Kwoklyn Wan's crispy chilli tofu recipe from his new book 10-Minute Chinese Takeaway, out now

It’s been released just in time for Chinese New Year on February 1

The new book from fashion expert Gok Wan’s professional chef brother, Kwoklyn, who presents Kwoklyn’s Chinese Takeaway Kitchen on Amazon Prime, features 80 recipes, each of which is designed to take 10 minutes or less to cook. As well as the below, it features king prawns on toast, rice noodle soup with chicken and mushrooms, satay lamb steak with coconut rice and sweet chilli salmon lettuce wraps.

The below recipe is extracted from 10-Minute Chinese Takeaway by Kwoklyn Wan (Quadrille, £16) Photography ©Sam Folan

CRISPY CHILLI TOFU, BAMBOO SHOOTS & WATER CHESTNUTS

Crispy chilli tofu

Lightly fried tofu pieces and crunchy vegetables all lusciously wrapped in the unmistakeable aroma of my dad’s favourite sauce, doubanjiang.

Vegan

Serves 2

225g firm tofu, cut into 2cm cubes

Book jacket

2 tbsp hoisin sauce

50g cornflour

250ml vegetable oil

1 x 227g can sliced bamboo shoots, drained

Kwoklyn Wan

1 x 227g can sliced water chestnuts, drained

2 tsp garlic purée

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp fermented chilli bean paste (doubanjiang)

½ tbsp rice vinegar

125ml water

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 Coat the tofu cubes in the hoisin sauce, then lightly dust with cornflour and bang off any excess.

2 Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat and fry the tofu pieces for 3 minutes, turning regularly to ensure even cooking and browning.

3 Using a slotted spoon, remove the tofu and drain on kitchen paper, then carefully tip the excess oil from the wok into a heatproof bowl to use for another recipe (once cool, strain to remove any residue).

4 Place the wok back over a high heat, add the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and garlic purée and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes. Add the sugar, fermented chilli bean paste (doubanjiang), rice vinegar and water and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes.

5 Once the sauce is bubbling and the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat and drop in the drained tofu, tossing to coat.

6 Transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds and enjoy.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.