#KitchenBattles Challenge + Tofu Burger Recipe

A few days ago a pack of tofu sat in my fridge, looking at me as if challenging me – are you going to throw me in a stir-fry again? Where I’ll be lost in the middle of all the vegetables. Why don’t you use me in a dish where I’ll shine?

Why don’t I use the tofu in a dish where it’ll shine? I can do that, think of a new recipe. And, I also had to take up the #KitchenBattles challenge passed on to me by Kalyan Karmakar. I had to turn around a monotonous ingredient and make it interesting using ADF’s Soul range of products. Working with tofu was a good idea. So, I thought of making a Tofu Burger using the Soul Tamarind Pulp and Soul Chilli Pickle.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking and Assembling: 15 mins
Servings: Makes two burgers

Ingredients
Tofu – 200 gms
Burger buns – 2
Bread crumbs – 1 cup
Arugula leaves or lettuce – 100 gms
Julienned bell peppers (yellow and red) – 1 cup
Onion – 1 (cut in rings)
Mayonnaise – 1 cup
Soul Chilli Pickle – 1 tbsp
Lime juice – 1 tsp
Sea salt – 1/2 tsp
Olive oil – 1 tsp for caramelizing onions and 2 tbsp to fry tofu

For sauce
Soul Tamarind Pulp – 2 tbsp
Brown sugar – 1 tbsp
Chopped ginger – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Paprika or chilli flakes – As per taste
Olive oil – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Water – 1 cup

Method

For sauce

Heat oil in a pan and saute the chopped ginger.
Add tamarind pulp and caramelized sugar and let it cook till the sugar melts.
Add salt, cumin powder and paprika/chilli flakes.
Add water to give it sauce like consistency.
Let it boil once and keep aside.

For burger

Let’s start with caramelizing the onions. Heat oil in a pan and cook onion rings on slow flame till they turn brown. Keep aside.
Mix mayonnaise and chilli pickle and keep aside.
Cut tofu into two big chunks, coat it nicely with tamarind sauce, press it on breadcrumbs from all the sides and shallow fry in a pan.
Lightly toast the burger buns, spread some chilli pickle mayo over them, layer with arugula/lettuce leaves, julienned pepper, fried tofu, caramelized onions. Spoon the remaining tamarind sauce over it and cover it with the other half of the bun.
Make a salad with the remaining arugula/lettuce, peppers and red cabbage. Dress it in lime juice and sea salt and serve with your burgers.

So now, thanks to the ADF products I have a better use of tofu in my kitchen.

P.S. – you can make the sauce more interesting by adding fried bacon bits to it. Used smoked bacon to give it a nice smokey flavour. If you don’t eat meat, add a tsp of Worcestirshire sauce and 2 tsps of mustard to lift the flavour of the sauce.