We made black pepper tofu from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty last Friday night – it was rich, sticky and flavoursome. The recipe can be found on the Guardian’s New Vegetarian blog, and we followed it to the letter. Interestingly, the Guardian photo looks nothing like the photo in the book (which our pic above closely resembles) – perhaps the editors felt an all black dish might not appeal?
Do be aware that this is a very spicy dish – we cut the peppercorns down to three tablespoons instead of five (!!) and reduced the number of chillies. It still packed a punch!
. . . . .
Yesterday, inspired by our success the previous night, we tried another recipe from Plenty. These sweet potato cakes were easy to make and delicious with their accompanying yoghurt sauce (we omitted the sour cream as we didn’t have any on hand). We served them as a side with our roast lamb dinner, but they would have made a great vegetarian starter or main course.
As the cookbook is a compilation of recipes from Ottolenghi’s Guardian column, this recipe can also be found online.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I love sweet potato, I’ll have to give these a try. I weakened the other day and got some pre-made sweet potato fries from woollies to bake in the oven, and they were really nice!
Yum! They both look fab. Do you feel virtuous making so many things from this cookbook? I know I do when I actually make something out of the many cookbooks I feel compelled to buy. This cookbook certainly spuds like a winner.
Oops that should have said “sounds” not spuds. Annoying predictictive text on my phone…
Hmmm–that black tofu might even convert my husband from his militantly anti-tofu stance! And thanks for the word about Ottolenghi in The Guardian; now added to my blog reader!
Chef, the sweet potato cakes are really nice – I’m having one in my sandwich for lunch today…
SG, yes, feeling very virtuous. That’s four recipes now, and I’ve only had the book for a month! :)
Nancy, Joanna put me onto the Guardian column long before I bought the book – I’m not sure you actually need the book, as all the recipes seem to be on the website. Having said that, it’s so nice to have them in the one volume. The tofu is a winner of a dish – important to not skimp on caramelising the shallots, as they’re an essential part of the dish!
The black pepper tofu looks incredibly delicious! I will be trying that recipe soon using firm tofu!
I’m not a Tofu luva but these do look good, wonder if the ingredients would work with chicken as I love the look & (imaginary) tastes of this dish. Can’t walk past a Sweet Potato dish either, so I know I’ll love the cakes. Thanks for sharing Celia. Cheers Anna
I love really intensely flavoured tofu dishes (they have to overcome my feeling that it will be bland)! The photo of your finished dish is extremely appealing. I’m thrilled to get the link too – I think I’ll try some of these recipes before purchasing (I’m being such a scrooge with cook book buying at the moment).
Well done, Celia – the photo’s look great.
“Plenty” is just a wonderful book – it is one of my current favourites!
Gosh this looks yummy! (And we just got back from a killer dinner party and I am stuffed to the gills… chili rellenos, tortillas, fresh corn and avocado salsa, mojitos, beans, salad and a fresh peach cobbler. Can’t move.)
Must try the tofu!
M
Noice! (= nice one)
Love tofu dishes me, Celia.
Aren’t the cakes and sauce a lovely colour.
They both look delicious Celia. I’ve seen the tofu recipe on a couple of blogs, and really must get round to trying it soon!
You should talk to your mate Dan L about the Guardian’s way with photographing recipes! These look exceptionally good, I was just reading my copy today and thinking about green herby couscous :)
Oh, MAN! I love the sound of those sweet potato cakes. I’m SO going to make those in the next week. YUM!
Greenestgate, thanks for stopping by! :)
Anna, I think it might work well with chicken – you probably could omit the deepfrying then? The potato cakes are really delicious! :)
Sarah, I so understand being a cookbook scrooge. The two Ottolenghi ones have been a great purchase, but I’ve got so many that I’ve never used (sigh..just gave away the Bourke Street Bakery one!).
Amanda, Mazza, SarahKate, thank you! :)
Gill, thank you! I thought that about the potato cakes too – they were an astonishing orange…
C, I must look around – I didn’t check before we made the recipe, but I’d love to see how other people went with it…thanks!
Jo, I know how frustrated Dan gets with it, and I’m sure Mr Ottolenghi must get equally as frustrated. The Guardian pic of the tofu looks nothing like the finished product!
Yum to both! I made two things from the first book today – aubergine with saffron yoghurt sauce (but without the saffron!) and baked potatoes with cherry tomatoes (but without jerusalem artichokes and olives!)
Couldn’t find any of the missing ingredients at my HUGE local supermarket. They don’t stock icing sugar either!
Yum, that tofu dish looks great. I love the look of the black, compared to the guardian one. But my, my, that is a lot of peppercorn! I’m not sure I would get that one past Mr Chocolate, he gets a little pouty when there is even just the hint of pepper in there.
I have the original Ottolenghi cookbook, but not Plenty. Both of these dish look incredible and sound ever-so-unique.
Tofu + my husband = not a chance
However, those sweet potato cakes are guaranteed to be a hit. These will definitely be accompanying my roast chicken dinner tomorrow.
:-) Mandy
Is there somewhere I can comment on the Danny and Annie clip? Lordy, I had a big sob. I thought when you said “This made me cry” I was thinking of laughing crying!
You and me both, love…
My love for Ottolenghi is growing everyday. I must give the sticky black tofu a try :)
Thank you all…
indie.tea, it’s worth trying the recipes from the Guardian blog to get a feel for the book first – just don’t expect the recipes to necessarily turn out like the photos! :)
Mandy, hope you enjoy the sweet potato cakes!
Amy, it’s very moreish – I ate the leftovers for two days in a row.. :)
Ahh so this is the tofu you were telling me about Celia! it loks good but I’ll take your advice and cut down on the spice :P
Such beautiful, nourishing vegetarian food. Must go find a copy of Plenty ASAP.
Lorraine, thank you!
Emma, the cheapest copy I found was from amazon.co.uk – cheaper even than the Book Depository! If you order from the UK, you can get it landed here in Oz for about $35, as compared to $55 retail locally.