Friday, November 30, 2007

Delicious Home-Cooked Tofu. Really.

I like tofu, but I don't tend to cook it at home a lot because I've never found a way to get it as tasty as the restaurants do. Until now.

I could eat these like potato chips. And did, last night, as I was cooking, and spoiled my appetite. But I'm not sure it counts as appetite-spoiling if it's tofu.

1 block extra-firm tofu, drained, lightly pressed, and patted dry
3 tablespoons cornstarch
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons oil

Cube the tofu. Mix the cornstarch with salt and pepper to taste, and then dredge the tofu in it. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan, and fry the tofu until golden brown on all sides. Make sure to leave space around the tofu cubes, so they can brown, and so they don't stick together too much. You may have to fry in two batches.

The tofu, once done, is crispy on the outside and soft and lovely on the inside. Add whatever sauce you like, a few vegetables and some rice, and dinner's done.

**Update, a week and a half later**

We've made this two more times since then, and made a few discoveries:
1) Making two-bite-sized pieces instead of bite-sized pieces makes dredging and flipping easier.
2) Leftovers are really good right out of the fridge. The tofu gets kind of dense and chewy. Mmm.
3) This works pretty well in the oven: 400°, twenty minutes, flip once. If you use spray oil, they end up much less greasy and only a little less tasty and crispy. Still good, and leaves less mess than frying.

1 comment:

Nev said...

I made it, and I can attest that it is very, very tasty. I even ate it all standing up while the rest of dinner was cooking. That's part of the recipe, right?