Food for gay men: Aubergines with tofu
Vegan deliciousness with Sichuan spice.
If you need a vegan dish with plenty of flavour - this is spicy and delicious.
The key ingredient here is Sichuan chilli bean paste, which is called doubanjiang. This paste is made from fermented broad beans, chillies, and wheat - it delivers lots of umami flavour with only a mellow chilli heat.
If you can't find doubanjiang, there's a range of alternative chilli pastes that you could substitute - whether it's a black bean chilli paste or a peanut chilli paste, go with what you can get your hands on.
Ingredients
- 3-4 aubergines
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- A pack of extra-firm tofu - about 300-400 grams
- A knob of fresh giner
- 4 garlic cloves
- A bunch of spring onions
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 4 tbsp Sichuan chilli bean paste
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tbsp dark brown sugar
Method
- You'll be serving this with rice, so fire up your rice cooker and get that underway.
- Next job is the aubergines. You'll need your oven hot (200-220 degrees). Cut the aubergines into chunky fingers - probably easiest if cut each aubergine lengthways into eighths. Spread the aubergines onto a baking tray (you may need two trays). Roast them for about 20 minutes, turning about half way through. You need them well-cooked without them dissolving into mush.
- While the aubergines are in the oven, make the sauce. Combine the cornflour, chilli paste, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar with about 300ml of water.
- Next job is the aromatics. Finely chop the spring onions, garlic, and ginger.
- Get your tofu ready by draining it and chopping into small cubes.
- Now, you can start to build the dish. In a big saucepan or extra large frying pan, fry the aromatics in some oil, add in the tofu so that you're tossing it through the aromatics. Add the aubergines and the sauce and stir gently to combine over a low heat until the sauce has thickened and is simmering nicely.
- Serve it up!
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