Lemongrass Tofu Bowl is a super easy, gluten-free vegan supper. Very quick – ready in less than 15 minutes – and utterly delicious. Lemongrass has a wonderful flavour; sweet and fragrant but not cloying or lingering as some sweet/ savoury flavours can be.
I adore Lemongrass Tofu Bowl as a really simple, nutritious, main served with Perfect Plain Rice or Basics – Brown Rice. Though it is also wonderful with rice noodles. A great side with Lemongrass Tofu Bowl is Cucumber, Seaweed and Carrot Salad.
Allergy Information – Lemongrass Tofu Bowl
Lemongrass Tofu Bowl is gluten-free and vegan as well as… celery free, coconut free, garlic free, lupin free, mustard free, nightshade free*, onion free, peanut free, sesame free, tree nut free.
*For nightshade free leave out the chilli
Top Tips – Lemongrass Tofu Bowl
If you bought more than you needed, fresh lemongrass freezes well.
The dryer outer layers of lemongrass, although full of flavour, are tough and inedible (great for making fragrant broth). You need the inner soft layers of the stalks for this recipe. Just peel away the tough, outer stalks.
Tofu freezes well – though it does change the texture of tofu. Frozen, cooked tofu is less delicate than fresh. This makes it great for stir-fries where it needs to be a little more robust.
Recipe – Lemongrass Tofu Bowl
Difficulty easy
Serves 4-6
Preparation time 5 minutes
Cooking time 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
0.25 teaspoon asafoetida
1 stalk lemongrass, cleaned and chopped (only use the inner, soft, parts of the stalk)
0.5 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes* leave out for nightshade free
400 grams fresh tofu, sliced into bite-size strips
1-2 tablespoons tamari or other gluten-free soya sauce (start with 1 tablespoon and add more tamari if needed)
1 carrot cut into 6 centimetre matchsticks/ julienne
200 grams fresh beansprouts
1 small cos/ romaine lettuce, shredded
Method
1. Place a wok or large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the oil, when hot add the asafoetida and stir-fry for 30 second then add the chopped lemongrass and red chilli flakes. Stir-fry until the lemongrass looks ‘melted’
2. Add the tofu and tamari and fry the tofu on both sides until the tofu is caramelised and lightly crisp. Move the contents of the wok or pan to make sure the other ingredients do not catch or burn
3. Arrange the tofu in a bowl with the carrot, beansprout and lettuce
4. Serve with plain, boiled rice or rice noodles.
