straight up veg

Hello, friends!

First and foremost, Eid Mubarak to my Muslim friends and followers of my blog!

You’d almost think I was fasting last month, considering how long its been since I last posted. I apologize for my delay, but I am hoping this awesome recipe will have been worth the wait.

This dish came about, simply because I had always heard so much about how good jerk chicken was, but was sad to never have the opportunity to try it. Once I realized that I could put jerk spice on anything I wanted, I started to experiment.

Jerk spice can be applied as a dried spice blend, or as a wet marinade. I found that dry blends didn’t really have enough flavour when applied to the tofu, but the wet marinade was like a party in my mouth. This recipe highlights a wet marinade that really amps up the flavour of the tofu, with the mix of sweet, spicy and savoury flavours.

**Feel free to click on the red links for photo references**

Recipe makes approx. 2 servings 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup of olive oil (plus extra 2 tbsp for cooking)
• 1/8 cup lime juice
• 3 scallions (green and white parts)
• 1/2 cup white onion, chopped
• 2 scotch bonnet or habanero peppers (these are very spice, approach with caution)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp jamaican allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 block of extra firm tofu (approx. 350 grams), cut into 1/4″ slices

1. Blend together 1/4 cup olive oil, lime juice, scallions, white onion, scotch bonnet peppers, garlic, ginger, sugar, allspice, cinnamon, cider vinegar, thyme leaves and salt and pepper until smooth.
2. Coat tofu slices in marinade and chill for at least 3 hours (I marinade mine overnight).
3. On a barbecue or grill pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Grill each piece of tofu for approx. 4 minutes per side (or until char grilled). Serve with rice, quinoa, veggies or anything else your heart desires. Enjoy! 🙂

** In the photo, I topped the tofu with a quick “salsa” of red onion, pineapple, mint and a squeeze of limejuice**