Warm-Spiced Tofu and Carrot Skillet with Kale and Toasted Almonds
Crumbled tofu and coin-cut carrots cooked down with cumin, cinnamon, and paprika, sweetened with chopped dates and finished with kale, lemon, mint, and toasted almonds.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
I started making this on cold mornings when I wanted the warm spices of a tagine without waiting three hours for one. Everything happens in a wide skillet in about forty five minutes, and the spice mix does most of the work: cumin, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, and a little cayenne, which together taste far more elaborate than five jars ought to. Carrots are the vegetable I reach for because they hold their shape and turn candy-sweet where they touch the pan, and three chopped dates scattered through are the small extravagance that ties the sweetness together. It feeds four with real appetites.
The carrots need a head start and everything else follows behind them. Cut into thin coins on an angle they have more cut surface, which is what lets them caramelize rather than just soften, and eight minutes over medium heat gets them there. Onion joins them, then the garlic, ginger, and the dry spices go in with the fat for a minute so the powders can open up. The crumbled tofu goes in and takes on all of that color, the dates melt into the pan and go sticky, and the kale wilts in for the final three minutes. Lemon and the herbs go in with the burner off.
The result is sweet and savory at once, warm rather than hot, and full of contrasts: soft tofu, sticky dates, carrots with a bit of resistance left, kale with a chew, and almonds that stay crunchy because they were toasted in a separate dry pan. That last detail is not optional in my kitchen, since almonds thrown in with everything else go soft and taste of nothing. It reheats well through the week, it makes a good lunch at room temperature, and it is the pan I bring out when somebody says they do not know what to do with tofu.
Ingredients
- 21 oz firm tofu, drained, pressed 20 minutes, and crumbled into rough pieces
- 4 medium carrots (about 10 oz), sliced into 1/4-inch coins on a slight angle
- 1 bunch curly kale (about 7 oz), stems removed and leaves torn
- 1 medium red onion, halved and sliced thin
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 3 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped small
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tbsp), plus wedges to serve
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup mint leaves, torn
- 3/8 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Toast the almonds: Put the sliced almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat and cook three to four minutes, shaking the pan often, until they are golden brown in patches and smell nutty. Tip them onto a plate right away, since they carry on browning in a hot pan. Set them aside for the very end.
- Press and crumble the tofu: Press the drained tofu between folded towels under a weight for 20 minutes, then crumble it by hand into rough pieces, some the size of a pea and some larger. Uneven pieces take up the spice better and give you something to chew.
- Caramelize the carrots: Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium. Add the carrot coins in as close to one layer as you can manage with a pinch of the salt, and cook eight to nine minutes, stirring only every few minutes, until the cut faces are browned in patches and a coin bends without snapping.
- Soften the onion and bloom the spices: Add the sliced onion and cook four minutes until it goes limp. Stir in the garlic and ginger for one minute, then add the cumin, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, and cayenne and stir constantly for 45 seconds. The oil will turn deep orange and the pan will smell sweet and warm rather than dusty.
- Add the tofu and dates: Add the crumbled tofu, the chopped dates, and the rest of the salt, and stir until every piece has taken on color. Cook five to six minutes, stirring occasionally and pressing the tofu against the pan now and then, until the crumbles have dried slightly and the dates have gone soft and sticky.
- Wilt the kale and finish: Add the torn kale in two handfuls, stirring each down before the next, and cook three minutes until deep green and tender with a little chew left. Take the pan off the heat, squeeze in the lemon, and stir. Scatter the cilantro, mint, and toasted almonds over the top and serve with lemon wedges.
Variations
- Chickpea: Add a drained can of chickpeas with the tofu for a heavier pan with more to chew on.
- Preserved lemon and olive: Stir in chopped preserved lemon rind and a handful of green olives at the end for a sharper, saltier finish.
- Tempeh: Swap half the tofu for crumbled tempeh, which browns firmer and holds its shape against the soft carrots.
- Harissa: Stir a tablespoon of harissa paste in with the spices for a version with real chile heat behind the cinnamon.
