General Tao's Tofu
1 (12 ounce) box firm tofu, in 1" cubes (frozen and thawed, if desired)
1 egg equivalent (e.g., EnerG Egg Replacer), prepared
3 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons water, divided
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cornstarch, divided
vegetable oil for frying + 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2/3 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sherry, optional
red pepper, to taste
steamed broccoli, to serve
1. Mix the egg replacer as specified on the box and add an additional 3 tablespoons water. Dip tofu in egg replacer mixture and coat completely. Sprinkle 3/4 cup cornstarch over tofu and coat completely. Watch out that the cornstarch doesn't clump up at the bottom of the bowl.
2. Heat oil in pan and fry tofu pieces until golden. Drain oil. Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in pan on medium heat. Add green onions, ginger, and garlic; cook for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn garlic.
3. Add vegetable stock, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, sherry, and red pepper.
4. Mix 2 tablespoons water with 1 tablespoon cornstarch and pour into mixture stirring well. Add fried tofu and coat evenly.
Serve immediately with steamed broccoli over your choice of rice.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This is by far my all-time favorite recipe!
I make mine without ginger or sherry. I use 1+ tablespoons of powdered red pepper and go heavy on the broccoli, garlic and onions.
When I make this, it takes much longer than 30 minutes. But I don't just sprinkle the tofu with cornstarch. I dip each piece of tofu into the EnerGEgg/water mixture and then roll each individually through the cornstarch to coat them completely on all sides and set them on a plate before frying them. That process alone takes 30 minutes.
As a tip:
It took me a while to figure out how to cook the tofu in a way that kept the full crunchy coating over the tofu. I use only metal or ceramic-coated pans and cook the tofu in the pre-heated pan with extra oil on medium heat. I let the tofu cook almost completely through before turning over it for the first time. It tends to stick in one large clump at this point, but after turning it over and letting the other side cook completely, the tofu pieces will separate naturally from each other. It takes at least 3 times longer than normal to cook it this way, but it comes out PERFECT.
Amazing recipe, Ruby!
OMG- I just LOVE this recipe- quite often I just make the sauce and have rice and broccoli for dinner!I'm even adding this link to my blog - it's THAT good!
This sauce was way, way too sweet for our taste. Sweeter than anything we've ever tried in China or in a Chinese restaurant anywhere in the world. If you don't like ultra sweet sauces, this may not be for you.
This is an excellent recipe! I will definitely be making this on a regular basis. I took the advice of another review and made double the sauce. You have to, it's too good and everyone wants more!
Every time I crave Chinese food, this pretty much always ends up dinner that night.
The egg replacer corn starch process is a little bit of a pain in the ass, but it is so worth it.
As you can see by the bajillion reviews, this recipe rules. I get this recipe requested on a fairly regular basis from my family, who are all meat eaters.
I will add to the many comments :)
I really enjoyed this dish, did a couple of subs/changes b/c of lack of ingredients. I didn't use eggreplacer, I used Wildwood tofu super firm (my fav) frozen/thawed/squeezed and put them in a collender and just sprinkled the cornstarch all over and gently tossed them til coated. then a shallow fry. I had no probs at all with corn starch coming off, they had a nice light crispy layer on the outside. I used a veggie mix and subbed ginger for powdered (shame on me for being out of the real stuff!) I doubled the sauce, but did it all by eyeball. it turned out very nice, and i was too lazy to make rice. the timing of the recipe is pretty spot on for me. good stuff, easy to whip together, will do again someday.
I love this!!! Only problem is that I wanna eat it every night!!!
When it was all mixed together it tasted incredible but I think next time I will freeze the tofu first so it will hold up better.
Freezing the tofu makes a huge difference in the texture! I would suggest freezing tofu before-hand whenever your using it as a meat substitute. It's worth the wait!
I've just made this recipe and the only qualm I have with it is that when I made the tofu it did not hold up at all. When I sprinkled the cornstarch on top it clumped up and did not look very appetizing. I fried it anyway and it only got worse from there. The tofu was clear and looked down right gross. When it was all mixed together it tasted incredible but I think next time I will freeze the tofu first so it will hold up better.
My boy toy just made this and it rocks!!! We can NEVER ever, ever, ever, ever eat at crappy Noodle Express, ever, ever again!! I thought that place kinda sucked anyway, but now that I know we can make something this good at home, I am hooked! This recipe has also convinced me to absolutely not buy any store bought pre-made Chinese Sauces at the store because this sauce was incredible!! I've never had better. We doubled the recipe for sauce (definitely, do that!!) and served it over brown rice with broccoli as suggested. I don't normally over-eat but tonight, admittedly, I over-ate just a little! I could have kept going on and on eating for the experience of joy my taste buds were giving me, but I alas I forced myself to stop. Tofu, has never tasted so good. 5 million stars!! :-D (P.S. Restaurants could serve this as chicken, you'd never know the difference! I froze & defrosted my tofu as I always do when making tofu I want meaty. Cut it open in the middle & it even looks like chicken. But it's NOT a chicken, 'cause that's f*ing gross & sad, it's tofu & it's awesome!!!) Anyone who's "scared" of tofu- make this!
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