Tofu can be bland, so it’s good to pep it up with some big, bold flavours during cooking. The sesame trio in this recipe - oil, tahini and seeds - will deliver exactly the kind of complex flavour combination you need. For an even bigger flavour punch, look out for Chinese ‘tahini’, a rich sesame paste where the seeds are darkly toasted before being ground for a deeper intensity
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst ’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst ’s recipes
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Ingredients
250g basmati rice
3 tbsp sesame oil
200g Tenderstem broccoli, finely chopped
3cm piece root ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp soy sauce* or tamari
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp tahini, stirred
1½ tbsp cornflour
2 x 300g block super-firm tofu
4 spring onions, finely sliced
½ tbsp sesame seeds
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Step by step
Cook the rice according to the pack instructions. While the rice is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil in a large frying pan or wok and stir-fry the broccoli for 4-5 minutes. When the rice is cooked, drain and leave to steam for a minute, before adding to the frying pan. Stir through and season, then keep warm while you cook the tofu.
Whisk together the ginger, garlic, soy, sugar, tahini and ½ tablespoon of cornflour with 100ml water and set aside. Press the tofu between a few sheets of kitchen paper to dry it out and chop into chunky 2cm cubes. Toss the cubes in the remaining tablespoon of cornflour.
Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Fry the tofu for 6-8 minutes until golden and crisp all over, then pour in the soy and tahini mixture. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the tofu is well coated in the sticky sauce. Serve the tofu over the broccoli rice, garnished with spring onions and sesame seeds.
*Use tamari, not soy, if required for gluten-free.
Super-firm tofu has a lower water content than other block or silken tofu, which makes it ideal for frying. Dusting with cornflour helps give a really crisp crust.
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A light coating of cornstarch will absorb even more moisture from the tofu's surface and contribute to a distinct coating. Sprinkle over the starch (potato starch, tapioca starch, and arrowroot all work too) a little bit at a time and toss the tofu, pressing gently so the starch adheres.
Both silken and regular tofu can be found in soft, medium, firm, and extra-firm consistencies. They are made with the same ingredients, but they are processed slightly differently and are not interchangeable in a recipe.
Wrap the block of tofu in a clean tea towel then put it on a large plate with a lip.Put something heavy such as a frying pan on top, weight it down further with cans and jars, and leave for 30 mins. The tofu will be about two-thirds its original thickness, and up to 100ml water will have been removed.
Whereas water-packed white tofu is mild and squishy (or silken), dry-packed doufu gan is dense, chewy, and nutmeg-colored. It's pressed until it's firmer than any block of extra-firm tofu (gan means “dry” in Mandarin) and then braised in soy sauce and spices until it's stained and flavored throughout.
The key to crispy tofu is to heat the oil in your pan before adding tofu cubes. Coating the pan-fried tofu in corn flour helps create a crispy coating as the cubed tofu cooks in the oil. Another key to getting uber-crispy tofu is removing excess liquid/moisture from it before you cook tofu.
Traditional tofu-making coagulants include gypsum and nigari. But you can also make tofu with grocery store ingredients like lemon juice, vinegar and Epsom salts. What is this? Gypsum – aka calcium sulfate, a tasteless naturally occurring mineral salt traditionally used in tofu-making, especially Chinese tofu.
If it darkens in color, begins to smell, or feels slimy, it should be thrown away. Bottom line: Open packages of tofu are good in the fridge for up to five days, provided you change the water daily.
A 3.5-ounce serving of firm tofu has just 78 calories. The same amount of silken tofu has 55 calories, and a 3.5-ounce serving of soft tofu has 61 calories. All of these types of tofu have fewer calories than many of the typical animal-based protein foods eaten by people on a diet.
For relatively similar serving sizes, the nutrition differences between silken and firm tofu are pretty big. Silken tofu contains only about half the calories and fat, while firm tofu contains over twice the protein. The reason for this is water content.
Here's the thing: even though tofu might be labeled firm or extra-firm, it contains a lot of water. This excess water can cause the tofu to crumble when you cook it, and it will also have a hard time crisping up. But when you press tofu, you remove the excess moisture.
Can you over-press tofu? You don't have to worry about over-pressing tofu when you follow instructions, and only do it when the recipe calls for it. If you press tofu for recipes when you don't really have to, it can result in crumbly and even mushy tofu.
After you have pressed your tofu for at least 30 minutes, you may also want to slice it into strips or cubes and then freeze it. Freezing tofu will change the texture of the tofu, making it firmer and "chewier," as well as more absorbent.
From a distance, the odor of stinky tofu is said to resemble that of rotten garbage or smelly feet. Some people have compared it to the taste of blue cheese, while others have compared it to rotten meat. It is said that the more it smells, the better its flavor.
Deep Fried Stinky Tofu. Stinky Tofu, known in Chinese as Chòudòufu (臭豆腐), is a form of fermented tofu. It's a popular snack item throughout China, and also very popular as a Taiwan and Hong Kong street food.
Aged for up to six days, the tofu develops a blue-cheese-like quality but with sprouting hairs jutting out from the soy block. It's then cooked into varying dishes, typically involving frying. And despite its impressionable appearance, hairy tofu has a mildly tangy flavor, backed by a tender, moist interior.
Cornstarch is a common ingredient made from the starchy portion of corn kernels known as the endosperm. It's used as a thickening agent for gravies, marinades, sauces, soups, and casseroles. Though most people think cornstarch is reserved for cooking, it's quite useful outside the kitchen.
Many cooking experts champion a quick soak as a way to give the protein more texture and flavor. “Simmering cubed tofu in salted water for 60 seconds pulls out excess moisture and tightens the proteins on its surface,” Lukas Volger told Bon Appétit in 2021.
Starch has two primary uses in the kitchen—thickening and crisping. Cornstarch can help you accomplish both, as it contains two types of starch molecules, amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a straight, linear chain; amylopectin is highly branched.
In stir-fries, cornstarch helps thinly sliced protein like beef or pork brown evenly without overcooking, while simultaneously turning the liquidy soy, rice wine vinegar, and mirin into a veg-coating sauce.
Introduction: My name is Rev. Leonie Wyman, I am a colorful, tasty, splendid, fair, witty, gorgeous, splendid person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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