Prik Yad Sai (พริกยัดไส้) - Stuffed Peppers

This dish takes me back to Thailand. Like me, my grandad doesn't really eat spicy food and has a wide range of non spicy dishes in his repertoire. This, or stuffed young bamboo shoots are frequently in rotation. You can't get the right kind of bamboo here, and the peppers that are used in Thailand are larger but this recipe still gives the right nostalgia hit and anything seasoned this way is a winner, see this delicious fried pork recipe for reference.

I tweaked it further, keen to make this vegan friendly I substituted the commonly used pork mince for firm tofu. Then, to add the contrast of the bite you lose from the pork mince I deep fried the peppers in batter rather than dipped in egg and pan fried. The combination of the super crunchy batter with the smokiness of the padron peppers and the soft fragrant filling will make you not even realise that it's vegan!

For the peppers you need:

-Padron peppers (try and find bigger ones, I used 11 peppers)

-Sam kler (สามเกลอ) paste:

-1 large clove of garlic

-1 tbsp chopped coriander roots

-1 ground black pepper

-7 tbsp light soy sauce

-3 tbsp cornstarch

-200 g firm tofu

-1 cup self raising flour, extra for dusting

-1 cup ice cold water

-a pinch of salt

-vegetable oil of deep frying

• Wash and hull the peppers. Try and avoid cutting the pepper open too much. I used a small knife and gently ran the knife around the stalk then tapped out the seeds.

• For the filling, squeeze out as much water from the tofu as possible. I didn't do this enough and you can see the filling is a bit too liquid. Mix in the sam kler paste, light soy sauce and cornstarch until well blended.

• Stuff the peppers with the filling. I used a spoon to gently push it in, but you could probably use a piping bag as well.

• Lightly dust the stuffed peppers with flour to absorb excess water and help the batter stick to the peppers.

• Heat the oil for deep frying.

• Add the ice cold water to the flour and salt and quickly mix, some lumps are OK.

• To check if the oil is hot enough, add a drop of batter to the oil. If bubbles form around the batter drop, it's ready.

• Dip the peppers in the batter and deep fry. They should float to the top of the oil as they cook. Once golden brown, remove and drain.

• Enjoy as part of your meal with rice!