The Perfect Tofu

 So the past few days I’ve been kind of anti-internet. It’s been pretty nice actually! Aside from a few clicks of the stumble-upon button before bed, I’ve been doing other exciting things such as checking out a new brewery in the area and making the perfect tofu! I made this tofu yesterday without any plan. I was starving and without much of a variety of groceries…which I have to force myself to go buy today. You know how tofu dishes in restaurants have super crispy tofu that seem to have a crust on them? I wanted that! Usually the tofu I make is browned, but without that great variety of texture. Anyway, I started out by cubing the tofu and getting as much water as possible out. (I really need to invest in a tofu press!) Next, I sprinkled the tofu with a light dusting of flour. I don’t know where I’ve been, but this is definitely genius! So that’s it…flour. All these years I’ve been sautéing flourlessly, when I could have been experiencing delicious crispy cubes of tofu!

Ahh look at that beautiful golden crust! I sautéed the cubes in a bit of olive oil and sesame oil on medium until all sides were golden. It was pretty hard not to eat them all out of the pan at this point.

 I went with a red curry sauce at this point, but really any direction is possible. Simply dip them in hot sauce or peanut sauce? Yeah! I made the sauce by cooking a couple tablespoons of red curry paste and adding a little bit of light coconut milk (don’t worry Andy there’s lots for Wednesday!). Red curry paste isn’t very exciting by itself (or at least the brand that I buy) so I added srirachi sauce, a few splashes of fish sauce and soy sauce, black pepper, and garlic powder. I would have added red pepper flakes if I remembered.

I added the tofu back in the pan, stirred around until hot, and done! Spectacular! Definitely restaurant-worthy. The outside crust held up very well to the sauce. No sogginess! Next time I’m thinking a light and summery lemongrass-basil sauce would be great.

If you’re a normal person, you might eat the tofu with a vegetable and serve it over rice. If you’re like me, you’ll eat an entire block of tofu with a glass of milk and call it a meal. Delicious.