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.

Ginger and Chilli Caramel Biscuits

I first baked these biscuits over four years ago, and I've never forgotten how amazing they were! I remember being fascinated by making caramel, and somehow frustrated that biscuits continue to cook after they're out of the oven. I must admit I've never been great at baking biscuits, so it's always something that I've stayed away from. It was only when I started working at a cafe and observing how they've been baked, that I decided to try my hand at baking biscuits at home again. The only downside of this recipe is that 15 biscuits do tend to disappear rather quickly, but until I gain more confidence with biscuits, I'll stick to this number for now. Feels like perfect timing to drizzle the caramel before it hardens anyway!

50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g golden caster sugar
1 egg
50g crystallized ginger, finely chopped
130g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger

Chilli caramel
100g golden caster sugar
a pinch of ground cayenne pepper or hot chilli powder (or more if you like the heat!)

1-2 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

Makes about 15

Preheat oven to 160 deg C (325 deg F) Gas 3.

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, then stir in the crystallized ginger. Mix the flour, baking powder and ground ginger in a separate bowl, then gently fold into the wet ingredients.

Take a generous teaspoon of the dough and place on one of the prepared baking trays. Flatten it slightly, then repeat this process with the remaining dough, spacing the dough balls well apart as they will spread when they are baking.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool while you make the chilli caramel.

To make the chilli caramel, put the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. The sugar can burn quite easily (which can render the caramel bitter), so stir it often and keep a close eye on it. After a few minutes, the sugar should have completely melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the pepper or chilli powder. Be very careful when handling caramel as it can easily burn you. Use it immediately before it starts to harden.

Using a spoon, drizzle the caramel over the biscuits any way you like. The caramel sets extremely quickly. When it has set, remove the biscuits from the tray. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week, but be warned that the caramel can seep into the biscuits in particularly humid conditions.