Aptly named, make-it-again delicious: Weeknight Spicy Tofu Stir Fry

Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp adds crunchy, garlicky spiciness to celery, bell peppers, garlic, ginger and extra firm tofu in this quick vegan stir fry. Recipe below.

IN RECENT DAYS, WE’VE SEEN A NUMBER OF ARTICLES in which food writers and chefs stuck at home and even regular folks talk about the extras they need to have in their kitchen—not the basic pantry items like beans or tinned fish or unbleached flour, but basics-plus—the things that bring a dish to life, that are the foundations of their palates and styles. Preserved lemons, black garlic, 5-year cheddar, harissa paste, Plugra butter, fish sauce, Tabasco, gochujang.

We have our own must haves, and one of them is Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp, a Chinese chili oil sauce. A dash of it is terrific on scrambled eggs or tossed into a drab pasta sauce. We love the stuff. It plays a nice role in this potato and pork dish and this oven-braised chicken.

This simple and may I say marvelous vegan dish, a spin on a tofu recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop’s marvelous Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking, uses spicy chili crisp and Szechwan peppercorns. If you don’t have those things, there are substitutes (see the Kitchen Notes) but keep in mind that the result will be very different.

As with many Chinese dishes, the prep time is longer than the actual cooking time. And the prep time for this one is pretty modest. This is a very nice, quick, very delicious weeknight dinner.

Having made it once (so far), I recommend making plenty of this. Make at least twice as much as you think you will want for dinner. It was very good served hot, straight from the stove. But we refrigerated the leftovers and, to our amazement, they were even better the next day. They were wildly good. This is not a thing I usually say of tofu.

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Weeknight Spicy Tofu Stir Fry

Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp adds crunchy, garlicky spiciness to celery, bell peppers, garlic, ginger and extra firm tofu in this quick vegan stir fry.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese-inspired

Servings 3 to 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound extra firm or firm tofu
• 1 cup soy sauce, divided
• 1/2 cup white vinegar or rice vinegar
• 1 bell pepper, sliced (red, orange or green—or an equivalent combination)
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1 or 2 stalks celery
• 1/3 teaspoon whole Szechwan peppercorns—or whole black peppercorns, lightly crushed
• 3 tablespoons Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• fresh ginger, minced the same volume as the garlic (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 or 2 scallions, sliced
• cooked rice or linguine optional—see Kitchen Notes

Instructions

• About an hour before you want to start cooking, slice the tofu into slabs—I usually make 5 uniform slabs. Put them in a glass or nonreactive baking dish in a single layer and marinate in 1/2 cup soy and the vinegar, turning after 20 minutes or so. Then drain on paper towels or a lint free cloth for a few minutes. Slice crosswise into strips about 1/2-inch wide.
• Cut the bell peppers and the celery into strips too. It is nice to make them all the same size, but if like me you are having a tough day and just want your dinner, then don’t worry about it.
• The next part happens pretty fast. Heat the oil in a seasoned wok or a heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet over medium. Then when it is well heated, add the peppercorns and the crispy chili sauce and stir fry quickly until it becomes all fragrant. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for another 30 to 45 seconds. Add the onion, peppers and celery, turn up the heat to high, and stir fry until thoroughly hot—about 60 to 90 seconds.
• Sprinkle the sugar over everything, then add the 1/2 cup soy sauce and, if you were using Szechwan peppercorns, add a good grinding of black pepper. Put in the tofu now and carefully continue to stir fry until everything is wonderfully fragrant. Add the sesame oil and the scallions, stir, and you are ready to serve.
• We served this with leftover linguine which we stir fried to lightly brown it, in a separate pan, in the manner of lo mein, but you can serve this with white rice or brown rice or just on its own.

Kitchen Notes

I don’t have crispy chili sauce. Substitute Szechwan paste or sambal oelek and up the garlic—but note, this is a substitute but not a replacement.

I don’t have Szechwan peppercorns. Substitute whole black peppercorns, lightly crushed.

I don’t have fresh ginger. You can skip it; also, I recommend trying to look for ginger paste, which comes in a tube. It really is not bad and keeps well in the fridge.

I don’t have an hour to marinate the tofu. Fine, then skip that part. Just pat the sliced tofu with a paper towel or lint-free kitchen cloth to dry the exterior before you start cooking.