The recipe
Bring a large, deep pan of water to the boil. Trim 350g of purple sprouting broccoli, removing any very thick stems and leaving any fresh, healthy looking leaves in place. Dip the purple sprouting into the boiling water, leave for 3 or 4 minutes until bright in colour, then remove and set aside.
Peel a thumb-sized knob of ginger then slice thinly. Cut each slice into thin matchstick-sized pieces. Finely slice 2 hot little chillies, the sort that are usually called bird’s eye. Peel and finely chop 3 cloves of garlic.
Heat 3 tbsp of groundnut oil in a frying pan or wok. Add 70g of cashews and fry for a minute or two until golden, then remove with a draining spoon and set aside. Add the ginger and garlic to the hot oil and fry until golden, moving them almost constantly around the pan so they do not burn. Add the sliced chillies and sesame seeds, fry briefly then lower in the drained purple sprouting.
Break the tofu into large lumps and add to the pan, shake in a few teaspoons of soy sauce to taste (only you know how much you like) then add the toasted cashews and serve immediately.
Enough for 2.
The trick
Recipes such as this are all about speed. Garlic and chillies can burn in seconds when added to hot oil. Have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go, so that when the oil is hot enough, everything can be added in swift succession.
The twist
You could use broccoli in place of the purple sprouting, or pieces of cavolo nero. I would sometimes be tempted to add mushrooms to this, in which case I would cut button mushrooms in halves or quarters, then toss them with the ginger and garlic, using a little more oil if necessary.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@NigelSlater