Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mongolian Tofu




I had a hankering for some delicious asian infused food tonight. I had purchased tofu from the grocery store a couple days ago thinking I'd be ambitious and try to make it at home once again. This time, I'm proud to say, it was a huge success. My husband even tried it, with very little bribing and he actually liked it.

I heard from my mother, (who heard from her yoga group) that the secret to making delicious tofu at home, is to first dry it out in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 so it is very dry. Previously, I had always been drying it out with paper towels and that was never very successful for me because I'm too impatient and try to get started before it's completely dry. After that, you can pan fry it, boil it, simmer it in your favorite sauce, or whatever else your heart desires. So, the recipe starts after I had already baked my tofu and let it cool down.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 package extra firm tofu (cut into small squares and dried in the oven)
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger (I always use more than required)
2-3 cloves of chopped garlic (again, I always use more)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium tastes better I think)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to taste, I always use more)
1 cup broccoli or favorite vegetables
Sesame seeds (optional)
1 cup cooked rice or quinoa

Prepare the tofu:
Make sure tofu is cooled and very dry. Coat it in the corn starch in bowl. Set aside.

Sauce:
Heat half of your oil in a large pan, saute your ginger and garlic over medium heat. Then add your water, soy sauce, brown sugar and pepper flakes. Let it simmer on low for a few minutes, pour into a bowl and set aside.

Cooking/Assembling:
Heat the rest of the oil, add your coated pieces of corn starch and cook over medium to medium high. Flip once golden brown, so it's nice and toasty. Once both sides are nice and golden, add the sauce from the bowl. It will thicken up a bit with the cornstarch from the tofu. Then add your vegetables and serve over rice.

This is really quite delicious, even for your carnivorous friends!