Vegan Vietnamese Tofu and Eggplant

Cut up the tofu into little cubes, about 2cm (just under 1in) long or so.
400 g firm tofu
Slice the aubergines into 4 long strips, then cut them up into slices, about 1cm (½in roughly) thick.
2 medium sized aubergines
Slice up your spring onion, fairly thinly, as in the pictures and separate the white and the greens.
3 spring onions
Finely chop the ginger and garlic, either with a knife or in a food chopper or even a pestle and mortar.
5 cm ginger, 3 medium garlic cloves
Combine the black bean sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar in a small bowl and keep aside.
2 Tbsp black bean sauce, 1 Tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp palm sugar
Heat a wok up on medium high heat and heat up 2 tsp of the oil.
3 tsp vegetable oil
Fry the tofu on the high heat for about 3 minutes, stirring, to crisp up the tofu, turning them to brown all over.
Turn out the tofu onto a plate and keep warm.
Heat another tsp of oil in the wok, still on medium high heat and sauté the white part of the spring onions, the ginger, garlic and chilli for 2 minutes until fragrant. The chillies are going to make you cough. If you like, add the chillies in later with the sauces.
1-2 red chillies
Add the eggplants in, turn the heat up and fry them for 3 minutes, browning and crisping the eggplants up in the process. This caramelises them and provides a lovely smoky, bittersweet flavour.
Next, add the tofu, the combined sauces, the salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir and bring back to boil.
½ tsp salt, 1 dash freshly ground black pepper
Lower heat down and simmer (just bubbling) for another 5 minutes, at which time your eggplants should be just done. If you like your eggplants mushy, cook them for longer. Check seasoning, add a bit more salt if needed.
Take off heat and stir in the sesame oil.
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
Serve immediately, garnished with the sesame seeds and green part of the spring onions.
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Serve it with the rice you cooked, some slices of cucumber or tomatoes or some salad leaves, and you have a complete meal in 30 minutes.

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition