How do you bake or deep fry tofu?!
How do you bake or deep fry tofu?
I found that when I fry my tofu, it comes out a bit soggy so it would be nice to know some other ways to cook it. At thai restaurants, their tofu tastes 1000x better so maybe they deep fry it?
Do you know at what temp and for how long you bake/deep fry it?
Any good and easy marinades?
Thanks!
Answers:
I felt like you for a long time, I could never get my tofu I prepared at home to even compare to what I would order in restraunts. I tried a few ways to make it, even pressing the extra moisture out like Ringoaga suggested. Doing that did help it out quite a bit, but there was still something to the texture that I just did not like.
The best thing I've found to do is freezing the tofu before cooking it. This is best to do with firm or extra firm types. The tofu gets a much chewier, sponge like texture. It will take on a yellowish hue when frozen, this is fine. It looks white again when thawed.
Just drain off the water (no need to press first) and freeze. I tend to cut my into quarters first, then I can take out whatever portion size I need when I'm ready to cook it. Thaw in the fridge over night, or you can defrost in the microwave, just be sure you don't over defrost. Once it's thawed you can squeeze out the leftover mositure or marinade it if you wish and then crumble the tofu or cut up and cook in a pan.
There's about a million tofu recipes that I love that are asian inspired, but if you want to try something more along the line of "comfort food" you can do this.
Once the tofu is thawed make a really simple marinade of Vegetable Stock, Minced Garlic, dried Basil, (or any other favorite herb) a pinch of Kosher Salt, and some Tabasco if you like. Let it marinade for about an hour then press the marinade out. (save the marinade and don't press too hard or it will crumble) Then slice it about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Heat a little olive oil in a pan (use non stick, so you don't need too much oil) then cook the tofu over medium heat until well browned on both sides. Once browned add a little of the leftover marinade to the pan and let it reduce down for a minute or so. Then enjoy!
This is my favorite way to make tofu at home and is really easy to change the flavor by using mushroom stock, "no- chicken" broth, or different herbs.
I also found a great little link on how to prepare tofu, I just watched it and it gave me a few new ideas!
http://video.about.com/vegetarian/tofu.h...
Hope this helps!
sear it first then deep fry it!!!
You need to take some of the water out of it before it will fry properly (deep fry or stir fry).
Put the tofu brick on a plate. Put another plate on top of the brick. Put a weight (a soup can is good, or a cookbook) on top of the second plate.
After about half an hour you'll have a plate full of water and some nice dry tofu. Slice and fry (you'll need more oil than you think).
I actually slice it about 1/4 inch thick, and do a low heat shallow fry in some toasted sesame oil, and sprinkle soy sauce on the top side as its frying. Yummy.