Kimchi Tofu

We are cooking a simple, yet delicious and flavourful Korean inspired meal today. I took one of their staples and came up with a mouthwatering vegan kimchi dish that the whole family will love. 

I like making simple every-day recipes that have a "special occasion" feel to them. This vegan kimchi dish is definitely one of them. With very simple ingredients we are making a little feast here. 

I think that is the beauty of kimchi! You only need a little bit to get a load of taste. If you are new to kimchi, let me try to describe its taste so you understand why I rave about it so much. 

Kimchi is a fermented food made from mainly cabbage. So, as you can imagine, being fermented has a very strong flavour, a bit salty and a bit tangy. I would like to describe it as a unique sour slightly spicy food. 

The spice is one of the things I really pay attention to when, either buying or making kimchi. The level of spiciness can vary a lot. I am not a huge fan of spicy food so I always opt for the mild versions. Or, if I am making it, I take it very slow on the amount of chilli I add. 

For this vegan kimchi dish, I used this beautiful ingredient to season tofu. I wanted a sweet and sour vegan meal so I also added a bit of orange juice to the sauce or marinade. These two ingredients and a little bit of corn starch to make it thicker, and you have a super delicious homemade sauce that you can use for other recipes as well.  

Most of the flavour of this recipe will be courtesy of kimchi. However, I wanted to have some leafy greens. So, I cooked kale to serve alongside our flavourful tofu. For this part, I fried a bit of garlic, threw in the kale, and seasoned it with soy sauce. We don't need a whole lot since both the kale and soy sauce already are quite strong in taste. 

The last part of this Korean vegan recipe is brown rice. This will give our recipe a lot more substance. And brown rice is a complex carb, which means your belly will be full for much longer.

I usually recommend giving brown rice a good wash before you cook it. This will remove any powdery starch and you avoid the mushy unpleasant texture. And to make sure is soft and fluffy, let it rest in the pot with the lid on for 5-10 minutes so it absorbs the little moisture left in there. I usually leave it there until I am ready to serve it. 

Once you have it all ready and your kitchen smells amazing, it's time to serve. Lay a bed of rice on a plate and stack the tofu on top, add as much or as little as you'd like and enjoy this delicious feast with your kale on the side.