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Easy Celery Black Pepper Tofu. Spicy, hot. Roasted crisp tofu, added to celery & black pepper sauce. How to make Black pepper Tofu. Vegan Gluten-free nut-free. Can be oil-free. serves 2 with rice.
So I have discovered recently that I love black pepper. Not the usual pepper in usual amounts, but freshly crushed in a mortar pestle and in ridiculous amounts. One would think that when the temps around are in the 80s. why would one eat something that is so sweat inducing. Well I do not have the answer to that question. Its just fun to down a chilled ice cream shake after to cool down.
This black pepper tofu is has pepper in the batter, some red chilies to add more heat, and more, lots more pepper in the sauce. I added celery as it adds a nice balance to all the heat and also because I had to use it up.
Tofu is tossed in starch and pepper batter and baked until crisp. You can also pan fry the tofu or just add plain pressed tofu directly to the pan. The sauce has loads of garlic, ginger and celery and freshly crushed black pepper. I finally used my mortar and pestle after many months. The coarsely crushed pepper is just fabulous. You can make the dish oil free by cooking the sauce ingredients in broth.
More recipes from the blog.
- Kung Pao Lentils
- Tofu Broccoli Bok Choy Stir fry with Garlic Sesame Soy Sauce
- Teriyaki Chickpea Bao steamed buns
- Firecracker Chickpea Salad with Thai Peanut Sauce dressing.
- Spicy Orange Tofu and Peppers.
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Celery Black Pepper Tofu
Ingredients
Baked Tofu:
- 14 oz firm tofu, cubed (1.5 cups) - no need to press
- 3 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp water
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3 to 4 Tbsp cornstarch or other starch
For the sauce:
- 1 tsp oil
- 6 to 8 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 inch ginger finely chopped
- 2 dried red chilies chopped or broken into 2 pieces, use 1 for less heat. I like arbol or cayenne in this. Use milder chile like california red for more flavor than heat
- 1 to 1.5 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper, or onion
- 1/4 tsp white pepper, optional
- 1 tsp or more coarsely crushed black pepper, preferably ground/crushed with a mortar pestle
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp maple , or sugar
- 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
Instructions
Baked Tofu:
- Chop the Tofu and keep ready. Make a thick batter of soy sauce through cornstarch. (add a tsp more water if needed, but dont add too much as the tofu will add its own moisture when you mix it in). Immediately Add tofu and mix to coat. * If you leave the batter to sit, it will solidify in a few minutes and will need extra moisture to be batter again.
- Let it marinate for 10 to 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F / 200ºc. Place the tofu cubes on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or longer. Or pan fry in oil until golden. Keep aside
Make the sauce:
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic ginger and red chili and cook until garlic is translucent. 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the celery and peppers. Mix, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until celery is cooked to preference. Stir once in between.
- Add the baked tofu, pepper, soy sauce, 1 tbsp water, maple, vinegar and mix. Cook for 2 minutes. Serve hot!
Notes
Variations: You can also use meat subs like beyond meat strips at the last step instead of tofu for a black pepper chikin.,
- Add half the black pepper if you are unsure about the heat level and mix in the rest later to preference. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
5 tsp of liquid for 3-4 tbsp of cornstarch does not make batter it makes solid glue. Is there a typo somewhere?
Yes. Then immediately add the tofu which has moisture as well and the mixture will coat the tofu. Or add a splash of water to help it move and coat the tofu
This dish was amazing! I have it on rotation. It satisfies my need to buy this from Panda Express. I often use simple marinated tofu done in my air fryer.
excellent – nice – probably crisps it up nicely
Excellent dish – great way to use up celery which for some reason gets a bad rap in our house. Doubled the veg and tofu and almost tripled the sauce. Excellent flavors, beautifully spicy and fresh.
celery is underrated
I’m not a fan of celery. Had a fresh bunch at home I didn’t want to waste. OMG, this dish had such a burst of amazing flavor!! Yummy.
so glad that you found a tasty recipe for it!
This recipe is one of our favorites! We make this regularly in our household and it’s delicious every time.
Excellent
We love this and have been making it for years. I used to only get celery occasionally to use as part of a soup and then not know what to do with the leftovers. Now I get celery for this dish regularly and use the leftovers for soup–if there are any. It is flexible and always turns out great even if we are missing some of the ingredients (still delicious even without the tofu!). Thank you!!
thanks for popping in! flexible is great