If you’re not sure about how to cook tofu, give this recipe a try. These deep-fried snacks have a soft tofu centre and a crisp spicy crust. This recipe is vegan and comes with a handy video tutorial.
There are a lot of people that don’t like tofu. While I actually do like it, I can understand why people would be iffy about it. Tofu has an odd texture and if you don’t add flavour to it yourself, with seasoning or a marinade, it will taste very bland.
Originally, tofu is an Asian product. It’s made from soy milk, which is then coagulated to form curds. These curds are then pressed together to form soft white blocks of tofu. So, in a way, you could say tofu is a kind of soy milk cheese. Fresh tofu comes in different types, which mainly differ in texture. There are four, namely: extra firm, firm, medium and soft. The firmer types are best for cooking and frying, while the soft variety can even be a dessert.
As mentioned above, tofu by itself doesn’t really taste of anything. On the other hand, that blandness is also an asset. Because tofu is very good at soaking up every bit of flavour you add to it. Usually, when I prepare tofu, I add flavour by marinating it or putting it in a sauce of some kind. While this works very well, this time I wanted to do something different. When you cook tofu in a sauce, it inevitably becomes a bit soggy. So this time I decided to coat and deep-fry it to make it nice and crispy.
The snacks I ended up making, are a lot like chicken nuggets. Not because they contain chicken, obviously, but because of its crispy crust and soft interior. They also happen to be vegan, so pretty much everyone can give this recipe a try.
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- 400 g tofu
- 3 tbsp salt soy sauce
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce or sugar
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 100 g flour
- 50 g cornstarch
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 150 ml water
- 2 tbsp salt soy sauce
- 80 g crispbread
- 60 g pringles-type potato chips
Ingredients
Marinade
Batter
Crumbs
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- First drain the tofu and squeeze out as much water as you can. This will make it easier for the tofu to soak up the marinade.
- Put the ingredients of the marinade together and mix well.
- Cut the tofu into chunks of about an inch thick.
- Put the tofu in the marinade and stir carefully until they're well coated. Put in the fridge for at least 4 hours but ideally overnight.
- Prepare the batter by putting all the ingredients together and whisking well. Make sure that there are no lumps. Set aside.
- Put the crispbread into a blender or food-processor and blend to a fine powder. Blend the potato chips as well but less finely, leaving larger pieces. Stir the different crumbs together.
- Pre-heat oil in a deep-fat-fryer or deep, heavy-based pan, to 190°C (370°F).
- Coat the pieces of tofu. First, remove them from the marinade and shake off any excess.
- With one hand, roll the tofu in the batter, making sure they're completely covered.
- Transfer them to the crumb-mixture. With your other, clean, hand coat them in crumbs.
- Fry the tofu in the hot oil for about 3 minutes. Then remove them from the oil and let them drain on kitchen paper.
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