Tofu Szechuan

Jan 6, 2009 by Anna Migeon

All-time favorite tofu recipe! One of them at least . . . I’ve tried a lot of tofu recipes, and I will be the first to agree most are no good. This one, though, is delicious, besides being exotic and unusual, easy and quick. Furthermore, it’s inexpensive, once you’ve made the initial investment of a few ingredients that will keep indefinitely and be good for many uses. Tofu is great vegetarian protein source that kids and other people can enjoy when well-prepared.

If you’ve never made tofu (or never liked it), this dish is a perfect introduction to it and maybe to a couple of other ingredients I’ll bet you don’t taste every day.

I have gone from making this single recipe about 10 years ago, to now making a quadruple recipe with four pounds of tofu for the four of us, in order to have leftovers. I serve it with whole grain brown rice—makes it go further.

1 lb extra firm tofu, cubed and blotted dry 

Marinade:

2 T soy sauce

1 T sesame oil

1 T vegetable  oil

½ t or more minced fresh ginger

Sauce:

½-1 t “chili paste with garlic” or “chili garlic sauce” (found in some oriental food sections)

1 T tahini (sesame “butter” or paste)

2 T dry sherry  (Not optional. Yes, even for kids. The alcohol bakes off, leaving only the flavor. Sherry is a great addition to several of our favorite recipes)

 

Combine marinade in a shallow baking dish (rectangle cake pan works) and add it to the tofu, coating well. Marinate 30 minutes or longer (or less if you are in a hurry. It will still be about as good if you skip marinating). Cover it and put it in the fridge if longer than 30 minutes.  If you take five minutes to set it marinating in the morning, you can just pop it in the oven at night.

I start off by putting some brown rice on to cook.

Pre-heat oven to 450°. Bake the tofu 15 minutes, tossing once. Combine the sauce and pour it over the tofu. Toss to coat and bake another 10 minutes until golden. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.  Let me know how you like it!