A dish prepared by the Hairy Bikers is on sale at a Norwich cafe this week, after its owners featured on the popular chefs' latest TV show.
The Hairy Bikers Go Local was screened last week, helping the owners of the Barsham Arms track down new suppliers, including tofu from Tofurei.
The business has been operating for seven years, starting with a small cafe in Pottergate where staff served tofu, cakes and coffee by day and made tofu by night.
Lucy Cox, manager of tofu production, said: “We couldn’t keep up with demand so we moved the production to Lenwade where we were lucky enough to have a Taiwanese tofu master come over to teach us how to make it.
“Our cafe has now moved to bigger premises in St Gregorys Alley and we stock the shop and sell wholesale from our production unit.”
As part of the BBC show Dave Myers and Si King travelled to the production unit to learn about tofu and how tasty it could be.
Lucy continued: “It was amazing having them here.
“They are every bit as friendly as they come across on screen, off camera they were laughing with us and showed a genuine interest in our products.”
Lucy was hopeful that the Hairy Bikers visit would help to change people's opinion of tofu as she feels it unfairly gets a bad name.
She believed Tofurei’s tofu is a cut above the rest “It’s handmade and it's fresh.”
She added: “It was great to showcase for them how skilled we were.
“When they tried the soysage rolls, pasties and cheesecake the look on their face was utter shock at how good it tasted.”
And since appearing on the show, business has been booming.
Lucy recommends that people in the city who want to grab something fast pick up a soysage roll.
She added: “They will be surprised how good they taste.
“But my favourite way to enjoy tofu is cubed, tossed in cornflour and then flash fried – it quite literally goes with everything, and proves that it doesn’t always have to be used in Asian flavours.”
The Hairy Bikers took the tofu and created a dish that staff at Tofurei will be offering this week for people who wish to try it.
What did the Hairy Bikers do with Tofurei’s tofu?
The celebrity chefs decided to make sweet and sticky tofu, with Dave explaining: “I’m going to go big on the flavours because I know the tofu can take it.”
The recipe starts with cornflour and then to that, they add 120ml of water.
In a pan goes oil, ginger and garlic – once it releases flavour, they add chilli flakes and siracha sauce – though they explain you don’t need both.
They then remove from the heat, add sugar, soy sauce, tomato puree and rice vinegar.
To that they add the water and cornflour mixture and bring it to the boil, and cook until thickened.
The tofu batter is six tablespoons of cornflour, soy sauce and two tablespoons of oil – all mixed together and that’s the batter done.
Tofu is cubed and mixed into the batter, then fried for three minutes on each side, with the sauce added and topped with sesame and spring onions.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here