month however, I was a little out of my element as this months’ theme/ingredient was “Spirits, extracts and other alcohols”.
I am not much of a drinker, I don’t buy alcohol unless a friend is coming over who I know would like a glass and then I make her take the bottle home because otherwise a few months down the road, it will end up falling off of a top shelf as I struggle to get a bowl off it (yes, i speak from experience and did you know- wine is harder than jello to clean up? 😕 ).
So for this month’s challenge I went into a bona fide liqueur store and perused the aisles like I was a connoisseur and …GAH I was so lost – there were so many huge bottles and they were not cheap…and my friend who is a wine drinker happens to be preggers now and I cannot pawn the rest off on her…so I squatted down and started looking at the lower shelves with the more economically priced spirits.
I found a “smoky toned blackberry” wine and just as I was getting ready to checkout, I saw a huge shelf of mini bottles right by the register…with this little, pretty, single serving bottle – I saw pink and read “mango and passion fruit” and I was happy!
Till I went home and tasted a drop – 😡 GAH – this stuff burned! I kinda sort of (after drinking a glass or five of water) could make out the fruitiness but I figured if I cooked with it, all the alcohol would be burned off leaving only the fruitiness behind.
I used tofu as tofu is pretty good at absorbing the flavors it is embraced with instead of fighting with them. I first sauteed some onions till they caramelized and then threw in the tofu and some ginger and garlic and let it brown while absorbing the sweet, caramelized onions, the bold garlic and the spicy ginger.
I added some mango to mirror the mango in the vodka and some green pepper for variety. I was going to throw in some orange juice when my daughter caught me and shot me the stank eye and said she would willingly be my guinea pig aka taste tester if I left the orange juice out (she has unresolved issues with oranges); besides she said, it was bad enough I was giving her 15 year young self a dish with alcohol!
Wait! What?!
I am not quite sure how she does so well in science in school when she argued every aspect of my explanation of how the alcohol burns out while being cooked…wait, maybe it’s the arguing that makes her a teachers pet which leads to her good grades! hmmmmm….
Ingredients
- 1 single serving mini bottle of “Kinky” liqueur Vodka with mango/blood orange & passion-fruit
- 1 container extra firm tofu -blotted dry and cubed
- 1.5 teaspoons chopped ginger
- 1/2 a red onion chopped
- 1/2 a white onion chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons water
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 mango diced
- 1 green pepper chopped
- sat and pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
Instructions
- Saute onions on a low flame till caramelized (about 20-25 minutes, I usually chop up the other ingredients while waiting)
- Add tofu and garlic and ginger and let tofu brown on sides (about 5-7 minutes on each side)
- Add water (if needed)
- Add in the lime, mango, green pepper, and paprika and mix well
- Add the liqueur and salt and pepper to taste, let cook for 10 more minutes, gently stirring throughout.
- Serve with rice or bread or eat straight up!
Nutrition
This looks so delicious. Mango makes anything magical! So exotic.
Such a clever dish – you could get boozy with mango in so many ways – I need to try this out!
Thanks so much Serena – that kinky mango/passionfruit vodka sure was interesting to work with – thanks for such an awesome challenge!
Such a fun story 😀
And I really love this recipe. I’m a huge fan of tofu. So easy and so versatile…definitely giving this one a try.
This looks so yummy! I will have to try it soon!
Thanks Arthur – sure hope you do
what absolutely gorgeous pictures Shashi and that of my favorite blank canvas of the food world; tofu. I enjoy mango with tofu and recently used the combination in taco’s of an Asian style. I am teetotal, what do you reckon I could use instead of the booze? x
Thanks so much Deena – Kelly commented saying she was thinking of using orange juice instead and I think that would be just fine – only a little is needed – maybe 1/3 cup.
This looks so good – it has all my favorite things , tofu, mango and above all booze 🙂 I could eat that whole bowl!
Hahahaha! Thanks Archana! 🙂 Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
oh wow! I have never added Vodka to my tofu! love this flavor combo. . very inventive!! love this!
Thanks so very much!
Wow what great flavors you have going on here, Shashi!
Thanks so much Cindy!
Ha Shashi, you had me at the ‘boozy’ but then you went all Kinky…how can I resist such temptation? 😉
Hahahaha – thanks Mike! Too funny my friend!
OMFG! SO, when i went to your site last week, the last entry that showed up was from June, so I thought you were taking a break or focusing on twitter- What the heck was wrong with my computer?!? maybe it was a cached version? does that even make sense? (im not even sure what cached version means) but OK NOW everything is right with the world. (that happened with a couple other sites too, now i need to go back and recheck everybody) i need this recipe in my life bc i tried BUYING soething similar when i saw it in the grocery store the other day- and it was amazing- but your version sounds so much better!!!
Ok, i need go figure out what the heck is wrong with my internets now. (maybe the user is just off her rocker, very possible)
Ah-ha – now your twitter comment earlier makes sense 🙂
Before I upgraded I was having issues {while my website/blog issues seem to have been solved somewhat, my behavioral issues are ongoing 😉 } -maybe you caught me in the middle of upgrading? Glad its ok now though…I sure did miss you lady and am glad you are back!
And thank you so very much!
Not all of the alcohol burns off when you cook something, but relax: there’s not a whole lot left. Besides, people use vanilla extract and the like without a thought, and they’re mainly alcohol. Of course you don’t use that much of it! Anyway, fun tofu — thanks.
GAH – thanks so much for letting me know KR – that’s what Maureen said too! You are right – I only used a mini bottle – perfect for an experimental alcoholic drink! Thank you 🙂
I am not a big drinker either, so those mini bottles are a godsend when I need something for cooking! Love the sound of this tofu…fruity and so full of FLAVOR.
I am so glad to know I am not the only one who resorts to those mini bottles to cook with!
Thanks so very much Joanne!
This looks amazing – I love the combination of flavours you have used and also the name of the bottle cracked me up 😉
I also love tofu as it soaks up so much flavour!
Ha – Thanks so much Lauren – the name on the bottle is what got me to do a double take! 🙂