Crispy Chilli Soy Tofu

I am a bit of a tofu addict, in fact I am a lot of a tofu addict and regularly make it from scratch. I have written before that tofu needs careful handling and with a bit of TLC it goes from beany boredom to heavenly bean curd!

A favourite quick snack is crispy fried chilli tofu, made with fresh homemade curd. Coating the tofu in corn or gram flour before frying helps it to crisp up and as it fries it will puff up slightly. As ever the essentials for successful tofu are pressing and marinating. In fact it is so essential I shall repeat “press and marinate” – taking an extra 10 mins to quickly press and marinate will go a huge way towards more tasty tofu. I like this dish as a pre supper nibble with a beer after work, or serve with vegetables or salad as a main course.

Crispy Chilli Tofu (serves 2 as a snack)

4oz (100g) firm tofu
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs chilli oil
1 tbs corn flour
1 tsp sunflower oil
Sea Salt & Pepper
1 spring onion – shredded

Slice the tofu into ½” (1.5cm slices), place between 2 tea towels and press under a chopping board and a couple of tin cans (or a cook book or the fruit bowl) for at least 10 mins. Mix the soy sauce and chilli oil together in a bowl to make a marinade, cube the pressed tofu and add to the marinade – leave for at least 10 mins.

Drain the tofu, reserving the marinade and coat in the corn flour; fry in the sunflower oil in a hot pan until golden and crispy – it should start to puff up. Add the spring onions and the remains of the marinade and cook until the marinade has thickened and reduced.

Serve immediately with lots of sea salt and pepper.

Variations

Use olive oil in place of the chilli oil in the marinade, add a finely chopped red chilli when cooking, add finely grated ginger and or lemon to the marinade. Use gram flour in place of the corn flour.