- Pistachio and pomegranate: Finish with toasted pistachios and pomegranate seeds instead of almonds for a brighter, more festive plate.
Storage & Leftovers
Sealed in the refrigerator this keeps four days. The spices settle into the tofu overnight and the dates keep sweetening the pan around them, so day two tastes rounder and less like separate ingredients. Store the toasted almonds in a jar at room temperature and add them at serving, since they go soft the moment they sit in anything moist.
Reheat it in a dry skillet over medium-high for three or four minutes, spread flat and left undisturbed for the first two so the carrots and tofu pick up a little color again. Add a squeeze of lemon and fresh herbs after reheating. A microwave works in two minutes but everything softens and the carrots lose their edge.
It freezes for up to three months in flat sealed portions. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in a hot dry pan rather than from frozen, so the water the tofu releases has a chance to cook off. The carrots come back a little softer than they started, so I add extra lemon, herbs, and almonds to compensate.
Notes & Tips
- Toast the almonds separately: Almonds added to the skillet with everything else steam rather than toast. Three minutes in a dry pan and a plate to cool on is the whole difference.
- Cut the carrots on an angle: An angled coin has more surface than a straight one, which means more browning and more of the sweetness that comes with it.
- Give the carrots their eight minutes: They are the slowest thing in the pan and everything after them cooks fast. Rushing this step leaves you with raw carrot in a finished dish.
- Chop the dates small: Large pieces stay as sweet lumps. Chopped to the size of a pea they melt into the pan and sweeten the whole thing evenly.
- Spices need fat, not water: Forty five seconds in the oil after the aromatics is the window. Any earlier and they scorch, any later and they never open up.
- Herbs and lemon go on last: Both fade fast over heat. Burner off, then lemon, then a generous handful of cilantro and mint that still look raw.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Tofu, carrots, kale, and almonds give you four textures in one pan and they cover a lot of ground between them. The tofu is the substance and carries the protein and calcium, the carrots bring sweetness and color, the kale adds a dark green chew, and the almonds land crunchy on top of all of it.
- Firm tofu takes on color and spice better than almost anything, and the calcium salts used to set the curds are where the calcium in a block of it comes from, which is why a crumble this size eats like a full plate.
- Carrots cooked until their cut faces brown turn sweeter than they are raw, and the beta-carotene that gives them their color is fat-soluble, so the olive oil in the pan helps you take it up.
- Almonds toasted in a dry pan go from waxy to nutty in three minutes, and they bring calcium and vitamin E along with the crunch that keeps a soft skillet from being soft the whole way through.
- Cumin, paprika, cinnamon, and turmeric bloomed in oil are the reason this tastes like it cooked for hours. Cinnamon in a savory pan reads as warmth rather than sweetness, and the lemon and torn mint at the end keep all that warmth from sitting heavy.
- As you eat, look for the sticky bits of date and the browned faces of the carrot coins, listen for the almonds against everything soft underneath them, and let the plate hold your attention until you notice you have had enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I leave out the dates?
You can, and the pan is still good, just more savory and straightforward. The dates are there for pockets of sweetness that play against the cumin and the lemon rather than for overall sweetness. If you skip them, add a handful of golden raisins or a quarter of a diced apple with the tofu, or simply let the caramelized carrots do it alone.
What else can I use in place of carrots?
Diced butternut squash, parsnip, or sweet potato all behave the same way and want the same eight to nine minutes. Parsnip is the most interesting of the three here because its sweetness has a slight peppery edge that suits the warm spices. Cut whatever you use no thicker than a quarter inch.
My spices tasted dusty. What went wrong?
They did not get their time in the fat. Ground spices need about 45 seconds in hot oil to release what they have, and thrown in with liquid or added at the end they stay powdery on the tongue. The other possibility is age, since ground spices go flat within a year of opening.
Can I make this the night before?
Yes, and it is a good one to do that with. Cook the whole skillet, hold the herbs and almonds back, and refrigerate. In the morning it reheats in four minutes in a dry pan, and adding the lemon, cilantro, mint, and almonds fresh makes it taste like it was cooked that hour rather than the night before.