Vegan tofu bites
Sincere sigamani is back at work peeps :). I realised unless I put my 100% into this now, I am gonna start slacking very easily. Hence sitting on a thursday night (rest of the world’s equivalent of a friday night) watching a tamil movie on TV but typing away on the laptop determined to finish this blog entry. D thought I was working and gave a huge smirk when he realised I was blogging :D. Well peeps, this is work too in a way :). Today marks 2 weeks of work from home for me and us staying at home mostly. Streamlining to work from home was harder than I thought, especially with Adya’s virtual schooling. D swooned in & is helping out a lot. Infact, he’s taking care of most of Adya’s studies. Of course, there are mad days when Adyant wants only me for his study related activities but most days are ok now. We have found the rhythm to work out this whole do everything at home scenario and I am slowly starting to enjoy it!
Anywho, more about how this recipe came about.. my school friend Divya who I got back in touch with on social media uses a lot of tofu in her cooking. Though I love tofu, I have never tried my hand at it. Whenever I see Divya post anything related to tofu, I always got inspired. Finally one day, I remembered to pick up tofu. I messaged her as soon as I got home & asked her tips on how to handle tofu. I wanted to try out something really simple and did not want to get too creative with tofu. Did not wanna risk it on my first try. She had asked me to place the tofu under a heavy object & said I could dust it with some spices and do a pan fry. Now I did not tell her that what I had was medium firm tofu. So my tofu slightly got squished having been placed under a heavy object (mistake no 1 of trial no 1 :)). Barring that, I loved the basic spices I used – corn starch, salt & red chilli powder and I knew I had to blog it. I realised the excess moisture from medium firm tofu gets removed quite well just by wrapping it in muslin cloth and leaving it for 30 minutes. Thanks Divya for inspiring me to try out tofu. I am so glad I braved handling tofu which surprisingly turned out to be very easy. This dish can be such a party pleaser.
- 250 gms medium firm tofu
- 1 heaped tsp corn starch
- 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp gingelly/ sesame oil
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Place the tofu block on a piece of muslin cloth & wrap it.
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Let it rest for 30 minutes so that the excess water will be absorbed by the cloth.
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After 30 minutes, take the tofu block, place it on a chopping board & cut it into equal pieces.
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In a small plate, mix together corn starch, red chilli powder & salt.
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Throw in the tofu pieces into this spice powder & ensure to coat all sides of all the tofu pieces.
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Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottom kadai/ pan with gingelly oil on medium flame.
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Once hot, throw in the tofu pieces into the pan.
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Leave it untouched on medium heat for 2 minutes and then start flipping sides.
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Give it 1-2 minutes on all sides.
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Flip till there is a nice golden brown crust on each side. Turn off the heat & serve hot.
- You can try this with paneer/ cottage cheese as well.
- If you do not have gingelly/ sesame oil, use vegetable oil or even ghee.
Stepwise pictures
Place the tofu block in a muslin cloth.
Wrap it & let it sit for 30 minutes. This will remove the excess water that’s in the tofu.
After 30 minutes, remove the tofu block from the cloth & place it on a chopping board.
Cut into equal pieces. I cut them a bit chunky since its easier to saute on the pan :). You can chop them smaller.
In a small plate, mix together corn starch, salt & red chilli powder.
Throw in the tofu pieces and coat the tofu pieces with the spice mixture.
Make sure to evenly coat all the sides of the tofu pieces.
Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottom kadai/ pan with some gingelly oil. Once heated, add the tofu pieces into the pan. Leave it untouched on medium heat for 2 minutes and then start flipping sides.
Give it 1-2 minutes on all sides.
Flip till there is a nice golden brown crust on each side. Turn off the heat.
Serve hot! I love how the tofu tastes crunchy on the outside & soft in the insides.
