Sydney-Inspired Sweet Chilli Tofu
‘Amazing food. I had a Sydney-inspired Chilli Tofu. Wow!’
Rory B, Kendal; Food Customer
Walk the Path
Next: Caroline’s Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Burger →
This recipe is part of the Flash and Form Cookery Pathway.
Table of Contents
✨ Before We Begin…
Crisp tofu tossed in sticky-sweet chilli sauce — a dish with kick and comfort.
‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer
The Cook’s Mind
What This Recipe Helps You Practise
- Frying tofu for crisp texture.
- Balancing sweet and spicy sauce.
- Tossing to coat evenly.
Make-Ahead
- Sauce can be made ahead.
- Tofu best fried fresh.
Freezer-Friendly
- Not freezer friendly.
- Best eaten immediately.
Key Substitutions
- Tofu: use tempeh instead.
- Chilli sauce: adjust heat with fresh chilli.
Cooking Parlance
- Deep-fry: submerge food in hot oil.
- Toss: coat evenly in sauce.
Ingredient Focus
✨ Chillies — heat and vibrancy.
To Ingredient Focus: Red Chilli
Serving Suggestions
- Serve with rice or noodles.
- Top with herbs and lime.
Multi-Purpose Recipe
This recipe has more than one life…
- Make into bao bun filling.
- Serve cold as salad topping.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Crisp, spicy, satisfying.
- Fast, fun, and bold.
- Perfect street food at home.
Watch It Being Made
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Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Handpicked to Go With This One
A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.
- Perfectly Cooked Rice
- Authentic Vegan Chow Mein – A Flavour-Packed Takeaway Classic
- Best Vegan Ramen Recipe – High Protein, Tasty, Light
Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less ❣️
brown onion, chilli flakes, dry roasted peanuts, firm tofu, fresh coriander, fresh garlic, fresh herbs, golden caster sugar, lemon juice, red bullet chilli, sesame oil, soft dark brown sugar
Sydney-Inspired Sweet Chilli Tofu
Sydney-Inspired Sweet Chilli Tofu
A sunny Sydney memory turned into a dish – marinated tofu stir-fried with accessible chilli heat and a pop of fennel seed freshness. Balanced, vibrant, and endlessly moreish.
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Ingredients
- 400 g firm tofu | unpressed weight
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 pinches ground black pepper
- 10 ml rapeseed oil
Ingredients for the marinade
- 30 ml light soy sauce
- 30 g golden caster sugar
- 30 ml rice wine vinegar
- 5 ml sesame oil
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
Other ingredients
- 250 g brown onions | unpeeled weight
- 3 cloves fresh garlic | peeled and thinly slice
- 1 red bullet chilli | sliced
- 180 g green beans
- 30 g peanuts | dry roasted or salted
- 15 ml rapeseed oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 30 ml light soy sauce
- 30 ml lemon juice
- 30 ml lime juice
- 30 g soft dark brown sugar
- 6 g cornflour | for cornflour slurry
- 5 ml water | for cornflour slurry
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
To serve
- rice
- lime | wedges
- fresh coriander | neatly chopped
Instructions
Prepare and cook tofu; make marinade
- Press the tofu in a tofu press, skin side up.400 g firm tofu
- Cut the tofu into little finger-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, and fry hard in oil10 ml rapeseed oil, 2 pinches salt, 2 pinches ground black pepper
- Whilst the tofu cooks, make a marinade for the cooked tofu with the ingredients listed. Mix around to dissolve the sugar.30 ml light soy sauce, 30 g golden caster sugar, 30 ml rice wine vinegar, 5 ml sesame oil, 1 tsp chilli flakes
- When the tofu is cooked and please watch the video carefully for when the tofu is cooked enough, toss into the marinade and leave to soak. The tofu fingers must be very dry and almost hard. That is very important. Something happens to the texture and the flavour when it’s hard. It’s gorgeous later when all full of sauce.
Prepare the remaining ingredients
- Peel and chop the onion into slim (2cm wide) petals, peel and slice the garlic, and put in a container, ready to stir fry. Slice the bullet chilli, including the seeds and add to the container with the onion and garlic.250 g brown onions, 3 cloves fresh garlic, 1 red bullet chilli
- Measure out the green beans into the same container, ready to stir fry.180 g green beans
- Measure out the peanuts ready to add.30 g peanuts
- Cut the ends off the lime and cut two slender wedges, ready to dress the dish. Lightly chop half a handful of coriander.lime, fresh coriander
Cook baby cook!
- Warm the oil in a separate pan on a low-medium heat, ready to cook the onion petals, garlic and red chilli. Tip the onion, garlic and chilli in the pan along with salt and cook carefully to brown and caramelise without burning the garlic.15 ml rapeseed oil, 1 pinch salt
- When the onion, garlic and chilli mix is cooked well and the onions are translucent, add the tofu and it's marinade, along with the soy sauce, lime juice, lemon juice and sugar, and mix well. The onion needs to be soft but have some bite. We're not aiming for onions like you'd have on a burger.30 ml light soy sauce, 30 ml lemon juice, 30 ml lime juice, 30 g soft dark brown sugar
- Add the nuts and mix around. Add some of the cornflour slurry, and thicken the sauce. Add a bit more if you need to adjust the thickness of the sauce.6 g cornflour, 5 ml water
- Add the fennel seeds and mix.1 tsp fennel seeds
Plating
- Turn onto rice, scatter the prepared coriander and dress with the lime wedge.If you don't need the lime for anything else, you could grate some fresh lime zest over the dish as well!rice
Notes
- Multi-purpose: cook the tofu as per the taught method and use for other dishes or in sandwiches. If using in sandwiches, consider cutting slices of tofu.
- This doesn’t reheat in the microwave very well. It’s better cold actually!
- With remaining herbs, chop up and put into storage boxes and pop into the fridge. I find supermarket herbs prepped and stored this way last a fair few days.
- If you happened to have some fresh fennel, you could whop some slender slices into this, along with the green beans. That would work nicely.
Nutrition
Calories: 417kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 19gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gSodium: 1436mgPotassium: 440mgFiber: 6gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 627IUVitamin C: 22mgCalcium: 250mgIron: 3mg
Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
COPYRIGHT
© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
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