Spicy Barbecue Tofu
2-3 pounds firm tofu
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup hot water (more or less as needed)
1/4 cup tamari sauce
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
your favorite spicy barbecue sauce
Buy a good tofu that doesn't have an after taste. Freeze tofu 48 hours. Defrost and squeeze out water. Cut into little squares (1 approximately).
In a separate bowl add soy or tamari sauce, peanut butter (creamy or chunky), crushed garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper. Slowly stir in steaming water until the right consistency which might be like a thick salad dressing.
Mix in tofu cubes and cover all sides well. Spread cubes in one layer on a well oiled baking sheet. Barbecue sauce can be spread on top at this time. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and turn over. More barbecue sauce can be added. Return to oven and bake additional 20 minutes or until tofu seems cooked.
I don't think anything in the recipe needs to be exact, but I definitely would not skip the freezing part. Meat eaters are willing to try this because they think it might be chicken.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Just made this recipe. It's awesome. I don't buy the necessity of freezing the tofu though, and I cooked mine without barbecue sauce on it and added that later. I also like to cut the tofu in strips instead of cubes.
Here's what you do: Pour off the water, then squeeze the tofu between paper towels a few times (R.I.P. environment). Then put the tofu in the oven while it preheats and complete the other steps, and turn it and press it down occasionally to squeeze out more water. You can also slice the tofu in half so that you have 2 thinner rectangles instead of 1 thick one, then squeeze the water out of each, then put those in the oven. To make strips like I do, just cut each of these halves into 4 equal strips. This gives you 8 strips, perfect for 2 good-sized servings.
Also, make the mixture thicker. Don't add so much water. Make it a bit pasty so it sticks to the tofu even if the tofu is a little watery.
I second the 375 degrees for 20 minutes each side.
WORD
Delicious! I used one block of tofu and made slightly less than half of the sauce, which worked well. I used much more garlic (about 4 cloves for half the recipe). I also used spicy peanut butter and hot chipotle barbeque sauce, so in the end my tofu was a bit too spicy (and I LOVE spicy foods), but delicious nonetheless. If I use those two items to make it in the future, I'll use less (or no) cayenne to make up for it. I used about 3/4 cup barbeque sauce, which I just mixed in to the peanut butter mixture - I don't know if that changes the dish at all, but I thought it would be easier. I only wish I'd had time to marinate the tofu in the peanut butter mixture, because that would have been even better. I served mine over steamed broccoli and carrots, with Liquid Aminos and garlic gomasio. YUM!
as a newbie vegan (just had my 1st birthday march 1st!) and as an amateur cook, this was a very easy recipe and very tasssty!
there are however a few suggestions that one may want to take heed to in order to create the best dish ever:
1. be sure to freeze the tofu. once you defrost the tofu, drain as much water from the tofu as possible (as a suggestion: put a plate on top of the uncut tofu and press down on the plate on top of the UNCUT tofu to release all the water is a huge help! I did this about four times and it really dried the tofu out---which is KEY to this recipe as you want the tofu as firm as possible).
2. be sure to make your initial topping/glaze/mix on the thicker side...as it cooks into the tofu this way and gives it more flavor.
3. i would also suggest turning the temp up to about 375.... and allowing each side to cook for about 20 minutes as suggested.
4. after draining the UNCUT tofu, try cutting it in larger cubes (8 large cubes) as you can gain better control of the tofu and the glaze and bbq sauce seeps into the tofu giving it an excellent taste.
**** i tried this recipe twice over the weekend and these suggestions made the second serving absolutely WONDERFUL!
happy eating!!!
This was delish, made it last night! Thanks for a recipe I'll definately make again!
Is there a particular brand of tofu that's better? I've been using Nasoya and it seems to have an aftertaste.
Wonderful! I love the peanut butter in this...I added red pepper flakes to make it a bit spicier (I like things spicy!) and it was really yummy.
This is the best Tofu I ever had. Even my picky 7 year-old loves it. Thank you! :)