Salt & Pepper Tofu with Lemon Soy Dipping Sauce

I'm always up for trying a new dish, but there's just too much to be done around the house on my days off, so finding the headspace to be inspired can be a challenge. I came across this when I was searching for a dish to complement the Thai Chicken Risotto for dinner with friends. I bought ingredients that day, but didn't get round to it (making dessert just seemed more of a priority!).

I hardly use silken tofu, so it was a bit of a learning curve for me. They're very delicate, so take care when you roll them through the seasoned flour. I'm also very fortunate to have a deep fryer (which I inherited from my yoga teacher, but that's another story), so it was a relatively easy summer dinner to put together. Just remember to have everything ready so you don't have early batches going soggy by the time you serve everything!

4 tablespoons plain flour
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
500g silken tofu
600ml light flavoured oil, for frying
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 red chilli, sliced
lemon soy dipping sauce (see recipe below)
small handful coriander leaves

Season the flour generously with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and the five spice powder. Cut the moist tofu into thick fingers and roll in the seasoned flour to coat.

Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat until hot. Drop the tofu into the oil and fry for 3-4 minutes, tossing regularly, until golden all over. Remove and drain on paper towel. Fry the spring onion and chilli for 2-3 minutes or until starting to turn golden. Remove and drain on paper towel.

Serve the tofu with the dipping sauce and dress with the coriander leaves and spring onion and chiili. Serves 4.

LEMON SOY DIPPING SAUCE
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons light soy sauce

Put the lime and lemon juices and the mirin in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Stir in the soy sauce.