Chilli Con Tofu

A very simple, but not very picturesque meal that The VegHead and SheWhoMustBeFed enjoy very much is a Mexican "Chilli Con Tofu". Its best served with some plain (brown) rice, and perhaps some soy yoghurt.

And so it was last week, and in doing so The VegHead allowed a little whimsical spontaneity to enter the kitchen. Thus leading to the simple arrangementt of avocado slices on a flat glass plate to create a bowl, which served to hold the yoghurt. Meanwhile some black olives were skewered with tooth picks - half a dozen to a stick. One for The VegHead and one for SheWhoMustBeFed. The toothpick sticks stopped the olives escaping. Olives generally sit fairly passively in a bowl awaiting their fate, but the flat nature of the serving plate on this occasion gave them adventurous ideas of rolling away. A stick through their gizzards soon put an end to their plans!

And seeing as the chilli is very good to eat, but quite boring to take a picture of, we have a picture of the side dish instead.

For the Chilli Con Tofu you will need:

• 1 cup of cooked kidney beans
• 1 block of soft/medium tofu (meaning a medium grade, but hopefully on the softish side)
  
• 1 medium tomato - chopped
  
• 1 small onion - chopped
  
• 1 green capsicum (a.k.a "green pepper" if you're from Disneyland) - chopped
  
• 2 cloves of garlic - crushed
• 1 fresh chilli (or more or less to taste, or substitute equivalent chilli powder)
  
• A large blob of tomato paste
• A large blob of dark miso (or a vegetable stock cube)
• A small blob of peanut butter
• 1 generously heaped tablespoon of cumin powder (yes TABLEspoon)
  
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• olive oil
• water
  

To make:

• Sauté the onion, garlic, chilli and powdered spices in a generous pour of olive oil
• Add the beans. Crumble the tofu in - don't cube the tofu, mash it which will allow it to soak up more of the flavours. I don't want to find you using some masher implement here, I want to see you connecting with your food and using your hands. Squeeeeeeze it through your fingers! Stir it all together until the tofu and beans have been thoroughly coated with the spices.
  
• Add all the remaining ingredients, together with a cup or more of water. It often helps if you pre-dissolve the miso, tomato paste and peanut butter in some boiled water.
• Simmer for 20 minutes.
  
• If it doesn't taste "mexicanny" enough - dump in more cumin.