I've been in a rut when it comes to meal selections and find myself doing the same things over and over. Until recently, I'd never (knowingly) had tofu, but decided to order a 5 spice tofu dish from a Vietnamese restaurant I frequent and was surprised at how good it was. Based on that, I decided to start trying random tofu recipes and figured I'd post the winners and losers here for anyone that is curious.

Yesterday, I made some spring rolls that turned out fantastic (other than my terrible rolling technique). I followed an online recipe word for word, but it's pretty simple and can be tweaked accordingly.

www.ilovevegan.com/fresh-vegetable-crunchy-rolls-with-sriracha-soy-sauce-tofu

Basically, slice some extra firm tofu in 1/4" planks and brush on a little Sriracha, soy sauce, and a little oil. Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, flip, re-coat, and go for 10 more minutes. Let it chill (I threw them on a plate in the freezer), then slice the planks into strips so they'll fit in the rolls. Julienne fresh vegetables and roll in rice paper. The peanut sauce is good, but I'll skip it next time and mix up something with a little spice for dipping.

FRESH VEGETABLE CRUNCHY ROLLS WITH SRIRACHA & SOY SAUCE TOFU

• red pepper, julienned
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 1/2 long English cucumber, julienned
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced on a diagonal
• small handful of baby spinach, gently bunched up and sliced thinly
• 1 full recipe of Baked Sriracha & Soy Sauce Tofu (optional: double the marinade), chilled and cut into thin strips
• sesame seeds
• 6-9 rice papers (I used 22 cm papers)

PEANUT SAUCE:

• 2 tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos - GF)
• 3 tbsp (45 ml) peanut butter
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) sriracha
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) chili garlic sauce (can substitute with 1 more tbsp sriracha)
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) sesame oil
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) brown sugar (or maple syrup)
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) sesame seeds
• 2-3 tbsp (30-45ml) water to thin

I always order tofu spring rolls, but never tried making them. Seems easy enough. May have to give it a go, but I'm sure my rolling technique will end-up being just as disastrous as yours.

Keep us posted on your recipes for the spicy dipping sauces. Never was a fan of the peanut ones.

Also, any tips on properly preparing fried tofu cubes where the tofu turns out to actually be crunchy? I've tried pressing, straining, cooling, and everything in between. In the end, I end-up with a soggy and spongey end-product.

Thanks!

I'd recommend buying or making a tofu press. This one is 2 6"x9" poly cutting boards with some screws, washers, and butterfly nuts.

Tonight I'm making Mediterranean so I'll dice into 1/2"
Squares and toss with olive oil, lemon, Greek seasoning, and oregano and then bake at 350 for 20-25 mins tossing once or twice during the cooking process. They're going on a standard Greek Salad

I just cover two cast iron pans with a couple of layers of cling wrap and then progressively weigh down the top pan until I get it how I want it

Cool. Following.

This is a legit Mapo Tofu recipe.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/07/real-deal-mapo-dofu-tofu-chinese-sichuan-recipe.html

These nuggets were a big fail. I think they have potential, but tearing them into 1" pieces means that they swell up to 2" or more in the marinade. We baked them (the recipe gives options for frying or baking) at 400F for 25 minutes, as suggested in the recipe. The large size chunks wind up with an eggy texture which is very off-putting to me. A few of the smaller pieces in my batch were much better - had some crunch and you don't get as much of the texture because you can eat them whole instead of biting into the middle. The next time I do these, I'll just cut them into small 1/2" cubes and try to further crisp them in the air fryer for a few minutes after the breading is set. The flavor is good, but could use a touch more salt - maybe in the form of some pickle juice in the marinade or something.

https://jessicainthekitchen.com/vegan-tofu-nuggets-crispy-crunchy/

deadhead aggie said:

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I always order tofu spring rolls, but never tried making them. Seems easy enough. May have to give it a go, but I'm sure my rolling technique will end-up being just as disastrous as yours.

Keep us posted on your recipes for the spicy dipping sauces. Never was a fan of the peanut ones.

Also, any tips on properly preparing fried tofu cubes where the tofu turns out to actually be crunchy? I've tried pressing, straining, cooling, and everything in between. In the end, I end-up with a soggy and spongey end-product.

Thanks!

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I haven't found out how to get larger pieces crispy, yet. I'm not a fan of deep frying because it always seems to wreck my kitchen and stink up the house, but I've yet to bake anything that truly has that satisfying crunch. Based on my experience with the nuggets above, I'll try to pop them in the air fryer (convection oven[/FIDO]) next time and see if I can dry them out a little more to improve the texture.

Based on all of the recipes I've seen that have "crispy" or "crunchy" in the title, I'm guessing it's harder to get tofu to crisp than I realized - that phenomenon seems to be a big selling point for a lot of what people are advertising.

^
Thanks.

The Jessica in the Kitchen recipe looks like a good one. Never thought of tearing the tofu for the rough edges. I'm with you on the deep frying. I'll try stir-frying with this recipe and then perhaps finish off in the oven. I don't have an air fryer.......yet.

We got some texture help by freezing, thawing, freezing, and thawing again. I read somewhere that was a key to help with texture.

DUCK fas pics for the two items we made I'll tell him to post!

Vietnamese Bun Cha
Google it.

I've been making this as an approximation of a local Vietnamese restaurant's 5 spice tofu, cut smaller and thinner to mimic their sizing. Make a big batch, keep it in the fridge, and pan fry it when you want to use it.

https://frommybowl.com/chinese-five-spice-braised-tofu/

You might also wanna check out tempeh for your protein rut. I keep a batch o' tempeh bacon in the fridge at all times for all kinda of sandwiches and snacking.

https://frommybowl.com/how-cook-tempeh/

Slice 'em thin, double all the flavors, and once the liquid is nearly all reduced, throw in some vegan butter to make them shiny and fatty.

To make tofu crunchy, toss it in corn starch + spices and salt and then pan fry it over a medium high heat. Don't flip it til it can move without sticking, and salt it again when you pull it off to maintain the crunch. I also don't think you need to press a bigass brick. Cut/tear it into your final tofu shape, and press that with your hands between towels. The liquid won't need to take such a journey to get out of the tofu, and you don't have to plan ahead. Also, the internet is rife with under-seasoned tofu. Season it up!

Air fry the tofu. Small cubes. Crispy

Thanks for the tips and recipes. I'll try air frying my next batch to see I can achieve the crisp I'm missing.

Also, I know a lot of people's thoughts on Chipotle, but I was near one the other day and was craving a burrito. I tried their vegan Lifestyle Bowl and it was actually damn good. Had I not seen that it was tofu, I would have sworn I was eating beef. It's an easy substitute at 430cal with 22g of protein and 18g of fiber.

I tried a recipe last night that was outstanding. Probably the best one so far. It's a kung-pao tofu that was as good as any take-out kpc I've had.

seitanbeatsyourmeat.com/kung-pao-tofu/

The tofu actually got crispy - the only modifications I made were that I cut it into 1/2" cubes instead of 1" cubes and went a little heavier on the cornstarch. With the cornstarch, when cooked over medium high heat, it browned well and was easy to rotate around to get all sides crispy.

I was also skeptical about the sauce thickening up enough, but it really cooked down quickly. Other than the prep work, this was really quick to cook. Next time, I'll make two batches and keep one in the fridge for the week prior. I honestly prepped all of this over a week ago and everything kept fine in the fridge until I got around to making it last night.