Monday, October 5, 2009

Recipe - Sweet Soy Tofu

During a recent trip to the Asian grocery store to buy soy sauce I decided to go out on a limb and get tofu. I've never cooked tofu before and had no idea what to do with it, but Barry came to the rescue!

Ingredients:
1 carton of tofu
1/2 cup + 1 Tbs sweet soy sauce (syrup)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil + enough to fry the tofu
1 tsp sugar
4 green onions
3 cloves of garlic
3 carrots
1 cup frozen green beans (Trader Joes)
2 cups cooked white rice

1. First the marinade. I've never bought this soy sauce before and was surprised to find out it has a consistency more like maple syrup than the regular stuff. It has a balance of sweet and savory with rich, complex flavors, so this sauce will add depth to whatever you use it in. What a find!

Manis Sedang Export Quality Medium Sweet Soy Sauce 20.9 oz, Indonesia


Combine 1/2 cup of soy sauce with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of olive oil. If you want to use regular soy sauce you can omit the water. Add 1 tsp sugar and whisk to combine. For this type of marinade I like to keep the garlic fairly large but you are free to cut it however you like.



2. Chop four green onions and add to the marinade. Technically you won't be using the marinade until the final stages but making it first will allow the flavors to really meld.



3. Next the side dish. My friend Vivek's grandmother always sends him home with amazing leftovers and I noticed she cuts green beans into tiny little pieces. I loved green beans already but this new use for them is definitely worth trying, it really changes the character of the dish. I like Trader Joe's green beans because they're so delicate. No need to defrost first, just cut into tiny pieces and set aside.


I cut the carrots at a diagonal so they wouldn't fall apart with all the tossing and stirring.


4. Heat 1 Tbs of olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat and add 1 clove of finely minced garlic. After a minute or two add the carrots. Stir them regularly so they don't burn or caramelize. When the carrots begin to soften you can add the green beans.




5. When your vegetables are as soft as you want them add 1 Tbs of soy sauce and toss to coat evenly. I'm not sure the action in this shot came through, but tossing vegetables in the pan is a great way to distribute everything evenly and it's a lot of fun! I highly recommend it.



6. Next the tofu. Barry followed one of his sister's recipes which goes something like this.
.
Cut the tofu into cubes
.
Fry in oil until crispy brown. We used olive oil but I'm sure there are better fry oils out there.
.

Dry briefly on a paper towel.
.
Transfer carefully to the marinade and let stand for a few minutes.

Then pour everything into a pan and heat another few minutes to concentrate the flavor.
.


7. Serve with rice and enjoy!


3 comments:

  1. I finally made your recipe! It was delicious :) However, I had some issues with the tofu getting really squooshy and soft--after frying it just kind of fell apart like scrambled eggs. It was still very good though. Keep posting!

    Hugs,
    R

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  2. We ran into the same problem! I just made this recipe again and tried 2 tricks that seemed to work... about an hour before I started cooking I put the tofu between paper towels to dry it out (about 20 minutes). Then I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. It held together much better than before.

    I'm glad you liked it!!

    Love,
    Melly

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  3. Love it! I had a short lived obsession with cooking tofu in college . One trick a lab PhD student from Korea taught me was to buy extra firm tofu and then place a few paper towels above and below the tofu block and place a heavy dish on either side for ~1 hour. It absorbs the water and the tofu fries well and soaks up the marinade much better... I think your next attempt should include something from a blog I am guessing Barry might like: http://blog.thesrirachacookbook.com/

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