SAMBAL TOFU RICE BOWL

w/ a gochujang sesame cucumber salad

It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut with the same recipes on repeat. A weekly rotation of easy, familiar dishes that don’t take too much mental effort to deliver, but that can leave you feeling a little bored. Believe it or not, I sometimes struggle to come up with new ideas for dinner. I spend my days surrounded by food; tasting, writing and thinking about the next recipe. Sometimes the result of so much exposure to delicious food can leave me stumped as to what to cook next. Nine times out of ten, when I feel this way, my inspiration comes from what my housemate Pier is cooking that week. He is one of the best cooks I know, a born feeder, and someone who has educated me endlessly on South East Asian cuisine and introduced me to new and exciting ingredients to cook with. A few weeks ago he made an incredible Malaysian shrimp sambal dish that still haunts me to this day. I duly interrogated him on what had occurred, how he had effortlessly pulled together one of the best bowls of food I had ever eaten. Pier is one of those rare talented gems that is also deeply humble. He shrugged off the recipe as simply a bit of this and a bit of that, thrown together in the blink of an eye.

I am still convinced this shrimp sambal dish was nothing short of perfection, so I took notes and have attempted to recreate it for you here with tofu. It goes without saying that you can use a protein of your choice, I’m sure it would also do spectacular things to chicken or a good meaty white fish. I’ve added a few elements, the fudgy boiled eggs and gochujang sesame salad were the result of what I had to hand, and pair perfectly with the sticky tofu.

If you’re feeling stuck in a rut with your dinners, hopefully this will be the change of pace you need and an introduction to an ingredient you might not otherwise have known, Sambal Oelek. A quick google shows me that you can find this at most of the major supermarkets, but you might need to pay a visit to your local asian grocery store to find a jar, however you procure it, I promise you won’t regret it. A jar goes a long way and after you have tried this tofu I think you will want to be making it again before too long.

Sending love, Rosie x