The moment I saw this gorgeous sesame tofu recipe, I wanted to try it. Some of the original ingredients are not always what I have in hand or use much so I substituted with my own variations and it still tasted great. Generally, I am not a fan of mixing sweet in a savoury dish but honey-based sauces are always an exception.
I am positive this would taste just as fabulous with paneer substituted for tofu and and as a side dish for vegetable fried rice or egg fried rice. Yum!
HOT & SWEET SESAME TOFU RECIPE
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 2
Recipe and photo adapted from: Use Real Butter
Ingredients:
- 1 block of firm tofu
- ¼ cup of cornflour / corn starch
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoon of white sesame seeds
- A small bunch of spring onions/green onions
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoon of honey
- 1 teaspoon of soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar
- 2 teaspoon of red chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon of freshly grated garlic
- 2 teaspoon of sesame oil
- ½ cup of oil, more or less, for shallow frying
How to Make Sesame Tofu:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan.
Simmer on low heat until it starts to bubble up a bit. Continue to simmer for 2-3 mins and then turn off flame.
3. Now we need to fry up the tofu. If your tofu came packed in water, drain completely and press between kitchen towels to extract extra moisture. Cut into bite-sized cubes and dredge in the corn flour until fully coated.
4. Heat oil for shallow frying in a pan and add the tofu pieces in small batches making sure they don't overlap at all. Fry until light golden brown, drain and continue until you are done with the entire lot. Drain on kitchen towels to absorb the extra oil.
5. Add the fried tofu to a wide bowl and pour the sauce on top.
6. Top off with the sesame seeds and chopped spring onions.
Toss well to coat.
Sesame tofu is best served hot and immediately. If you expect it to be a while until you can serve it, keep the fried tofu and sauce separately, warm the sauce, and then do the mixing and tossing. The tofu pieces will remain crisp and the sauce gives a lovely sweet, hot, tangy, crunch to the entire dish.
Note:
The original recipe called for tamari instead of soya sauce I used, rice wine vinegar instead of the regular white vinegar I used, and Chinese sesame oil whereas I used gingelly oil or Indian sesame oil. As mentioned, I still loved the end product although my sauce was thicker since I added lesser honey.
Featured Props:
Brown flat plate and dark peach bowl both from Kappabashi Street, Tokyo.
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