Sluttishly Vegan: Crispy Japanese Spiced Tofu with broccoli and cashew nuts

Due to a growing obsession with Japanese cuisine I have recently been treating myself to a whole range of weird and wonderful ingredients to play with in the kitchen.

On one of my recent food shopping trips it would seem I decided to throw in some tofu. Despite consuming plenty of the stuff when I was a vegan I always found it quite bland, so I was curious to see what my Japanese spices and I could come up with to tickle the taste buds.

The resulting recipe is not only super quick and easy to make but, quite frankly, so tasty that I have already eaten it four times in the last week. I made it for one but please do play around with the quantities if you want it to serve a few of you

Crispy Japanese Spiced Tofu with Broccoli and Cashew Nuts (serves 1)

You will need:

• 1 tsp of Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese Seven Spice Powder)
• 15g fine polenta
• 150g firm tofu, cut into large cubes
• 1tsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tbsp Groundnut Oil
• Handful of Broccoli Florets
• 25g Cashew Nuts
• 1tbsp Soy Sauce
• 3 tbsp Rice Wine
• portion of cooked noodles (I used udon noodles)

Make It!

1. Mix the Shichimi Togarashi and fine polenta in a bowl and coat the tofu cubes thoroughly on all sides with the polenta and spice mix.

2. Heat the sesame and groundnut oil in a frying pan. Fry the tofu until crispy and golden on all sides, remove from the frying pan and set aside.

3. Throw in the broccoli and cashew nuts into the frying pan, along with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir fry for a couple of minutes and then add in your drained, cooked noodles being sure to coat with the sauce.

4. Put the noodles, broccoli and cashew nuts in a bowl and top with the tofu. Eat, enjoy and let your love affair with tofu commence.