paella with basil infused tofu on the side

16/10/2018

couple weeks back I felt like experimenting in the kitchen again and came up with this paella with basil infused tofu on the side recipe.

it's a slightly unusual vegan paella twist - I upgraded this beautiful Spanish recipe with some oven baked tofu pieces!

I feel like tofu is a great protein and does go well with an indulgent veggie paella... have a read if you want to give this recipe a go and explore vegan food fusions with me!

you will need:

🌱 olive oil
🌱 250g of mushrooms
🌱 200g of green beans
🌱 100g of baby corn
🌱 1.5 cup of paella rice
🌱 2 sachets / stock cubes of paella spices
🌱 2 chillies (green and red)
🌱 6 cloves of garlic
🌱 dry oregano
🌱 fresh rosemary
🌱 some salt & pepper
🌱 chilli flakes
🌱 50ml of soy sauce

⭐️ tofu block
⭐️ basil infused olive oil
⭐️ soy sauce
⭐️ bran flakes (crushed)
⭐️ dry basil

the recipe

1. heat up some olive oil in a paella frying pan (I got mine from TK Maxx for a really good price). Peel and chop garlic cloves and add them into frying pan along with fresh rosemary and chilli peppers. Cook for 5-7 minutes on a medium heat.

2. wash and chop mushrooms, baby corn & green beans. Add chopped vegetables, dry oregano, crushed black pepper, chilli flakes and soy sauce to a pan and continue cooking for 7-10 more minutes.

3. boil come water (three cups worth) and dissolve 2 sachets of paella spices (or 2 paella stock cubes) in it. Pour 1.5 cup of rice into the vegetable mix followed by infused water. Boil for 3-5 more minutes, then turn the heat of and cover the pan with a kitchen cloth. Leave it covered for at least one hour.

4. meanwhile prepare tofu pieces. Cut it into large chunky squares and dry each of them with a paper towel. Place them in a baking tray and pour over a generous bit of basil infused olive oil, soy sauce & dry basil. Turn each piece round and do the same.

5. sprinkle a little bit of crushed bran flakes on the tofu and gently rub every piece on both sides. Pop in the oven and cook for 10 minutes on each side (180C).

6. remove cloth from the paella & pop it in the oven. Leave tofu pieces in the oven as well, increase temperature to 210C & switch to grill function. Grill tofu tray and paella for 15 more minutes.