I love thai food. Its a perfect balance of spicy and sweet, bitter and salty. I also love anything fried. This thai-inspired dish delivers in heartiness, taste, texture and presentation. If you deep-fry tofu, Ener-G is your friend. You simply dunk whatever you’re frying into diluted Ener-G before coating in cornstarch and it repels the oil from whatever your frying magnificently. I like to prepare the vinegar sauce and marinate the shallots overnight—if you don’t have time to do this, a quick saute of the shallots will do the trick.
FRIED TOFU WITH THAI VINEGAR SAUCE
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 2
Ingredients
- 1 block of tofu (I like to cut it into 8 pieces and then again in half to make squares, but whatever way you cut it will work fine.)
- 1 1/2 tsps Ener-G, whisked with 5 tbsps water
- cornstarch
- vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 5 tbsps sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- red chili pepper flakes
- 2 -3 shallots, sliced thinly
- cilantro sprigs
Instructions
- Make your vinegar sauce by first dissolving the sugar with the boiling water in a small saucepan. Add the vinegar, salt and red chili pepper flakes. If marinating the shallots, add those and transfer the mixture, covered, to the refrigerator.
- Once you are ready to prepare the tofu, set up two wide shallow bowls—one with cornstarch and one with the Ener-G mixture. Heat plenty of vegetable oil in a wide frying pan over medium high heat, about 7 minutes. You can tell when the oil is ready by inserting a wooden spoon into the oil. If it bubbles up around the spoon, its ready.
- Working in batches, dunk the tofu slices into the Ener-G mixture, then transfer to the cornstarch, tapping off any excess. Add to the hot oil and fry on each side until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towels until ready to plate.
- Arrange the tofu slices in a shallow bowl, spooning the prepared vinegar sauce over the top. Top with shallots and cilantro—enjoy the deep-fried goodness!
yum!