“Small, crispy salad packages with filling noodles, crispy tofu and the mild flavour of Chinese hoisin sauce. Often, the quality of the sauce varies, which makes life a little complicated. The sauce you can buy in Asian stores tastes good but is quite thick. Hoisin sauces from supermarkets have a good consistency but often need to be seasoned with sugar, lime juice and soy sauce. Try a few different brands until you find your favourite. If you can’t find five spice, you can skip this or make your own.” – Ylva Bergqvist.
SERVES 4
Ingredients
100g glass noodles
2 pots of coriander leaves
100g salted peanuts, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
150g sugar snap peas, shredded
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 romaine lettuce, to serve
hoisin and sriracha, to serve
For the crispy tofu:
400g firm tofu
4 tbsp cornflour
½ tsp salt
rapeseed oil, for deep-frying
1 tsp five spice
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
Method
Cook the noodles following the instructions on the pack. Rinse in cold water.
Chop the coriander, including the stalks. Save some coriander to garnish. Mix half the nuts with the coriander, carrots, sugar snap peas, the hoisin sauce, the noodles and sesame oil.
Cube the tofu and dry it using kitchen paper so that most of the moisture disappears. Season with salt and coat in cornstarch.
Heat up plenty of oil in a large frying pan and deep fry the tofu in batches, a few minutes per side, until it is crispy. Mix the five spice, black pepper and salt, and sprinkle the mixture on the tofu.
Pull apart the salad leaves and place them on a large plate. Put the noodles in the salad leaves. Top with tofu and the rest of the nuts. Serve with hoisin sauce and sriracha.
30-Minute Vegetarian by Ylva Bergqvist (Hardie Grant, £16.99) Photography © Lennart Weibull
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