Crack Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 14 ounce box of firm or extra firm tofu
- 6 tablespoons of soy sauce I used reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sriracha
- 3 tablespoons of maple syrup
Instructions
- Marinade Prep: Drain the water from the tofu. Cut it up into bite size pieces. Set it aside.
- In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, sriracha and maple syrup. Stirring to combine.
- Add the cut up tofu to the sauce in the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap or a lid and lightly roll the bowl around in your hands so that the tofu is covered with the marinade.
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 30 minutes. You can also marinate overnight.
- Every so often, go to the refrigerator and roll the bowl around with the cover on to distribute the sauce over the tofu. The tofu will try to soak up some of the marinate.
- Cooking: Add some oil to a medium frying pan over medium heat. Let the oil get warmed.
- Drain the bowl of the marinade. Add half of the tofu and cook. Stirring often for about 5 minutes.
- Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining tofu and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Enjoy over some rice, lentils or a salad.
I already know what you are thinking. "Tofu? Tofu is bland and squishy and tasteless. Eww..really DeLynn?" I used to think the exact same thing until I found this recipe for marinating and cooking it. There is a reason they call it Crack Tofu and that is because it is addicting once you have eaten it!
Tofu is a good natural protein source. It is made from soybeans and water and turned into milk then processed similar to cheese. It has about 8 grams of protein per serving. The box of tofu that I use says there is 4.5 servings out of that box which you will see is not very big. That means a little portion of tofu has a lot of protein.
There are different types of tofu; silken, soft, firm and extra firm to just mention a few. I have always used firm or extra firm. The different types of course are dependent on their softness. The silken is the moistest because it has more water than the firm. You would typically use the silken type in desserts. For this particular recipe I have used the firm and extra firm. I love them over this salad, Glory Bowl.
The great thing about tofu too is that you can cut it up how you like it. If you want to have larger "patty" type of sections you can do that or cut it very small too. However, I do think if you cut it too small then it will just be a mushy mess.
By using the firm or extra firm you get a nice sear on the tofu. It brings the flavor out of the marinade. I love cooking something like this with coconut oil. It brings another dimension of a slight sweetness to it.
Marinating tofu to me is essential. I love the flavor combinations of the sweetness of the maple syrup, spice of the sriracha and savory of the soy sauce. You can see in the picture how the sriracha clings to the tofu. I leave it in the marinade as much as I can before actually cooking it. When you do cook it, it cooks fast. You just want to brown it on all sides if possible. When it cooks, it doesn't actually get any firmer. You are really just wanting to warm it and get the carmelization on the outside of the tofu.
As you can see by my almost empty sriracha bottle, I put it on A LOT of different stuff. Pete swears that if I could, I would put it on ice cream. I just love sriracha! Trader Joe's makes a good sriracha sauce too! I will say though that it does tend to have a lot of sodium. Together these ingredients account for a lot of unnecessary sodium. That's why you will see that I buy the "reduced sodium" soy sauce. Our bodies don't need all of that salt.
I truly hope that you will at least try this recipe. I do think you will be surprised at how good the flavor is. It might make you think differently about tofu.
Crack Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 14 ounce box of firm or extra firm tofu
- 6 tablespoons of soy sauce I used reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sriracha
- 3 tablespoons of maple syrup
Instructions
- Marinade Prep: Drain the water from the tofu. Cut it up into bite size pieces. Set it aside.
- In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, sriracha and maple syrup. Stirring to combine.
- Add the cut up tofu to the sauce in the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap or a lid and lightly roll the bowl around in your hands so that the tofu is covered with the marinade.
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 30 minutes. You can also marinate overnight.
- Every so often, go to the refrigerator and roll the bowl around with the cover on to distribute the sauce over the tofu. The tofu will try to soak up some of the marinate.
- Cooking: Add some oil to a medium frying pan over medium heat. Let the oil get warmed.
- Drain the bowl of the marinade. Add half of the tofu and cook. Stirring often for about 5 minutes.
- Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining tofu and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Enjoy over some rice, lentils or a salad.
Recipe from Honey & Figs Kitchen
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