Tuesday, August 29, 2006

August 20, 2006: Tofu can be tasty!

Tofu's naturally pretty bland and it's not often that I get excited about it. We once went to a get-together where there was some fine barbequed tofu marinated in a tomato-based mix, and tempura-battered silken tofu can be fantastic. (Maybe that's just the deep-fried bit, though.) Tonight we randomly developed a delicious tofu recipe of our own. It isn't deep-fried, but it appeals for the same reason.

1. Gently drain a 500g block of tofu and slice it into large bite-size pieces. I prefer the smooth, slightly jelly-ish texture to the super-firm crumbly for this kind of thing.

2. Marinate the tofu in soy sauce, a bit of rice wine, a squeeze of lemon juice and some ground black pepper, for about half an hour. Turn the tofu pieces occasionally to evenly coat.

3. Let the excess liquid drip off each piece and dust them with flour.

4. Fry ‘em in sesame oil. Turn them over once or twice, gently.

Eat up! We had these with fresh salad:


I reckon they might make a reasonable fish substitute, served with lemon wedges, chips and salad. A bit of ginger in the marinade could inspire an Asian-style meal.

This unexpected success was followed by a mystifying failure. I’ve been muddling my way through fruit crumble without a recipe for a while, producing a variety of tastes and textures, all quite enjoyable. I was sure this crumble mix would be a winner (I tasted more of the uncooked mix than strictly necessary) yet after 10 minutes in the oven I had completely blackened the top and converted our fancy electric oven into a pungent smoke machine. If anyone has any particular advice regarding the use of fan-forced ovens, please send it this way.

2 comments:

  1. Nadiah is a fan of pre-marinated tofu (available from Woolies, IGA, etc). It's ready to eat straight from the pack so it makes for a good meal with steamed veges (broccoli + carrots) and rice.

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  2. We bought that a few times for stir-fries and then I discovered this other faux-chicken stuff in an Asian supermarket and got obsessed with it. Thanks for the reminder, I should really go back to the marinated tofu again! [I'll still probably be ordering tempura frequently for my deep-fry urges, steamed veges and rice really does sound too healthy. :) ]

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