Tofu

[minidancer]

I'm vegetarian and really want to use more tofu in meals.
How do I make it crunchy?

When I order a curry from the takeaway it's like it's fluffy.......how do I do this too?

Any ideas on how to make tofu taste better gratefully received!

I have an air fryer if it's easier in that.

Thank you

Press it well to get the excess moisture out, then freeze it. Then air fry.

not tried it myself yet but some ppl say that cornflour gives it extra crunch as a coating.

Ive not ever got it to takeaway standard, but this is good. Enjoy 🥰

Thank you...... so air fry it from frozen?

I take it out of the packaging several hours before I want to cook it and leave it in the fridge to dry out. Then I dust it will flour before frying

I dry it out a bit, chop into squares and dust with cornflour and some spices...whatever goes with the dish you're cooking. Then I either airfry or shallow fry in vegetable oil and it comes out nice and crunchy. Just be careful with airfryer though, sometimes it can really dry it out too much. Good luck!

They often use deep fried bean curd in the restaurants /takeaways, it's puffy. You can buy this from Asian supermarkets. Otherwise use normal tofu, marinade, smother in cornflour and shallow fry to make crispy.

Thank you all. I've got a tofu press so I'll try that out. I was hoping to make a crispy chilli beef tofu version so I'll try cornflour.

I like the Tufu brand - it's really firm and holds its shape well (although it's not fluffy if that is what you want!). I like it rolled in cornflour then baked 180 for 25 mins or so. Gives it a nice crispy coating. Then bung into a stir fry.

Tofu puffs are a good buy, but not crispy. For crispy, go for potato or corn starch (seasoned) coating.

The Ottolenghi recipe for black pepper tofu is amazing (not crispy though) and only needs a fraction of the black pepper it suggests!

I use smoked tofu. Chop it up, frying pan, olive oil, chilli, paprika, soy sauce and wholegrain mustard. Served with mushrooms and sweet chilli jam. Mmmm!

Definitely agree with using a tofu press to drain the water for a few hours. Then I roll in oil then flour and bake for a crispy outside. I've tried frying but struggle to get it crispy and not just absorbing oil.
I do find the brand varies a lot though and have been using Wicked firm recently and that's good. Never tried the non firm ones but I struggle with getting a fluffy centre so maybe don't pick the firm ones if you want that?

@minidancer yes air fry from frozen

The really puffy stuff you are talking about is deep fried- you can get it in Asian supermarkets.
It’s not quite the same but a very firm tofu or tofoo brand in the airfryer will puff up a bit

I think the trick is to cook it longer than you might expect. It holds up ok and then it will get crispy. Once I got over the fear I was over-cooking it, things where a lot nicer!

I like cutting thin squares and grilling them, then putting some sweet chili or plum sauce on, and back under the grill to get sticky.