How to make tofu truly delicious
For anyone who wants to eat less meat, tofu is an ideal solution. The only shame is that if you don’t prepare it properly, the comparison to a sponge is inevitable. This ingredient is guaranteed to solve that problem.
Do you still not understand how people can chew on that tasteless, tough tofu? I completely understand—you’d find me far away from the stuff too until a few years ago. Until I tasted dishes in Asia in which it was unbelievably delicious; I was immediately converted. These days I also eat tofu raw, or fried with a little sea salt as a protein-rich snack, but if you’re not there yet, cornstarch is your salvation.
Cornstarch
I got the idea from Ottolenghi’s black pepper tofu. In that recipe, Yotam coats cubes of firm tofu in cornstarch before frying them in a thick layer of oil. This creates an extremely crispy layer around the tofu that stays crispy even when you incorporate it into dishes. Ottolenghi adds all kinds of soy sauce to the dish, but the tofu remains crispy.
Black pepper tofu is the recipe that will convert you to the tofu faith, just you wait. I therefore strongly recommend following it from start to finish, but the simple technique works for any recipe. Making simple noodles for a weekday dinner? Add some crispy tofu and you have a delicious meal.
Firm tofu
It’s important to use firm tofu for this technique. Don’t panic—that’s simply the standard tofu sold at the supermarket. Silken tofu is too soft and falls apart when you fry it this hard. First, drain the tofu well: wrap it in several layers of paper towel and place something heavy on top. Leave it like this for about half an hour before coating the tofu in cornstarch and frying it.
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