Indo-Chinese Crispy Sweet Chilli Tofu (Air Fry and Pan Fried)

This Indo-Chinese crispy chilli tofu recipe will genuinely blow you away. It is such a great substitute for anyone who loves Indo-Chinese chilli paneer but wants to skip the cheese part and therefore of course, it is a winner for anyone who is lactose-free or vegan. This dish busts the myth that vegan or vegetarian dishes lack flavour.

Why this recipe is a winner?

One of the most popular Indo-Chinese dishes is chilli paneer, and while it is a ten out of ten dish, this spicy Indian-style chilli tofu is a strong contender. The dish incorporates all of the elements of chilli paneer, but is of course dairy-free!

In this recipe, we incorporate cornstarch to create a super crispy and crunchy tofu batter so that when the tofu is coated in the sauce, it still retains a nice bite.

So, if you’re looking to give the chilli paneer or dragon prawns a miss, don’t worry because you won’t miss out on flavour just because this dish skips out on the meat and dairy.

Variations and Substitutes – Gravy or Dry?

A common variation among almost all indo-chinese foods is whether to have them in a gravy sauce or as a dry dish, but just to be clear, both are equally delicious.

This recipe will show you how to make both variations.

Gravy variation: If you want this chilli tofu with gravy, I would recommend adding all of the sauce, with about a quarter cup of water, and 2 tsps of cornflour slurry. That way, there will be a thicker sauce that accompanies the tofu.

Dry variation: If you would prefer this chilli tofu dry then I would recommend that you follow either of the two following instructions:

1. Tossing your pan fried tofu in the aromatics (onions, garlic and peppers), allowing that to combine well, and then tossing in your sauce to coat the tofu and aromatics. Or, alternatively, you could:
2. Follow the gravy variation, but leave the tofu to cook in the sauce until it has soaked it up, that way it still has a thin layer of sauce around the crunchy tofu!

How to make chilli tofu? A step-by-step guide.

Ingredients?

1. Extra firm tofu – I would highly recommend that you get an extra firm tofu for this recipe, especially if you’re looking to mimic the spongey flavour texture of paneer. When this is crispy and fried up, it has an almost meaty texture. I also used one whole block for this recipe. Just to note also, we pan fry the tofu in some olive oil.
2. Half a tsp salt – To coat the tofu. The sauces below will add a lot of umami in either case, so we don’t necessarily need to add lots of salt to our tofu batter.
3. One tsp red chilli powder – This adds an extra layer of spice to the tofu, once fried.
4. One small red or white onion – These should be diced up very finely and you can use either a red or white variation.
5. Garlic – I used about three cloves of garlic, but you can totally use less or more, if you would prefer.
6. Peppers – You can use either red, green or orange peppers and a mixture or one of these will work fine in this recipe.
7. Soy Sauce (normal, dark and light) – I used around a tbsp of normal and light soy sauce and a tsp of dark soy sauce. The dark soy sauce is totally optional as it is mainly for colour, but I would highly recommend
8. Sesame oil – This is just added to the sauce for an extra dimension of flavour, but if you don’t like the taste of sesame oil, then skip this.
9. Ketchup – This adds a tangy flavour and also colour. If you want to skip this, you could also replace with a fresh tomato sauce.
10. One tbsp sweet chilli sauce – Any brand will do, I use the maggi brand.
11. Cornflour slurry – This is just water and around two tsps. of cornflour added. We use this to thicken the sauce, but you won’t need this if you are following the dry recipe.
12. Cornflour – For both the slurry and to coat the tofu. We coat the tofu in this as it will make it super crispy and delicious.
13. Honey – We use honey in this recipe for sweetness and I would highly recommend that you do add a sweetener as it is kind of essential to balance out the tartness of the soy sauce and other sauces.
14. For garnish, you can use sesame seeds or coriander / parsley etc.

Making this chilli tofu in the air fryer?

If you would prefer to make this in the air fryer, then I would follow the same instructions to create the tofu batter and then place it in the air fryer on 160°C for around 10 minutes and then at 200°C for a further 5 – 10 minutes to get the tofu crispy and delicious!