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 sounds incredible, Shashi! And your pictures are gorgeous! <3 I'd probably be in lots of trouble if I had to come up with a dish using alcohol as well… I'm not really the biggest drinker either, and I'm completely cluless when it comes to telling the difference between a good bottle vs. a bad bottle, or knowing what kind of alcohol goes with what kind of food. I think I'll just stick to oats, AB, and chocolate 😉
Thanks so much Amanda! Your sweet words mean a lot, my friend!
I got into a conversation with a lady at the store and she mentioned that so long as I was cooking with it, it really didn’t have to be the best wine/liquor around – which was food for thought for me!
I would take an oats, AB and chocolate shake (or anything) over a glass of wine ANYTIME 🙂
This combines some of my favorite things together in one recipe!
Thanks Bianca!
This looks delish! I also made a boozy glaze, but didn’t think about using it on tofu. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you so much for your kind compliment Jessica!
Really creative Shashi, I think it sounds wonderful. I do love wine both to drink and cook with, spirits also have their place. I think the glazed tofu with a steaming bowl of rice is a great meal.
Thanks so much Suzanne! Rice would have been awesome with this – next time I gotta remember that!
Boozy tofu! What a fabulous idea. Will be trying this recipe!
Thanks so much Kara – would so love to know what you think when you do 🙂
Thanks for sharing the your thought process. It’s always interesting hearing how these recipes evolve. Your finished dish looks fabulous! YUM!!!
Thanks so much Diane!
Wow what a great idea! I’ve never thought to make tofu with mango. I should try this recipe. Looks great!
Thanks so very much Olivia! The fresh mango went well with the mango infused vodka – hope you enjoy this as much as we did 🙂
I have never seen a boozy glaze on tofu before! Very cool.
Thanks so much Carlene! 🙂
You had me at mango! I cannot resist it!
haha and you have me cracking up with the unresolved issues with oranges with your daughter!
Ha – Thanks Ashley!
Sometime I sneak an orange into her lunch box and she will bring her whole lunch home – uneaten! Fortunately she eats all other orange veggies/fruits! 🙂
Oh my heavens! How clever 🙂
Thanks so much Francesca!
Hahaha…I love that your daughter has “unresolved issues” with orange juice. Maybe you just need to put her in a room with a bag of oranges and tell her she can’t come out until she makes some new friends. some round orange friends! This looks delicious…oh, and I cracked up at your story of the liquor store adventure! 🙂
Haha – thanks David! Once I tried putting an orange in her lunch bag and she brought the whole thing back uneaten! Maybe if I chuck some oranges mixed with apricots and mangoes at her, she will succumb – things are gonna get messy up in here! 🙂
This looks beyond delicious! I love the combo of tofu and mango.
Thanks so much Angie!
I am cracking up thinking of you lost in the liquor store and coming home with this tiny bottle. Great creative use of it.
Haha – at least I didn’t have any leftovers to store! 🙂
And thanks so much for your kind words Katie
I really like cooking with alcohol but don’t drink that much of it because I get drunk so easily! It’s embarrassing really! 😛
Haha – well…cooking with it just always seems to make it taste better
This sounds absolutely delicious with all those beautiful flavours in, and I don’t even officially like tofu!! I liked your description of your alcohol adventures!
Thanks so much Helen!
LOL about the alcohol on the top shelf and it not burning off in the recipe. I read somewhere that most of it burns off but a small amount remains unless you set it on fire. I’m not sure what to believe. If it tastes good, I use it. 🙂
Maureen – I didn’t know that it didn’t all cook out – I gotta remember that for next time! Thanks so much for letting me know!