No, you're not seeing things. Yes that's tofu and yes: I cooked vegetarian tonight. Before starting school in August, I planned on cooking vegetarian once a week to become more balanced in my (limited) culinary knowledge. I've been failing in epic proportions until tonight but the thing is - I don't really mind eating tofu. I grew up on this stuff. Fried, in jigaes/tangs, raw and pretty much any other way you can serve up tofu in its white, pasty glory.
By itself, tofu is well...kind of bland. If someone tells you tofu tastes like chicken (which I've heard from many students around campus), they're A) lying, B) don't know what they're talking about, C) had chicken instead of tofu or D) need to be medically diagnosed. That being said, tofu's really great at taking on the flavor of the sauce/soup it's in. Did I mention the health benefits? Tofu is low in fat, calories, high in soy protein and has no cholesterol. If you're a guy, just remember not to go overboard and eat your entire ~2400 daily caloric allowance on tofu. Soy products have been shown to produce estrogenic side effects if consumed in extremely large quantities. However, in moderate quantities - it's perfectly safe. True, personal story! Most readers are female anyways...
Fried Tofu in Ginger, Soy, Butter Sauce
Adapted from Our Kitchen
Ingredients:
- 1lb tofu block, firm
- 4 spring onions, finely diced plus more for garnish
- 2 teaspoon grated ginger, fresh
- 3 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- juice of 1 lime
- zest of half a lime
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons sake
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 0.5 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons butter
1) Press the moisture out of the tofu and pat dry. This will ensure a crispy outside layer.
2) Combine the spring onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and pepper in a bowl.
3) Dice the tofu in 3x3cm cubes and marinade for 20 to 30 minutes.
4) In a frying pan, add the teaspoon of sesame oil and 1 teaspoon of butter. Add the tofu pieces and fry on each side until caramelized. Remove the tofu to a separate plate once fried.
5) Add the remaining marinade and shake in the leftover teaspoon of butter. Cook until the spring onions and shallots have cooked through and the sauce has slightly thickened.
6) Serve immediately with sauce spooned over the tofu.
5 comments:
You are right, tofu doesn't have much flavor by itself. But that's what I love about it; it's so easy to give it some flavor... Love all the flavors in your recipe! I'm glad you made a vegetarian meal... ;)
I agree that tofu doesn't taste like chicken, but I love it nevertheless! It really does take on the flavor of other things really well. I've tried tofu in many, many forms, but never with butter. I'll have to try it sometime!
Most readers are females because we are more intellectual. Tee hee!
I HATE tofu, let me just come out of the closet and declare it out loud. But yours look really tasty. Damn it, am I gonna have to eat tofu now?
I still haven't cooked with tofu - must give it a go. Nice recipe Sean.
Andrea - there may be more vegetarian dishes to come in the future. Still not sold on the idea but I figure I need to widen my culinary horizon.
Maria - I think I actually prefer it more with the traditional Korean dressing (soy sauce w/ gochukaru) but the butter did make it slightly more savory
Sophie(a) - as good as it may look, I'm still not sold on it over meats. I really like the taste of Chinese dishes w/ tofu though...(mapotofu = awesome)
Jan - I'm sure you can find a takeaway near you that does mapotofu well! It's a great, Chinese dish
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