A delicious way to eat tofu

Satay is an Indonesian dish where marinaded tofu/meat/ paneer is simply skewered & grilled. Protein heaven! It is quick to make (under 15 mins), tasty & very easy. Not much effort is required to make a delicious healthy high protein, low carb meal.

This blog focusses solely on tofu. Since tofu is rather delicate, I have chosen to cut thick tofu slices & not skewer them, but you can if you prefer.

To add even more protein to this dish I have added protein powder to the accompanying peanut sauce. Pulsin’ soya protein, hemp & pea protein powders work well.

Serves: 2 (makes 6 tofu slices)

Preparation time: 15 mins if manually chopping, 8 mins if using a blender or food processor

Marinading time: 30 mins-1hr (I sometimes marinade overnight)

Cooking time: about 8-10 mins

Ingredients:

360g firm tofu 

Marinade:

2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed & finely chopped

15g fresh root ginger, finely chopped

2 plump garlic cloves, peeled & crushed

1 red chilli, deseeded if you like it less hot, finely chopped

1.5 tsp ground cumin 

2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground turmeric or Vitalising Superpowder

1/2 tsp honey or agave

3 tsbp tamari or soy sauce 

1 tbsp rapeseed oil or olive oil

Peanut satay sauce:

100g sugar-free smooth peanut butter

140ml coconut milk

3/4 tbsp tamari or soya sauce

2 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1 1/2 tbsp protein powder (Pulsin’ soya , hemp & pea derived protein powder work well).

2 slices of chilli, lime wedges 

Method:

If you are using wooden skewers, soak them for about 20-30 mins in cold water so that they do not burn when you cook the satay.

Make the marinade. Finely chop the lemon grass, root ginger, chillies & mix with crushed garlic in a bowl. Add the ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, honey or agave, lime juice, tamari/ soya sauce, rapeseed or olive oil. Alternatively, you can blitz this all in a food processor to form a paste.

Prepare the protein. Slice the tofu into thick slices about 1.5cm thick (or cubes if you are skewering them).

Coat the tofu with the satay marinade for at least 30 mins in the fridge

To make the satay protein-enriched peanut sauce:

Put the peanut butter, coconut milk, chilli flakes, tamari or soya sauce, lime juice & protein powder of choice into a small saucepan & on a low heat melt the peanut butter & mix all the ingredients together to form a thick sauce. Pour into a bowl & decorate with 2 slices of fresh red chilli.

Grill marinaded tofu slices for about 4-5 mins each side. (Note: these are also great on the barbecue).

Season with a twist of ground black pepper. Serve with warm protein peanut satay sauce, wedges of lime (the sharpness contrasts beautifully with the creaminess & spicy marinade) & salad. Makes a high protein great low carb snack or packed lunch when cool!

Don’t forget you can find my favourite recipes in my FREE eBook here.