Although tofu has a bad rep with most people, it is such a versatile ingredient, and it is popular in Asian cuisine. Do you love Asian food? Tofu is a part of it, and the secret is that you should marinate tofu before cooking it. Yes, in its basic form it is tasteless. That’s where herbs and spices come in 😉 Tofu in crispy batter sounds like an elaborate recipe, but it’s not. This super easy vegan recipe requires few ingredients.
Once it is appropriately seasoned, it becomes a wonderful combination of rich flavors and great texture. What I love about tofu is that it comes in different textures, depending on what you want to use it for. Soft tofu is perfect for desserts and smoothies. Medium is good for frying, and firm or extra firm works well for frying, roasting and grilling.
All in all, for a long time tofu has held an undeserved bad spot for many when in reality it is so versatile and useful in the kitchen. I wouldn’t eat plain tofu, but when it is marinated and cooked the proper way, oh yes, I’ll have it!
Although I do not eat meat or any animal products, let’s just make a comparison with meat, for argument’s sake. I mentioned that you need to add flavor and marinate tofu to make it tasty. You add salt, herbs, spices, and/or you let it soak for several hours or overnight in a rich marinade. I think that those preparation methods are similar for meat unless taking it from its package and eating it raw has become the norm 😉 .
Although I do not eat much tofu I always enjoy it. Many years ago I was served a badly prepared version, tofu blocks in their raw form thrown over some spinach, lol. I wasn’t impressed, but in general, I always loved tofu when it was properly prepared. The good thing is that it doesn’t take a lot of work to make a marinade or add some spices and herbs to a dish 🙂
OK, that’s enough of my fiery tofu defense 😉 Let’s get to the recipe. This one is also easy and quick and it doesn’t need many ingredients.
Ingredients
- Cornstarch
- Extra firm tofu
- Salt (and other spices you prefer)
- Olive oil
And that’s all you need.
Instructions
- First press the tofu to drain it of any excess liquid. You can use a tofu press for that but if you don’t have a press, you can also place a few folded paper towel sheets underneath the tofu and a few on top, then place a heavy skillet on top.
- After draining tofu, cut it into cubes
- In a separate bowl pour some cornstarch. I used between 1/2 and 3/4 cup, but there is no exact amount really. Just don’t pour too much.
- Add salt and mix it into the cornstarch
- Optional: add other spices of your choice to give it more flavor. I used black pepper, paprika, and a little hamburger seasoning. Stir to mix the spices.
- Add tofu cubes to cornstarch. Do not stir with a fork, because that will break the tofu. Just shake the bowl a little bit to make sure the cubes are covered by the cornstarch.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet and fry the tofu cubes on medium to high heat between 6 to 8 minutes. Cooking time and heat depends on the type of stove you use. High heat is recommended to make it crispy and to avoid the tofu from soaking up the oil and getting soggy.
Ready!
I made cauliflower rice in soy sauce and some curried broccoli on the side. The tofu cubes look so delicious, and the taste was fantastic! I hope you try it out. This is so easy to make and not time-consuming at all.
If you’d like to know how to make cauliflower rice, I posted the instructions in this article below
==> Cauliflower Rice, Easy Recipes <==
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Final Thoughts
As with some other food staples, tofu is one of those that needs to be prepared well, but when it is cooked with the right seasoning, it really tastes divine. I’m already thinking of a new blog post about tofu seasonings and marinades. I’ll start working on it next week. 🙂
Have you tried this recipe or similar ones? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks for visiting my page!
Now, this is interesting. I live in NYC. I used to go to Chinatown for their fried tofu. They didn’t look anything like this. However, I’m always open to something new. What I used to do after I got home was heat them up in my airfryer. I used to re-fry them before I bought an airfryer. But once I got the airfryer, it was a wrap. Then, I’d use syrup and cinnamon on them. They were heavenly! I see you made yours savory. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
Yummy, with syrup and cinnamon sounds so delicious! I am going to try that out. Thanks for the suggestion!
I have been experimenting with tofu recently as my son has decided to become a vegetarian. Generally speaking I do find tofu quite tasteless and the texture is sometimes too rubbery for me. I did not realise that the taste would improve with marinating it first, so I will certainly try that.
The last time I cooked tofu I rolled it in sesame seeds and then cooked it in the airfryer, but I will try your recipe next.
Hi there,
Rolling it in sesame seeds and cooking it in the airfryer sounds good too, I should try that.
Thanks for your comment!
Can’t wait to try this recipe out! MY mouth is watering!
I never thought I would see a tofu recipe and be tempted to try it! Like you, I’ve been unimpressed more times than I was impressed by tofu, but I will say the few times I had good grilled tofu it tasted like a delicious marinated grilled meat. I like your idea with frying it using my favorite seasonings. I’ll be trying this for sure. I would love to find some good sausage seasoning and give that a try! Thanks for the tips.
Hi Jamie,
I’m glad this was useful! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hi Christine,
When it comes to tofu, my mom is the master since we eat tofu often for lunches and dinners. Sometimes, we eat two kinds of tofu at the same meal. Yes, we are obsessed with Tofu.
We mixed white pepper and salt the most to bring out the most favor for it based on my mom(Asian style), and maybe next time you can try white pepper too. After seeing you matched it with curried broccoli and cauliflower rice, I think you can also fried some vegan Chinese turnip cake on the side too. You will love Chinese turnip cake as my whole family do…
Cheers,
Matt
Hi Matt,
I love white pepper, it gives such great flavor! Thanks for all these suggestions! I will definitely try them out 🙂