Name: Salt and Pepper Tofu
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 red pepper; 400 g tofu (firm or extra firm); 1 teaspoon salt; 0.5 teaspoon white pepper; 0.5 teaspoon black peppercorns; 0.5 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns; 5 tbsp cornflour (or potato starch or tapioca starch); 4 spring onions; coriander

Salt and pepper tofu is a simple Chinese dish that is full of flavour thanks to the fiery salt and pepper seasoning. Get the recipe below.

A simple Chinese dish

I love Chinese food. I've been lucky enough to spend time both in mainland China and Hong Kong to visit friends and travel for work. I've tried a whole range of authentic dishes that I love to try and recreate at home. But, I also love westernised Chinese food - take away any one? I like to think there's room for both in the world.

There are different versions of this dish (for example from Taiwan, Sichuan province and Hong Kong). The version I'm sharing incorporates elements of all three.

But, whichever version you try it's a dish that is full of flavour making it the star of any meal. It's also simple to make so it is the perfect dish to prepare yourself and avoid the costs associated with ordering in.

Follow my recipe and you can have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.

How to make Salt and Pepper Tofu

Salt and pepper tofu is, in short, tofu dredged in a salt and pepper flavoured seasoning then fried. The result is a crispy square of tofu that's packed full of flavour

Salt and pepper seasoning

The seasoning for our tofu contains 4 key ingredients: (1) white peppercorns; (2) black peppercorns (3) Sichuan peppercorns; and (4) salt.

Each of the different types of peppercorn adds a slightly different layer of heat. White peppercorns have a more complex flavour profile than black peppercorns and the Sichuan peppercorns bring extra heat. These get blitzed together in a spice grinder or blender along with the salt until its in powder form.

Coating the tofu

Before covering the tofu with the salt and pepper seasoning it needs combining with cornflour or a similar starch.

In my opinion cornflour is the best to coat the tofu in but unfortunately my husband can't eat corn so we use potato starch instead. You could also substitute it for tapioca starch.

Once you've combined together the seasoning and the cornflour you simply toss the tofu in the mix and it's ready to fry.

Frying the tofu

You can deep fry the tofu if you have a deep fat fryer but as most home cooks don't I've given the directions for shallow frying in a large saucepan.

The key to frying tofu and making sure you get crisp edges all around is to use the clock method. Place your tofu cubes into the oil starting at 12 o clock and working your way round. Once you've done one ring around the outside of your pan work your way in.

By doing this you'll know which piece of tofu should be flipped over first. Just then follow the clock and you'll have each piece of tofu perfectly fried on each side!

The recipe