Tofu with a Tomato & Coconut Curry Sauce

NOTE - this is the sauce mixed with rice and butter beans, a dish from leftovers had on Monday 9 June!

7 June 2025 (Saturday)

The day started grey and cloudy and largely remained that way, though a few spells of sun did come through.

Lots of rain had been forecast, and through the day I was waiting for it, hoping it would rain so that I didn’t need to go to the plot and water the French beans and Borlotti I sowed yesterday.

After us both doing work in the morning, and a baguette lunch with fakon (fake bac*n - it was OK, though I’ll do our tofu bac*n next time), it was time to record Sunday Chat… and later, whilst Richard was editing it, the sky's clouds unburdened themselves… the rain came… at first heavy… then steady… no need to go to the plot today!

Instead I watched some TV, then got on with supper… I was going to make a curry-type of thingy…

Quickish Tofu Curry

Yesterday, I took a block of firm tofu out of the freezer, let it defrost in the fridge overnight and then earlier I took it from the packet and gently squeezed it between my hands, to get rid of as much moisture as I could without the tofu splitting or breaking up.  I then popped the block into a clean T-towel, wrapped it up so it was a tight bundle, placed on a surface and then pressed gently down on top, so that some of the remaining liquid came out into the cloth.

After taking it from the T-towel, I then quartered the block lengthways on a chopping board, and cut the four sticks into cubed blocks.  Putting into a bowl, I then dusted the cubes in a tablespoon of gram flour, though use any flour that you have to hand - cornflour gives a really crisp texture.  Set this aside for a short while.

I then cut two onions into 1/8th wedges, and added them into a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and the same amount of water.  Turning the heat on I left to fry for a little, turning the heat down though leaving the onions to brown slightly.  I then added two carrots cut into 1cm thick coins, a heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds, a tablespoon of miso paste (use bouillon powder if you prefer), and let these all brown together a little, with a lid on.  If the mixture looks a little dry add another tablespoon of water.

When the carrots were still al dente, I added a tablespoon of tomato paste, two frozen blocks of garlic, and the same of ginger, a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin, a heaped teaspoon of ground coriander, and a heaped teaspoon of a Madras curry powder, though use whatever curry powder you have or choice of Indian spices.  Stirring constantly, I cooked these on a medium heat for about two minutes, cooking out the tomato paste and all the spices.

I then added a tin of tomatoes, cutting them up with a knife once they were in the pan, and a can of coconut milk - I washed out each can with an additional 1/4 can of water, adding the extra 1/2 can liquid to the pan.  I brought this all to the boil and then turned to a low simmer, for about 20 minutes, stirring every now and again.

I then took a frying pan and added a tablespoon of olive oil, and when this was up to heat I re-dusted the tofu and then added to the pan - frying on each side for a few minutes until all was brown and a little crisp.

I then took 200g of frozen peas from the freezer, and added these into the curry sauce mixture, bringing the sauce back to a heat and continuing to cook for the rest of the 20 minutes.

I’d already cooked some brown rice, so I reheated this in the microwave, popped into two bowls, topped each bowl with half the tofu, then spooned over a quarter of the curry sauce.

At serving we both added some liquid aminos, which we like doing, so I did not add extra salt before this time. And yes, I forgot to take a photo!!

The rest of the curry sauce cooled in the pan, and when cold went into a labelled plastic container and into the freezer to use another day.

UPDATE - 9 June:  Though I enjoyed this meal, I felt it was not quite right, though Richard really enjoyed it.  I'd been thinking since making this that actually the base sauce, maybe with grated carrot, would be good to batch cook, and that me not thinking this was a real winner was down to my mood rather than anything else.  Today, Monday 9 June, Richard made lunch having recorded my hummus recipe video, and he made lunch - he used the leftover sauce, added a drained can of butter beans, and two leftover portions of cooked brown rice from the original meal; I think he also added some boiling water.  It turned into a really, really delicious dish - something akin to a lovely risotto.  So... I will be making this again, though as a base sauce to have portioned in the freezer for future use.  We can then add the protein of our choice, and the starch, be it potatoes, rice, coucous, bulgur wheat...


Weather:  Grey, threatening rain all day with weather warnings, and then the rain finally came late afternoon

Breakfast:  Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana
Lunch:  Lidl baguette with Lidl fake bac*n, lettuce, tomato and a little mayonnaise
Supper:   Tofu with a Tomato & Coconut Curry Sauce, served with brown rice