For some reason, I ended up with back-to-back rice and tofu dishes. I usually try to break up my meals a bit for some variety. But despite their similar ingredients, the dishes couldn’t be more different, flavor-wise.
This General Tao’s Tofu is another recipe that I adapted from the latest VegNews magazine. They tout it as “better than takeout,” and I have to say, they weren’t joking. It’s delicious! The sweet and spicy sauce was amazing, and the crispy tofu? Well, you’ll just have to try it for yourself.
I modified some of the ingredients and changed the steps involved to make the dish. The original recipe requires lots of pots and pans, and I don’t know about you, but I hate doing dishes. So, I took a few shortcuts that definitely didn’t take away anything from the actual dish.
General Tao’s Tofu
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 ½ tsp Ener-G egg replacer
4 tbsp water, divided
1 lb firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
¾ cup + 1 tbsp cornstarch, divided
5 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
5 scallions, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2/3 cup water and 1 vegetable bouillon cube
2 tbsp tamari sauce
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 cups steamed broccoli
3 cups cooked brown rice
Directions:
Cook your rice first. I had trouble with rice for the longest time, but I figured out an approach that hasn’t failed me yet:
Use wide pot or pan with a lid. The rice to water ratio is 1:2. So for this recipe, I used 1 ½ cups of rice to 3 cups of water. Add those to the pot and add a spoonful of Earth Balance or oil. Bring the rice up to a boil, then turn the temperature down to low (but turn it up a bit if it stops boiling). Cover. For brown rice, I usually cook it for 40 minutes.
Here’s a shortcut for the broccoli: After the rice is finished cooking, turn the heat off and throw the cut broccoli on top of the steaming rice and put the lid back on. By the time you finish making the rest of the dish, the broccoli will be perfectly steamed.
Next, in a small bowl (I used a plate to spread it all out evenly), mix the egg replacer with 3 tbsp water. Dip tofu in this mixture and coat completely. Sprinkle ¾ cup cornstarch over tofu to coat (this seems like a lot of cornstarch, but it works).
In a large pan (I used a cast-iron skillet) over medium-high heat, heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil. Fry tofu pieces until brown on both sides, about 2 minutes (it took a little longer for my tofu to brown – about 4 minutes).
Place tofu on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain the oil.
Here’s my next shortcut: For the step below, I just used the same cast-iron skillet that I used to fry the tofu. I didn’t even bother draining it; I just didn’t add any more oil to the pan.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, add scallions, ginger, and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add water and vegetable bouillon cube, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper, and vinegar. Add remaining water and 1 tbsp of cornstarch to the sauce mixture, stirring well.
Add fried tofu and coat evenly.
Serve immediately over the steamed broccoli and rice.
Enjoy!
