Kung Pao Tofu is a vegan version developed from Kung Pao Chicken which gets the same popularity with Mapo tofu in worldwide. And surely it is a dish I make from time to time.
Tofu is always considered as a good replacement for meat in many Chinese dishes. And it is the best partner of lots of Szechuan style stir fire sauce like kung pao sauce 宫保汁(gōng)(bǎo)(zhī) and fish flavor sauce (鱼香汁).
For all vegan readers: Kung pao sauce is great for almost all chunky vegetables. Besides this kung pao tofu, you still have other options like Kung pao mushroom, Kung pao cauliflower and Kung pao Lotus root.
Ingredients
- 1 pound firm tofu or extra firm tofu
- 3 tablespoons vegetable cooking oil
- 1 green pepper, cut into small pieces
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 3 to 5 dried red chili pepper (I use whole pieces to reduce the hotness)
- 1/8 teaspoon whole Sichuan peppercorn
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 inch root ginger sliced
- 2 leek scallions, cut the white part into small sections
- 1 tbsp. roasted peanuts
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- a small pinch of salt (around 1 teaspoon)
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 1 tablespoon chopped green onion
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoon sugar
Cut tofu into 2cm dices, add oil and then fry the tofu pieces over medium fire until golden on one side.
Then turn over and make them golden brown on four sides.
In your wok, hot oil and fry dried red pepper and Sichuan peppercorn until aroma. Place garlic, ginger and half of the leek onion sections and keep frying over slow fire for half a minute.
Place tofu and pepper pieces in.
Slightly stir the kung pao sauce so there is no starch sticking to the bottom. Pour in the sauce and give everything a big stir fry to make every piece well-coated. Ad toasted peanuts and the remaining leek onion sections. Mix well and serve immediately.
My favorite way for serving those kung pao tofu is steamed rice. But it can be served with noodles or steamed buns too.
Vegan Kung Pao Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 pound firm tofu or extra firm tofu
- 3 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil
- 1 green pepper , cut into small pieces
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 1/8 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
- 3 to 5 dried red chili pepper , I use whole pieces to reduce the hotness
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 inch root ginger sliced
- 2 leek scallions , cut the white part into small sections
- 1 tbsp. peanuts
Stir-fry Sauce:
- ½ tbsp. dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. a small pinch of salt
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 1 tbsp. chopped green onion
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. vinegar
- 2 tbsp. water
- 2 tsp. sugar
Instructions
- Cut the firm tofu into cubes around 2 cm. And then drain to remove the water on the surface.
- Cut red pepper and green pepper into small pieces.
- In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for stir-fry sauce.
- Heat up 3 tablespoons of peanut oil in wok. And get the cubes in to stir-fry until tofu becomes gold-brown in surface. Move the tofu cubes out and pour the extra oil out of the wok, left around 1 tablespoon of oil in.
- Fry dried chili pepper and Sichuan peppercorn until aroma and then place ginger, garlic and half of leek onion in to stir-fry over slow fire until fragrant; return tofu cubes in along with pepper pieces.
- Slightly stir the kung pao sauce and pour in. Give everything a give stir fry until the tofu cubes are well coated. Add toasted peanuts and the remaining leek onion sections. Mix well and serve with steamed rice or noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
This looks great! Thanks for sharing! I’ll have to try this recipe. 🙂
Thanks Megan for stopping by and hope you enjoy this tofu recipe.
This looks way too good! Tofu has to be one of my favorite foods
Liz,
Thanks for stopping by. Tofu is excellent for me too since it is easy to cook and so yummy. Enjoy!
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for sharing this vegan dish. As I’m vegetarian, I rely on tofu a lot. I will try that one soon!
David
David,
Nice to see you again. I am non-vegan but I eat lots of vegan dishes too. So I would love to share those healthy vegan or vegetarian ideas with you. Have a try and good luck.
Chicken stock..??vegan
Hi Lon,
Thanks for commenting and I am sorry for the misunderstanding.
I am non-vegan so sometimes not so strict with the ingredients. I have list that you can use water to replace the stock. I hope you are ok with that option.
Pretty! This was a really wonderful post. Thanks for supplying this
info.
Is a Glove of garlic the same as a clove?
Sorry Robert,
That’s a mis-typing. It should be garlic clove.
Well well glove Clove doesn’t need a genius to work that one out!!!!
I was looking at the photo of the tofu being fried. That looks like a lot more than 3 tablespoons of oil.
Lovely and easy recipe! Loved that it didnt have too many ingredients and was straight forward! I made two servings of the sauce because it was immaculate! Thanks!
Hi, Alicia rose
Thanks for your kind comments. I’m happy that you have tried this recipes. Enjoying!
What a beautiful recipe and I plan on trying it tonite. Can you help me by explaining what is Black Vinegar? Is this something I can find her in US? Maybe known as something different? Thank you so much,
Hi Gayle,
Chinese black vinegar is a very common Chinese ingredients. You can know more from https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/chinese-sauces/.
Hi…I just tried this tofu dish and it tasted delicious..thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi,Savita
Thanks for your feedback. I’m so happy you have tried it successfully.