The easy, vegan, and spicy Thai Basil Tofu is a prevalent Thai takeout dish. It only needs a couple of ingredients from our pantry and fridge. This dish pairs well with soft and fluffy jasmine rice and takes only 20 minutes of your busy time.
Many of us want to serve our family and ourselves a delicious, nutritious meal every day, even with our busy schedules. I know how difficult that is, so I will share a recipe that ticks all the boxes.
It is easy.
Super delicious.
Comes together in around 20 minutes.
Protein-packed and healthy.
Budget-friendly. Dinner for 4 comes under 10 dollars.
It's kid-approved and super filling.
Beginner cook-friendly.
So next time when you're super tempted to order takeout, stop yourself there and make this for dinner or a quick lunch.
This wonderfully satisfying vegan meal will leave you craving more.
As a family, we love going to Thai restaurants. My younger one loves and relishes Thai cuisine the most. Since we are vegetarians/vegans, we love to order all the dishes with a vegan substitute like tofu.
Pad Krapow is one of our favorites. Traditionally, this dish is prepared with meat, but tofu is the vegan substitute. To give tofu a more authentic look, sometimes crumbled tofu is used. However, I prefer to use small diced pieces of tofu. Texture-wise, I like that better.
What type of tofu is used?
In my opinion, extra firm tofu is the best for making stir fry recipes. They hold their shape better and get crispy nicely.
Removing the water content from the tofu is equally important as pressing it. You can use a tofu press or thick layers of paper towels.
What type of sauce is used?
The traditional pad krapow recipe uses fish sauce; however, since I am making the vegan/vegetarian version, I won't be using that. A mixture of soy sauce, sriracha, and maple syrup gives this stir fry the most perfect umami flavor.
It's spicy and bold with a hint of sweetness. It's delicious.
How to make
After pressing the Tofu for at least 20 minutes, ensure they don't have much water content. Dice them into your desired size or shape.
Coat them with cornstarch mixed with salt and pepper. Depending on your choice, air fry the tofu, deep fry it, or shallow.
I prefer to air fry them to make them healthy; however, depending on my mood, I also deep fry them.
The next step is to make a flavourful sauce with our staple aromatics. All Asian dishes use ginger, garlic, chilies, green onion, and herbs.
I love how using fresh Thai Basil leaves makes this dish a delicious aromatic side with fragrant jasmine rice.
Coat this crispy tofu with the sauce and serve over the rice. I am sure you will love this dish as much as I love it.
You can check my popular Tofu recipes:
You can check some of my most popular Thai recipes here:
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Ingredients
Method
- Press the extra firm tofu. Chop it into your desired shape and size.
- Mix maple syrup, soy sauce, sriracha sauce, and chili flakes together.
- Coat tofu with 2.5 tbsp of corn starch mixed with salt and pepper. Coat them well. Now shake the excess corn starch and deep fry them till golden and crispy.
- Alternatively, you can air fry or bake them.
- Heat a pan or wok. Add oil to it.
- When it's hot add garlic, ginger, and green onion. Saute till they turn golden.
- Add red pepper and stir them once.
- Furthermore, add fresh basil leaves.
- Stir once and then add sauce to it. Add crispy tofu and cook till the sauce looks a little thick and glossy.
- If it looks too thick, you can add 2 tbsp of water. I like mine a little thick.
- Garnish with green onions and serve over jasmine rice!
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Is the red pepper here a bell pepper? Or a small spicy pepper? I can't quite tell! Thank you.
yes ma'am ,thats a bell pepper .Thank you. Apologies for delayed response.