For the last couple of 'Veganuary's', I've enjoyed coming up with new tofu recipes that might encourage people to consider giving tofu a go. It's cheap to buy and, for me, is a much nice and cheaper alternative to the fake meats out there. We only really discovered tofu during our trip to Japan in 2019, and we were genuinely surprised by how versatile and tasty it was.
Of all the recipes on the blog, my Crispy Chilli Tofu is still the most popular recipe and the one that people get in touch with me about. So hopefully you're going to love this one too as the tofu is prepared in the same way. For this veganuary, I've gone with a twist on a classic Chinese takeaway dish, my General Tso's Tofu. We've done this with chicken before but we both much prefer it as a tofu dish. The sauce is super unctuous, and there's plenty of it! Give it a go, and if you enjoy it, make sure you check out the other tofu recipes on the blog.
INGREDIENTS: (serves a hungry 2)
1 pack of firm tofu
2 tablespoons of soy sauce (marinade)
1 clove of garlic, crushed (marinade)
1 tsp ginger paste or freshly grated ginger (marinade)
1/4 tsp sesame oil (marinade)
Cornflour
Rapeseed oil
3 spring onions
1/2 red chilli (optional)
Sesame seeds (optional)
General Tso's Sauce:
350ml vegetable stock
60ml hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
DIRECTIONS
Drain the block of tofu and dry with kitchen roll then chop into small cubes and add them to a bowl.
Add the marinade ingredients to the tofu and gently mix together until it is coated. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and place on the side for 15 minutes. This is a really important step to give the tofu an enhanced flavour of its own.
Heat a large, deep frying pan and pour enough rapeseed oil in the pan to thinly cover the base.
Dredge each piece of tofu in the cornflour until coated on all sides then place in the hot oil and repeat. You'll need to turn each piece of tofu every minute until it's crisp on all sides but this doesn't take long when the oil is hot, approximately 5 minutes. Make sure you don't overcrowd the pan. It's better to do two batches to make them nice and crispy. You can get rid of the left over marinade as this won't be used again but keep any left over cornflour for later.
Once the tofu is ready, remove with a slotted spoon and place them on some kitchen roll to remove any excess oil. You can put a piece of foil over the top to keep them warm until they're needed a little later on.
Once all the tofu is cooked it's time to make the sauce. This comes together really quickly so make sure you have all the ingredients to hand. Carefully wipe the pan out before reusing and add the hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar and 90% of the vegetable stock to the pan and gently mix together on a medium high heat.
Mix the remaining stock with 2 tablespoons of cornflour ( I use the remaining cornflour from dredging of the tofu for this to save waste) and add to the pan and mix in. This will ensure that there are no cornflour lumps in the sauce. Continue stirring on a medium high heat and let the sauce reduce and thicken to your liking over 5-10 minutes.
When the sauce is glossy and a thicker consistency you're ready to plate up. Serve the tofu up on a on a bed of rice and top with lashings of general tso's sauce. Garnish with plenty of spring onion and sesame seeds. I also like to add a little fresh chilli if I have any in the fridge. And that's it!
It's as easy as that. As with any Asian inspired dish on the blog, the toppings can be adapted to your own tastes but they do help to balance the richness of the dish. If you give this one a try, please do let me know. I love hearing feedback and what ways you've changed the recipe to suit your own tastes. Don't forget to snap a picture and tag me on instagram or twitter. Happy Cooking!
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