Difficulty: Easy | Prep: 10 min | Cook: 15 min | Total: 25 min | Serves: 2 | Dietary: Gluten-Free, Vegan
Chicken salt in a noodle bowl sounds wrong until you eat one. Chooki's Zest Chicken Salt has enough lemon and herb going on to sit next to miso without the whole thing turning into a salt bomb, and it does something great to tofu on the way through. Twenty five minutes, one frying pan and two pots, and you've got dinner on a cold night.
Tear the tofu into rough 3cm chunks with your hands instead of cutting it. The ragged edges catch more oil and go crunchier than neat cubes. Toss them in a bowl with the cornflour and the tablespoon of Chooki's Zest Chicken Salt until every piece looks dusty. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high and lay the tofu out in a single layer. Fry for about 8 minutes, turning every couple of minutes, until the edges are deep golden. Crowd the pan and it steams instead of crisping, so do two batches if you need to.
While the tofu is going, cook the rice noodles in a separate pot to the packet time, usually 4 to 5 minutes. Drain them and run cold water over them for a few seconds so they stop cooking and don't glue themselves together. Split between two deep bowls.
Bring the water to a simmer in a saucepan. Drop the broccolini in for 2 minutes, until it goes bright green but still has some snap, then lift it out with tongs. Pull the pot off the heat. Ladle a bit of the hot water into a mug, whisk the miso into it until there are no lumps, then stir that back through the pot. Keep it off the boil from here, boiling flattens miso out. Taste it and add a pinch of Zest salt if it needs lifting.
Pour the broth over the noodles, sit the broccolini on top, then pile the crispy tofu on last. Scatter the spring onion over and squeeze a lemon wedge into each bowl.
Tip: Keep the tofu on a plate until the bowls are actually on the table. Five minutes sitting in hot broth while you hunt for chopsticks and it goes soft, and the crunch is the whole point.
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