Salt & Pepper Tofu – Simple and Satisfying

This was a real experiment.  But it turned out to be easy to do a Salt & Pepper Tofu – and best of all it was scoffed up in no time.

I used firm tofu for this dish.  Before cutting the tofu into cubes I pressed it between plates and paper towels for half an hour to get some of the moisture out.

After patting it dry I then cut it into cubes.

I dredged the cubes in a mixture of cornflour (cornstarch), salt and ground white pepper.

Then the cubes were simply shallow fried in vegetable oil until golden and a wee bit crunchy.

Ham & Tofu Noodles – Japanese Style

I hope you are not over my current obsession with Japanese flavours.  I encourage you to give it a go.  If you haven't tried them before you might be surprised how easy and tasty the dishes (so long as you have 3-4 basic Japanese ingredients like mirin, soy sauce and sake).

Ingredients:

Ham – leftover sliced

Tiny bit of chorizo finely chopped

Tofu – firm

Ginger

Noodles (fresh)

Soy

Vegetable oil

For the sauce:

1/3 cup miso

1 egg yolk

2 tblsp sake

2 tblsp mirin

3 tblsp dashi stock

Grated ginger

Method:

Take the tofu out of the packet and leave to drain on some kitchen paper with something heavy on top.

Cut the tofu when it has drained into squares.

Fry the tofu in the oil until it is a bit browned.  Put to one side.

Then fry the batons of ginger, ham and chorizo – add the noodles now if they are fresh.  After a minute or 3 add some soy sauce to taste – not too much because both the ham and the chorizo will add salty flavour.

While the noodles etc are cooking make your miso sauce.  See below.

Add back the tofu and serve with the sauce poured over the top.  Initially I tried to be fancy and just glaze the tofu but I didn't think that gave enough depth of flavour.

Miso sauce:

Miso is not good if it is boiled so this sauce is done as a double boiler – I just put one saucepan on top of another which has a bit of boiling water in the bottom.

Gently warm all the sauce ingredients.  To make up the miso stock either use an instant sachet or dissolve a spoonful of miso paste in some water.  Add your grated ginger towards the end.  And then add your dashi very gradually.  The sauce should be thick and glossy.

Verdict – very tasty and quick.

Salt & Pepper Tofu – a simple success!

I had never used tofu before so this was a real experiment.  But it turned out to be easy to do a Salt & Pepper Tofu – and best of all it was scoffed up in no time.

I used firm tofu for this dish.  Before cutting the tofu into cubes I pressed it between plates and paper towels for half an hour to get some of the moisture out.

After patting it dry I then cut it into cubes.

I dredged the cubs in a mixture of cornflour (cornstarch), salt and ground white pepper.

Then the cubes were simply shallow fried in vegetable oil until golden and a wee bit crunchy.

Garlic Tofu & Mushroom Stir Fry

Here is my second attempt at a dish featuring tofu – Garlic Tofu & Mushroom Stir Fry. 

I patted the block of firm tofu dry before cutting it up into quite large cubes (felt that a bit smaller would have been better).  To prepare the tofu for frying I dusted the cubes with cornflour (cornstarch) that had been seasoned with salt and ground white pepper.

To prepare the mushrooms I quartered them after taking off their stalks and then mixed them up with cornflour and the white of an egg (just because I had it leftover and thought it might help the cornstarch to stick to the mushrooms).  The egg white turned out not to add much so I wouldn't bother next time.

The only other thing that had to be prepared before you could start to cook was to finely slice 5-6 cloves of garlic.  You need quite a lot of garlic because it is the main flavour of the dish.

The other thing you need to think about is what you are going to serve your stir fry with.  I chose plain jasmine rice but you could use noodles or pasta.

Now to the frying – I shallow fried in vegetable oil.  It would be quicker to deep fry but I am always appalled by how much oil that needs.  I even saved the extra oil after this lot of frying.  I do have some Scottish blood in me somewhere from my mother's side of the family – way back some generations though!

First you fry the tofu until it is golden and a bit crunchy – I could have fried it just a bit longer.  Set the tofu pieces aside loosely covered with foil.

Second fry your garlic until just crunch and golden – fish it out with a spoon with holes and set it aside as well.

Third fry your mushrooms – over a highish heat – they should only take about 5 minutes at the most.

Then add a tablespoon each of Hoisin sauce and soy sauce and water.  Instead of Hoisin sauce you could use Oyster sauce.

Add back your tofu and garlic and stir and you are done!  The result was tasty – but maybe a little more sauce would have been better – perhaps make it 2 tablespoons of each!