This is a vibrant and bangin' good meal. Salt, sour, spicy and sweet, it's Laos on a plate and one of those meals that'll have you mumbling "can't talk, eating, mmm, omigod, delicious, mmmphh, more, yum..."
2tablespoonsoy sauce, or tamari if you're gluten free
1-2tablespoonbrown sugar, I used half a lump of palm sugar
1-2teaspoonfish sauce (optional - include it if you like it, and you're not vegan)
½teaspoonsalt
¼teaspoonchilli flakes
For the table:
Sticky rice
Crisp lettuce leaves, washed and separated (baby cos is perfect, iceberg works too)
Shredded carrot
Cherry tomatoes
Roasted peanuts
Crispy shallots, (store bought)
Lime wedges
Sliced red and green chillis
Sriracha or other chilli sauce
Kecap manis, (not traditional but excellent if you have it)
For the tofu:
1block of firm tofu
1tablespoonplain cooking oil
1teaspoonsesame oil
2clovesgarlic, crushed
1red onion, sliced
1cupmushrooms, diced
2spring onions, sliced
Large handful mung bean sprouts
Large bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
Large bunch of mint, roughly chopped
3tablespoonuncooked rice
Instructions
Mix sauce ingredients together and taste for balance. It should be sharp and sour, salty, spicy and a little sweet. If you like it hot, add more chilli flakes to the sauce. I like to keep the sauce mild so that each person can adjust their own heat with sliced chillis and hot sauce at the table. Set the sauce aside until you cook the tofu.
Toasting your rice will definitely seem weird but it works out fine. Put 3 tablespoon of uncooked rice in a dry frypan over medium heat. Keep the rice moving until it goes golden to dark brown, then remove from heat. It'll take 3-5 minutes. Let it cool, then grind it into a coarse powder. I used my coffee grinder, which was really fast, but you could also use a blender, food processor or mortar and pestle.
To cook the tofu, heat cooking oil and sesame oil in a frypan over a high heat. Add garlic, red onion and mushrooms and cook briefly.
Using your hands, crumble the block of tofu into the pan. Stir and cook for a few minutes until everything is really hot. Add the sauce you made earlier to the pan and stir through.
Dump the whole pile of spring onions, mung beans and herbs into the pan at once and quickly stir through.