Tofu Pinakbet

If you feel like eating a meat free pinakbet then this is the best version for you!
Tofu Pinakbet is a variety of the Filipino vegetable dish, but instead of the usual proteins used on the dish fried tofu squares are used.

Yes! Tofu works really well with pinakbet, similar how tofu works wonders with chopseuy, both are mixed vegetable dishes where meat is used as a “sahog” but tofu is one great alternative. This is actually the first time I used tofu on this dish as I usually tend to use proteins like prawns, pork jowl, chicharon and sometimes leftover fried fish, it just so happens that I ran out of these proteins but have some left-over tofu on my fridge. To make it work the tofu needs to be deep fried first so its creates this tough outer shell to protect the insides, so when it cooks with the vegetables it won’t disintegrate or break into many small pieces.

Tofu is an excellent ingredient as it absorbs flavour, while this pinakbet does not have any essence of meat, tropical vegetables are really tasty, add to that the fermented fish sauce we are using, it’s a dish that won’t lack flavour in any manner. Recipe is almost similar to the usual pinakbet so this dish is not really complicated, if you know how to cook pinakbet and if you have your own recipe, then just replace your meat with fried tofu. If you don’t know what a pinakbet is, then just follow the recipe below.