A game-changing, flavorful, crispy tofu that comes together with just a few simple ingredients.
Soybean farmers across the United States are struggling in the current political climate. It’s the perfect time to help them by rethinking tofu and working more of this high protein wonderfood into our diets.
Like most Americans, I’ve been doing tofu wrong all these years. A simple trick I only recently learned changed it all for me.
Don’t worry about pressing your tofu. Don’t worry about freezing it. There’s no need to marinate it overnight.
The first and most important step is to boil it in salty water. I use extra firm tofu and cut it into fillets or into cubes, though cubes are easier to handle and less likely to break apart.
Boil the tofu in heavily salted water for just 5 minutes. Drain the pan and marinate the tofu in a 1:1 mixture of double-fermented soy sauce and black vinegar for just a few minutes before dredging it in cornmeal, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder. Fry it in refined coconut oil, bake it, or smoke it on the grill or in a smoker.
If you smoke the tofu, let it sit overnight. The next day, the smoky flavor will be more pronounced.
Whichever option you choose is great. But, if I have time, I like to beer-batter the smoked tofu the next day, roll it in panko bread crumbs, and shallow fry it in a wok.
If you don’t have the time to smoke the tofu or don’t have time to mess with beer batter and panko, you can’t go wrong with the most basic version of this recipe. It’s fast and delicious. It’s good cold in salads all week long. You can always batter and fry the cubes on another night if you have the time. Getting down some simple, repeatable recipes and using them in other recipes is a great way to make meal-planning approachable and fun.
I’m still working on the smoking technique and making the most of the equipment I have, which is just a propane grill and a smoker. So, I’ll talk more about that in a future. As far as battering goes, you can buy Shore Lunch Beer Batter mix and a can of lager. Something got into our flour, so I wasn’t able to use the batter recipe I used in the Twice-fried tofu recipe.
See the base recipe below.
INGREDIENTS
- 14 oz-16 oz block of extra firm tofu
- 1-2 TBSP salt
- 2 TBSP double fermented soy sauce
- 2 TBSP black vinegar
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 2 TBSP nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
DIRECTIONS
- Slice tofu into 1-2 inch cubes
- Boil water, adding approximately 1-2 TBSP salt
- Add tofu to boiling water and boil for 5 minutes
- Drain water and add tofu to a Tupperware container or bag soy sauce and black vinegar.
- Invert the container to ensure that the marinade coats all the tofu cubes
- Mix together the remaining dry ingredients in a medium to large size bowl or bag.
- Toss the tofu cubes in the dry mixture to coat
- Fry in a pan over medium heat until lightly browned, bake in an oven at 400 degrees until browned or smoke in a grill or smoker.
- If smoking the tofu, let it sit overnight before reheating or battering, breading, and frying.
SMOKING TOFU?
Smoking the tofu adds a wonderful complexity that I’ve missed since adopting a vegan diet. I don’t own a smoker, but I’ve tried to turn my propane grill into an oven/smoker. It’s been nice cooking outside in the summer and not heat the house when we’re tying to cool it.
I’ve tried two smoker boxes and have recently ordered a smoker tube that uses pellets. The first cast iron smoker box I purchased kept going out even with high heat in the grill (which is not ideal for smoking). I got a stainless steel smoker box with holes in the bottom and the top. I got a lot of smoke out of that, but I also got a lot of fire that I needed to snuff out. I’ll see what the smoker tube does, but all this will be for another post on smoking various food items. Stay tuned.