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I’ve been taking a tofu kick lately. But, you know what? I never thought I would ever type that sentence. I grew up in the Midwest, where there was meat and potatoes, and beef was the norm on the dinner table. For most of my life, I thought of tofu as something that other people liked – it just wasn’t for me. Even living in a veggie co-op, I avoided it, preferring other plant-based proteins to the creamy white blocks of bean curd.
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About five years ago, motivated by friends who loved tofu and my desire to become a recipe developer, I decided that I needed to understand and embrace the ingredient. After all, it’s a staple of the diet of millions of people around the world. It’s highly nutritious and a dense source of wholesome protein that doesn’t come with the animal welfare or climate crisis issues that meat brings. I wanted to learn to love tofu.
Get the recipe: Crispy tofu and zucchini pan
I started cooking with it and experimented with silky, firm, extra firm and super firm varieties. I’ve eaten tofu plain and marinated, sautéed and baked, fried and grilled. I sliced, minced, crumbled, diced and sliced it. Gradually I started to enjoy it. But when I got hungry, I still didn’t think, “Now I’d like some tofu.”
Then I met my friend Joe. He is a good cook and there is often tofu in his fridge. One night he fried okonomiyaki for dinner and topped each pancake with strips of marinated and seared tofu. I liked it so much I thought it was a deviation. “Maybe I was just really hungry,” I thought. A few weeks later, he made us an eggplant and tofu stir-fry with a sweet, tangy, and salty sauce. It was served with rice – my favorite meal – and I wasn’t short on seconds. I had thirds.
“Why is this tofu so good?” I blurted out, mouth still half full.
“I love it when the outside is a little crispy and the inside is still fluffy, don’t I?” said Joe.
That was it. It’s not that I haven’t had fried tofu before. It was because I hadn’t stopped appreciating its great potential for structural variability. In the right oil and at the right temperature, the tofu cubes get a golden brown crust while the inside stays soft. I love these deep fried nuggets so much I’ve often just popped them in my mouth like chunks of popcorn.
Fried tofu was the catalyst for this recipe, a seasonal stir-fry with a customizable sauce. First, sauté tofu cubes in vegetable oil until they get a thin, crispy surface. Then stir-fry the spring onions and zucchini until they soften and bubble. Make a sauce using garlic, ginger, and a few pantry ingredients including soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili garlic sauce, or — my favorite — Doubanjiang or Sichuan chili bean paste. Depending on the base you use, you’ll end up with a pan glazed with something salty; sweet and salty; or sweet, salty and hot.
After developing this recipe, I’ve made it three more times—not just to test it, but because it’s so easy to love, it’s become my favorite way to eat tofu.
Get the recipe: Crispy tofu and zucchini pan
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