Dippers, curry and coffee caramel: Yotam Ottolenghi’s tofu recipes

Tofu's versatility is unbound: use the firm stuff in beer-battered dippers or fry and douse in a spicy sambal, while the silken variety is as good in an egg-free aioli as it is in coffee-caramel coconut flan

Tofu is often praised for its versatility and ability to take on other flavours. That might sound like I'm damning it with faint praise, but far from it - I find the difference in texture between firm and silken tofu, for example, just a little bit wondrous. Firm tofu, for which soybean milk is curdled and pressed of all its moisture, retains its shape when cooked, making it ideal for stir-fries, barbecues, skewers and so forth. With silken tofu, on the other hand, the soy milk isn't curdled or pressed, so it retains all its moisture, and crumbles and collapses easily into dressings, sauces, desserts and so on. So, today, three recipes to showcase how being sponge-like and versatile is, in fact, high praise indeed.