Crispy baked za’atar tofu and cauliflower, gently spiced and full of flavour. Drizzle with a creamy vegan tzatziki sauce for a quick and easy weeknight meal!

As a spice wimp I’m often a little nervous about eating something with exotic sounding names.  And I don’t know about you but the word za’atar conjours up images of bedouin tents, hookahs, genies in lamps, dusky maidens with dark almond shaped eyes and a souk with piles of exotic spices!

However the beauty of cooking your own food means you can spice it however the flip you like!

What is za’atar?

Typically it’s a Middle Eastern condiment made with a base of aromatic herbs – thyme, marjoram and oregano.  Sometimes one herb is used, other times it’s a blend of all three and often depends on the region in which it’s prepared.  It also contains sesame seeds, salt and other spices such as cumin and sumac.

As I don’t like the feeling of my mouth on fire I opted for smoked paprika instead of sumac – it has such a wonderful flavour without overpowering everything.

How to prepare tofu

You want to get as much of the water out of the tofu as possible – this is what makes it crispy as it bakes.  I don’t use a tofu press, I find just draining it from the packet then leaving it between a few sheets of kitchen paper for around half an hour perfectly adequate.  I cut the cubes fairly small as this also helps get it nice and crispy.  If you’re still a little unsure about tofu I’ve written a full how to cook tofu guide here.

I often talk about the smell of things while they’re cooking.  Or the fact that I often eat what I’m trying to photograph before I’ve actually got the camera out and struggle to have enough left to take a decent photo.  So I had to exert ALL my willpower NOT to eat this before taking a photo and tucking in with sticky fingers and sighs of satisfaction.  Because, dear reader, I want you to make this.  Join me on my mildly spiced journey to crispy tofu and caulilfower.  Oh baked cauliflower.  Almost as much my kryptonite as freshly fried donuts.

This za’atar tofu and cauliflower are also ridiculously easy to make – just two bowls and one tray needed. One bowl to coat the tofu and cauliflower in the herbs and spices.  The other bowl to make that rich, cool and creamy tzatziki sauce while the oven works its magic and crisps up the tofu and cauliflower to spiced perfection.

And this really does taste as good as it looks.  It has so much flavour and I wanted to get that across in the photos.  Rather than have 2 sad looking bits of tofu and cauliflower left on the tray.  Yep, that’s happened.  Same problem with warm cookies 😉

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