Bhuna Tofu with Masala Keema

Bhuna Tofu with Masala Keema

Who says the Tofu has to be cooked with Chinese ingredients? I present you Bhuna Tofu with Masala Keema. Yes, it is an odd combination as Tofu is not very Indian. But when I made Mapo Paneer and it turned out well, I figured that I got to try a similar recipe but with Indian flavors. It will be another fusion dish.

At home we always have keema. We buy the big Costco package of ground beef every other week. Hubby likes the one-dish lunches with keema and I make many variations of that. And I had gone shopping at Lucky Seafood few weeks back and had got a box of tofu too. Baba was getting restless that the tofu was going bad (though the expiry date was Jan 25th). Last night I really did not have plans to cook the tofu, but  the keema was thawed and ready in the fridge. So I thought I will churn up something quick.

Ingredients
2 lbs extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 lb ground beef (keema)
1/2 large red onion, minced
1/2 garlic head, minced
1/2 inch garlic, minced
Shan Lahori Fish spice mix, 1 Tbsp
Salt

Preparation

1. Heat a pan, add the ground beef. Let is get cooked and release it's fat. Note that I did not add any oil at all. I wanted the fat from the beef to be used to cook the dish.
2. When the beef is almost done, with the fat released, add the minced onions, ginger, and garlic. Saute well for the flavors to mingle and onions to soften.
3. Add the the spice mix. Yes, I cheated. I could have created a mix from scratch, but I used an off the shelf spice mix. Why Lahori Fish spice? No special reason except that the mix has a good amount of whole spices and is not finely ground. Also, it has a bit of flour in it that lends a 'stickiness' to the meat and makes it glisten. But you can use any spice mix you want, really. Be creative!
4. Once the beef masala is done to your satisfaction, add in the tofu pieces. Note that tofu does not get fired like paneer, it is soft and just gets tossed around in the mix to absorb some of the flavor. If you are using extra-firm tofu, it will not break. But do be careful and not mix the dish violently!

As you can see, this is a super easy dish, gets done in 15 minutes or less. Goes great on a bed of white rice. I however had it with come couscous last night!