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
- 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
- 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.
- Coat tofu slices in marinade and chill for at least 3 hours (I marinade mine overnight).
- 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**
If you ask me, this should be called “Not a Jerk Tofu.” because it’s really delicious-looking and basically the opposite of a jerk. A jerk would never make something like this, although perhaps part of the process involves jerking the tofu around the kitchen, until the consistency is just so. I’m not sure, because I didn’t read the recipe, because I haven’t learned how to read yet. In any case, I think this looks incredible and I can’t wait for someone to roll along and make it for me some day.
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This is genius! Thanks for sharing! Where did you buy your Jamaican all spice from? I can’t to seem to find any!
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