You don’t have to be vegetarian to like Tofu with Black Pepper and Asparagus

Tofu, asparagus and plenty of black pepper star in this weeknight-quick, company-pleasing vegetarian meal. Recipe below.

THE OTHER DAY, AS WE WERE GETTING READY FOR WEEKEND GUESTS, I ran across an interesting, easy, fast recipe by Kay Chun in the New York Times. It had everything we wanted to please our guests, one a vegetarian and the other vegetarian-adjacent. Our version is even more stripped down than the original. Our guests loved it. We loved it.

And it is so fast and simple, and so satisfying, that you will not even think about how healthy and virtuous it is. Once you’ve prepped the tofu (more about options for that in Kitchen Notes), you can start cooking the rice you’ll serve with it.

This main course also takes advantage of tofu’s blank slate quality, ready to take on the flavors of the sauce and other ingredients. And cut into cubes and cooked quickly, the tofu adds a satisfyingly mildly chewy quality to the dish. We’ve already made it twice. The recipe here makes enough for three servings. If you double it to serve more, you can use a little less than twice the asparagus.

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Tofu with Black Pepper and Asparagus

Tofu, asparagus and plenty of black pepper star in this weeknight-quick, company-pleasing vegetarian meal.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian-inspired

Servings 3 (can be doubled)

Ingredients

• 1 pound firm or extra-firm tofu, cut into half-inch cubes (see Kitchen Notes)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (we used grapeseed oil)
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced, or 1 tablespoon ground ginger paste from a tube
• 1 pound asparagus, cut into two-inch pieces (see Kitchen Notes)
• 3 tablespoons fresh chopped chives or 1 or 2 scallions, sliced thin
• cooked rice, for serving (see Kitchen Notes for substitutions)

For the sauce

• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup black vinegar (see Kitchen Notes for substitutions)
• 1 teaspoon or more, fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Instructions

• Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. If you have time, press the tofu to remove some moisture, so it absorbs more of the sauce flavor (see Kitchen Notes). You can also skip this step.
• Pour half of the sauce into a large nonstick skillet, add the cubed tofu, and simmer over a medium flame, turning gently, until the sauce has slightly reduced and is coating the tofu. Put all of this into a small bowl and set aside.
• Put the oil in the pan, then add the minced shallots and sauté until translucent, about two minutes. Add the garlic and ginger, stir and sauté another 30-45 seconds. Add the asparagus and stir-fry until tender but still a little crisp—about four minutes.
• Return the tofu to the pan and add the rest of the sauce. Gently stir and cook just until everything is heated through and nicely cloaked with sauce. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the chives and you are ready to serve.
• Plate this by centering some rice on a plate or in a shallow bowl, then artfully spoon on the tofu and asparagus. Scatter the rest of the chives atop it all and you are good to go.

Kitchen Notes

Black vinegar? Or Worcestershire sauce, or oyster sauce, or sriracha, or hoisin paste if you would like that molasses-y flavor—if you use hoisin, omit the sugar.

Asparagus? We used fairly thin asparagus, the size of pencils—we don’t like the super-thick or the super-thin kind. Use the thickness of asparagus you prefer, but make sure all pieces are uniform.

Tofu? Choose firm or extra-firm for this dish. Soft and silken tofu are wrong for this—too soft and moist. If you have the time, press it first—put a lint-free cloth or paper towels on a plate, set the tofu atop it, put another paper towel on top of that, then weigh down with a dinner plate. Leave in place for 30 minutes or so. This presses out a bit of the moisture, and the tofu will absorb more flavor this way. I’ve made this dish twice now, once pressing it beforehand and the other time just skipping that step. Both versions were terrific! If you feel like skipping this step, then go ahead.

Leftovers? Eaten the next day, this is still nice and tasty. But I would not let it hang around much longer than that.

Rice? Or, you know, sautéed lo mein or udon noodles.

Liz’s Crockery Corner. This week, Liz’s Crockery Corner features a plain black plate. Sometimes there’s nothing like the simplicity of black, and sometimes there’s nothing like a trip to IKEA, where we got this plate a few years back.