Maple glazed tofu with balsamic red cabbage and cranberries

by Phil Leicester
on November 26th, 2023

Maple glazed tofu with balsamic red cabbage and cranberries

Ingredients

  • MAPLE GLAZED TOFU
  • 800g Extra firm tofu
  • 3tsp Sweet smoked paprika
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tbsp Tahini
  • 5 tbsp soy sauce
  • Glaze:
  • 50g vegan butter
  • 6 tbsp maple syrup
  • 4tsp Dijon Mustard
  • RED CABBAGE
  • 3tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 medium red cabbage, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
  • 200ml vegetable stock
  • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 100g brown sugar
  • 200g fresh or frozen cranberry

METHOD

  1. Press tofu to drain excess moisture: line a baking tray with kitchen paper and place tofu on top. Cover with kitchen paper, then top with a plate or baking tray, weighted with some tins. Leave to drain for 30min, then pat dry.
  2. In a small bowl mix the paprika, garlic, tahini and soy sauce. Score a diamond pattern into the top of the tofu, cutting 5mm deep and spacing the cuts 2cm apart. Put the tofu into a small dish and pour over the soy mixture, turning the tofu carefully and rubbing to coat. Cover and chill for at least 1hr, ideally overnight, to marinate.
  3. To serve, preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Line a small roasting tin (one that will fit the tofu snugly) with baking parchment and place the tofu into it. Spoon over any excess marinade.
  4. Roast for 45min, until deep brown. Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a small pan heat and whisk the glaze ingredients with a pinch of salt until melted and combined.  Pour over the glaze and return to the oven for 10-12 minutes, basting halfway through until glaze is bubbling and sticky.
  5. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and fry, stirring every now and then, for about 10 mins, until they start to caramelise. Stir in the cloves, then add the cabbage and continue cooking, stirring more frequently this time, until the cabbage starts to soften.
  6. Pour in the stock, vinegar and sugar. Cover and cook for 10minutes.
  7. Stir in the cranberries and cook for 10 mins more
Phil Leicester Head of Culinary Sales and Retention

One of my earliest food memories is when my mum used to bake with me and my brother most weekends, we used to fight over who would scrape the bowl out with the leftovers, normally he won as he is older than me so he pulled rank.

I feel there are 2 food trends for me. The first one is pasta, I think there are some good pasta orientated restaurants opening up such as Bancone. The other trend at the moment is choux pastry along with bakeries bringing back classics such as, the Paris brest.

One of my favourite places to eat, at the moment, is local to where I live, which is a place called Garrards. It does fully loaded burgers, chips, streaks and ribs. It’s one my children love to go to, as it’s very relaxed and they do really cool ice cream soda floats, in my opinion the cocktails are better!

One of my most memorable meals is when I was on my honeymoon in Hong Kong and, as you do, when you go on holiday, we asked the concierge at the hotel where we can get an authentic dining experience one evening. He made the booking for us and gave us directions to the restaurant which was situated in a shopping complex, which was getting refurbished, so once we navigated the bamboo scaffolding and the rest of the building site. We got to the restaurant and our dining experience, of a 9-course tasting menu, started with the first course being a pig’s head soup, I will let you imagine the other 8 courses, but put it this way, it wasn’t our conventional Cantonese cuisine, not a chicken ball in sight!

My ideal dinner guests would be David Jason, as he is a comic genius, Vinnie Jones, just to hear about his life experiences about his football career and his now movie career, and finally my wife as I would need someone to tidy up at the end of the meal for me…

My cookbook inspiration at the moment is the DJ BBQ Fire food written by Christian Stevenson. This is at the moment my go to book, as it’s BBQ season. I also like The Pie Room by Callum Franklin because, lets face it, who doesn’t like any form of pastry! If I have friends coming over I have a flick through a series of books by Thug Kitchen in LA.  I like this book as, coming from a working kitchen, the recipes are written how we talk in the kitchen, with the expletives included.

The main three items I have in the fridge are: mature cheddar cheese, charcuterie and Branston Pickle.

More from Phil Leicester
View more recipes