Deep fried tofu

[Scrubb]

Mr_S bought 2 packed of deep fried tofu chunks last week. I have most of the second one left over. So I either need delicious ways to use them up in the next few days, or I need to freeze them.

Can you freeze them? If not, please supply recipes. Thank you.

[snowgirl]

Shit, I hope you can freeze them. Otherwise I've got a half bag of them that I'll have to use up pronto.

[VinnyD]

Give me a minute or two and I will be happy to share with you all my recipes that make todu taste delicious.

[VinnyD]

OK, there you have them. Enjoy!

[lolasf]

I didn't even know you could buy pre-fried tofu. There's my TIL moment.

[VinnyD]

Mine also, but yesterday I learned that the French word for paperclips, perhaps only for paperclips of the standard shape, is trombones.

[northern_goddess]

Oh, my.

[Lulu]

OK, there you have them. Enjoy!

Smartass

[Lulu]

Never had it frozen, but I do love me some fried tofu in curry sauce

[Scrubb]

Yeah, the ones I used up were in a laksa. I wasn't planning another curry right away, but I just remembered I have a 1/2 can of coconut milk in the freezer and some red curry paste in the 'fridge. So yeah, maybe just a generic curry sauce and some tofu for lunch.

[Lulu]

Tofu is delicious

[mad hatter]

Since you can buy frozen fried tofu I'd say your safe chucking it in the freezer

[EMG]

The only dish I know of with fried tofu is Filipino Tokwa’t baboy.

It’s pretty good, but I’ve never cooked it myself

[cowtown]

does it come frozen?

if no, there is a reason

I like the idea of pre-fried tofu, do you have to heat it up separately and then finish with it ?

[Scrubb]

Depends what you're using it for, I guess - putting it in laksa, I just throw it into the pot to warm up in the liquid. It doesn't really absorb the liquid so doesn't get soggy, but warms up in a few minutes.

If I just make a curry sauce for the rest I'll likely zap the cubes in the microwave for 30 seconds or so before serving.

[cowtown]

Give me a minute or two and I will be happy to share with you all my recipes that make todu taste delicious.

Supermarket tofu is always terrible. Homemade tofu is not always good, but it can be. When it fails, it is usually because all the eggwhites were beaten to a froth. You can beat a couple of whites if you like, but if you separate ...


I love a good agedashi tofu

[cowtown]

is it crunchy when cooked?

thanks

[Lincoln]

I love deep fried tofu...my mother-in-law makes it when she visits...any left over is frozen and always tastes great when re-cooked.

[BulletPark]

Deep-fried tofu would appear, on the face of it, to be one of those dishes that obviates the reason anyone would eat the stuff in the first place. Sort of like sugar-free candy-canes or diet chicken fat.

[EMG]

It sounds weird but it's an interesting texture. The dish I mentioned, is chunks of pork belly and chunks of deep fried tofu, then a lot of chilis and a sauce, so you go back and forth between chunks of fatty pork belly and little fluffy pillows of tofu. Dunked in the sauce.

In general I'm not a fan of tofu, but I found this one kind of fun to eat.

[dragon]

I love deep-fried tofu. You can buy bags of it?? What a world.

Make some nice peanut sauce and fry up some spinach. Yum.

[korgy]

ever had it marinated and baked? really great...

[Kikilamour]

yep, freeze it.
mix with all kinds of meat dishes or veggie ones. i was going to say laksa, but you already did.
it's very versatile. i don't have a specific recipe because it just goes with everything.

[Scrubb]

is it crunchy when cooked?

thanks

Hmmm. I think it could be if you fried it, but definitely not when put into laksa.

[korgy]

Homemade tofu is not always good, but it can be. When it fails, it is usually because all the eggwhites were beaten to a froth. You can beat a couple of whites if you like, but if you separate ...

cowtown, what does this mean?
tofu doesn't have egg in it (unless it is egg tofu).

just as an aside, i dont eat tofu that much

[cowtown]

It means I’m making fun of Vinny D’s with his annual eggnog rant. It’s a cut and paste of one of his posts changed enough to fit but not enough for him to not recognize it

Tofu is so versatile and there are so many types, textures and preparation that y to write it all off would be silly, like writing off all pop music

[Scrubb]

I just made a curry sauce to eat with them. Sauteed some onion, garlic, and red curry paste then added coconut milk and a couple of tomatoes. I left it simmering without checking it for just a bit too long - I'd been planning to throw in the tofu chunks for 2 minutes at the end, but when I checked it, it was too thick and starting to burn to the pan so I turned it off and just rolled the tofu around in it to warm up. There wasn't quite enough flavour in the curry sauce, but it wasn't bad.

I did experiment a bit with the tofu - 2 chunks I put in with the onion, garlic, and curry paste and fried each side for a bit, to see if it would make them crunchy. Two chunks I put in at the same time as the coconut milk and tomato to see if they'd get soggy with the simmering. Then I threw all of the chunks into the sauce at the end to try to heat them a bit.

