This one is a doozy. I have to admit that while this recipe sounded absolutely delicious, I just hadn't made it because there are so many steps and so many dishes to clean. I love spicy food and today, I made time for ME--I really needed it. So, I spent a couple of hours(!) in the kitchen this evening, taking my time rather than rushing to get dinner ready for the family. (Jerry and Noah were working, and Eli had his girlfriend over--they usually get Qdoba.)
So, I finally decided to tackle this recipe without feeling rushed or pressured. I prepped everything before I actually started cooking, and I'm glad I did that. It was hard to keep track of all the ingredients and steps!
The recipe I chose to review is Firecracker Tofu from Vegan Travel Eats (I'll link to it again at the end of the post).
The ingredients: tofu, cornstarch, soy sauce, vegan mayo, soy milk, black pepper, light brown sugar, Franks Red Hot sauce, vegan butter, vegan Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, apple cider vinegar, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes. (Not mentioned in the ingredients list is oil for frying)
Whenever I use Worcestershire sauce, I can't help but think of this meme:
It's not even that funny, but I laugh every time!
Anyway, back to the recipe. This is a long one with lots of pictures.
First, I put some jasmine rice in the rice cooker so that it would be done when the tofu was ready.
I'd already pressed the tofu, so I just took that out of the fridge. I bought this tofu press on Amazon (affiliate link) because we eat so much tofu now and the press is so much more convenient than trying to use towels and heavy objects to press it. I cut the tofu into cubes and tossed with soy sauce and black pepper before setting it aside.
Then I mixed the Worcestershire, garlic powder, vinegar, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes in a little bowl to set aside.
Next, in a small sauce pan, I added the brown sugar, vegan butter, and and Franks Red Hot, cooking over medium heat until the butter was melted and brown sugar dissolved.
Next, I got out two bowls: in one, I added the cornstarch; in the other, I combined the vegan mayo and soy milk.
From there, the recipe says to take a piece of tofu, toss it in the cornstarch, then dip it into the mayo mixture and set it on a clean plate. Repeat for all of the pieces of tofu. While I usually follow the recipe as written, I just couldn't fathom doing it one piece of tofu at a time. So I did a small handful at a time.
Those look like cookie dough bites in vanilla pudding or something, haha.
Then, finally... FINALLY... I put it in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, I took it out to stir it up and I was a little shocked--it looked SO burnt to the pan that I thought the sauce would never come off.
I baked it another 13 minutes (the recipe said 10-15, so I just chose 13). When I pulled it out, again, I was taken aback by how burnt the sauce looked in the pan. I got a phone call *right* when the timer had gone off, so I forgot to take a picture before stirring--but I thought for sure the pan was destroyed. After giving it a stir, I could see it wasn't burnt--it was very, very sticky, though.
I tasted a piece and expected firecrackers to go off in my mouth, but I found it to be a little bland--which was a bummer. However, I added a little salt and stirred it up again, and that made all the difference! It was delicious. I put it over some jasmine rice in a bowl and it looked SO good.
Looks so good! Also, look for Dawn Powerwash at your grocery store. It's what saves my pans when I have recipes like this! Just spray in on your pan, wait a few minutes, wipe off without water, and then you can wash and rinse like normal. It's a lifesaver!
ReplyDeleteWOW! This looks so good. Sorry if I missed it, but do you ever post a recipe you've modified? I mean, the Katie version of the recipe? I might get Ed to try this one, but only with your modified steps and that in a recipe format would be great. But that might be extra work for you. Just looks so yummy.
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