When entertaining your vegan nephew and niece, it is an opportunity. The flavor in this Vegan Sofrito Tofu was amazing.
Jump to RecipeSo what exactly is a SOFRITO? Think of sofrito as the Spanish MIREPOIX. The mirepoix is the French classic of onion, celery and carrots as the base of a dish, a sauce. The sofrito kicks it up by picking up Latin flavors from peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and the like. In this recipe, think of it as a weeknight meal, because I used a jarred sofrito. In this recipe, the I used up some leftovers including chipotles in adobo sauce and tomato sauce.
The dish was rounded out with oven baked broccoli with just enough char, a braised shallot and served over polenta/grits. Oh and did I mention the tofu. I wanted some sort of protein as the base of this dish. I have cooked with tofu before but I am still learning different ways to cook it and how it reacts to different types of cooking methods. In this case, I chose to do a shallow fry. I had plenty of oil in the pan and cooked it for some 7 minutes per side. In retrospect, that was a couple of minutes too long. The crispness of the tofu did not absorb the sauce as much as I would have liked it too.
The whole dish was very tight! The polenta was a great base to pick up the sofrito sauce. The chipotles in abobo sauce added a wonderful smokiness to the sauce on top of the deep flavor from the sofrito sauce. I also added some zucchini for some additional texture and bite. The shallot was a trick I saw on Instagram reels and added a bit of elegance to the dish.
The sauce ingredients.
Building the vegan dish.
The Vegan Sofrito Tofu plated.
Vegan Sofrito Tofu
Created a very composed vegan dish with this Vegan Sofrito Tofu. My recipe is healthy, packed with flavor and textures.
Ingredients
Tofu
- 1 Box Tofu
- 2 Tbsp Ground Ancho Chili
- 2 Tbsp Avocado oil
Sofrito Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Avocado oil
- 12 Ounces Sofrito sauce
- 3 Whole Chipotles in adobo sauce
- 18 Ounces Tomato sauce
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Ground black pepper
Finishing Dish
- 2 Whole Zucchinis diced
- 1 Whole Yellow squash diced
- 4 Whole Shallots halved
- 2 Cups Red wine
- 1 Head Broccoli cut in florets
Instructions
Tofu
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Begin by getting as much liquid out of the tofu as possible. I pressed it for a good hour flipping and replacing the drying towels. Once dried, generously apply the ground ancho chili to both sides. Next, heat a skillet on medium high heat and add the avocado oil. Once shimmering, fry the tofu on both sides for about 7 minutes per side. Set aside when done. Do not crowd pan – cook tofu in batches.
Sofrito Sauce
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Heat the avocado oil. Once warm, add the ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning. You might want to add honey if it is too acidic.
Finishing Dish
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Drizzle the zucchini, squash and broccoli with oil. Add to a 350 degree oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes. In a skillet, heat a tsp of oil and then add the shallots cut side down. After 1 minute, pour in the red wine. Braise for 8 – 10 minutes.
To assemble the dish, begin by filling the bowl with the polenta. I added a little of mozzarella cheese to the polenta for some additional creaminess. Next, I added the sofrito sauce. The final assembly was adding the tofu and all the veggies.
Serve and enjoy!
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