The result was that I didn't notice any texture differences in any of them.

[BeatRaven]

Mapo Tofu (sweet and spicy sauce) is the zenith of deep fried tofu-dom:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapo_doufu

PF Chang's makes it the best. My purist Fuschia Dunlop Chinese Cookbooks pretty much mimic their recipe:

https://www.today.com/recipes/ma-po-tofu-wbrp9253058

What they forget to tell you:

Dredge your tofu cubes in cornstarch or better yet, potato starch to keep them from disintegrating. Likewise, don't move 'em around too much in the oil. I'm talking about deep frying your own (much nicer), not buying it already deep fried. It takes about 20 minutes to get to golden brown.

[VinnyD]

cowtown, how would you describe the flavor of tofu? "Bland" is the first word that comes to my mind. Also the second, third, and last.

[DCComic]

cowtown, how would you describe the flavor of tofu? "Bland" is the first word that comes to my mind. Also the second, third, and last.

Also potato, pasta, bread, rice, pap...

[VinnyD]

True of pasta. Not so much of the others, if pap is like grits. (There is such a thing as bland bread, but good bread is not bland.)

Note that those are all starches. Tofu is ordinarily eaten with a starch, in place of something like shrimp or ham that would lend the starch some flavor.

I am not saying I don't eat tofu. I do.

[Citizen Baba]

Packaged fried tofu? Yuck.

Just buy some, cut it up, dip it in rice flour, and fry. It ain't Chez Panisse.

[Scrubb]

It's totally different from when I fry it myself. It's all pouffed up. It's also super duper easy.

I don't deep fry at home, so when I fry tofu it's shallow fried and absolutely nothing like this stuff.

[Citizen Baba]

I could go the rest of my life without eating pouffy tofu.

[BeatRaven]

the pre-done tofu is crappier tofu. Even crappier than you get at the supermarket. Maybe in a mega-Asian supermarket you can get tofu that wasn't fried months ago.

It does have a taste, as anyone who's been to a tofu specialty restaurant will attest.

[VinnyD]

I didn't say it did not have a taste. It has a taste, which I would describe as bland. Blander even than battery-produced skinless chicken breast, which is saying a lot.

[cowtown]

Give me a minute or two and I will be happy to share with you all my recipes that make todu taste delicious.

I am not saying I don't eat tofu. I do.

Vinny D, what other food do you eat that you don't think taste delicious?

Answer me, answer ME, ANSWER ME NOW, BITCH !!!

* cue his I've eaten one Big Mac boast

depends on the tofu on what the taste is, there are several types, I like the creamy, silky high end Japanese tofu that has hints of almond backing the bean paste.

[Citizen Baba]

Anybody ever have acorn tofu?

Not recommended.

[VinnyD]

cowtown, in terms of protein, not many. Occasionally white meat chicken.

For starch, there are plenty that are not tasty on their own, many of which have been mentioned on this thread.

CB, I have had a sort of pudding made from acorn starch (not sweet, no milk).Is that what you mean? If so I agree.

[Citizen Baba]

It's a block of grey tofu, usually with a drizzle of sesame oil on it. A Korean side.

[cowtown]

I too eat chicken but don’t enjoy it much minus a few exception and I usually only have it as a last option, never cook it at home


Tofu is like polenta

[Stan In Maryland]

I agree that on its own tofu doesn't have a lot of flavor, I actually see it as an advantage because it is one of those things that is kind of a flavor sponge. It wonderfully absorbs flavors such as sauces. It also adds varying textures depending what type it is. I am rather a fan.

[Citizen Baba]

I too eat chicken but don’t enjoy it much minus a few exception and I usually only have it as a last option, never cook it at home


Tofu is like polenta

Me too. It's the blandest meat there is.

[VinnyD]

I never cook chicken and never order it in a restaurant, but will occasionally get a rotisserie chicken for dinner when I am feeling lazy.

[BeatRaven]

I'm doing low fat and upping the protein.

A half a chicken breast, some veg. and Chinese sauce mixed out of various bottles is dinner for me, 3 days out of 5.

It aint bad. Shrimp, the other white meat, is actually less healthy.

[EMG]

I love chicken. I eat it almost every day.

Not breasts though.

[BeatRaven]

The breast is just a neatly processed, easy to cut up protein globule.

Even in a ghetto to-go Chinese place, we're talking $8 for what I make at home healthier and tastier for a buck and a half.

I recall VinnyD making a similar bean soup brag. I guess it's an old motherfucker thing.

[Citizen Baba]

I’d just eat pork less often. And fish. And duck.

[BeatRaven]

Fish don't work in a stir fry. Tho I bought a bag of tilapia filets and made a pile of thai fish cakes with lemongrass etc. from the garden. But that shit gets old.

Pork is fatty shit; duck probably worse (not to mention largely ungettable).

If you want low fat animal protein, chicken and eggs are 87% of the shortlist.

[veronica_inheels]

I thought you should not freeze coconut milk