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 such a great sauce that I eat whenever I am craving chinese food. Like most things, I've personalized it. I omit the sherry, use rice vinegar instead of white, cut back on the sweetener, (I use agave), sometimes broth, sometimes water and I always double the sauce. Also, sometimes there is tofu, sometimes not. I do enjoy the way it is made in this recipe, though it goes well with tofu coated in nutritional yeast and fried. Broccoli and carrots are usually pretty prominent as well.
How do I make the tbs of ginger not so over powering in the recipe??? ???
If it's too gingery for you, it may be more a matter of cutting back the amount of ginger you use.
Genearl Tsao would DEFINITELY be proud! This is unbelievable!
This has to be one of my all time "Chinese food" dishes! I'm so glad to have found this amazing recipe here.
Gotta be sure to use extra hard tofu, though. I can imagine it becoming really globby if I would have used anything softer than I did! Drain away!
Now I think there might be some leftovers calling my name...
Seeing how this is a really popular recipe and everybody is raving about it...I decided to give it a try. I really tried to follow all the steps and the sauce was ok. What I wasn't too happy about was the over powering taste of ginger. I minced the ginger with the garlic and other vegetables like shgwn. Im really wondering what I did wrong and everybody else turned out great? How do I make the tbs of ginger not so over powering in the recipe??? ???
First of all, thank you so much for this amazing recipe!! It is a great way for us to get our Chinese-food fix without eating a million calories or possibly consuming MSG. Plus, tofu!!
I am a bit lazy, however, and do the tofu differently. I just cut it up into bite-sized pieces, put it into a baggie with some flour, shake to coat, then throw in the wok with a little oil. Works great and takes a lot less time. Also sometimes I'll just use seitan instead without any breading, or of course just plain ol' tofu stir-fried.
Either way, the sauce is perfect, and I always double it, like lots of others here. Plus I add a bunch more veggies and just quickly stir-fry them in the wok with the tofu (after tofu's done) before adding the sauce. Less dirty dishes = happier me. :)
I am dying to make this one. Can someone please tell me how to make a good vegetable stock? :)
You can make it with vegetable scraps and have it for free! When you peel carrots, cut the ends off of celery and onions (even brown onion skin goes in!), or any odds and ends that don't make it into your usual dishes, put them all in a bag in the freezer. Once your bag is full, boil all your scraps in a large pot of water for a few hours until the water and the veggie parts are the same color. strain out the chunks and voila, free, delicious broth! I usually freeze my broth in a couple large tupperware, and it lasts for months!
when using homemade you may have to add extra salt because most store bought broth is pretty salty.
This was so yummy! Even my super picky 6 yr old loved it! He really thought the tofu was chicken! lol Yes, I lied to him, but there's no way he would have even tried it if he knew that it was tofu. We will definitely be making this again. Next time I will be making double the sauce though. Thanks!
Good stuff first: omnivore hubby practically offered to arm-wrestle for the last serving. ;D The sauce is yummy, and the technique for the tofu is fabulous!
Recommendations: to me, this tofu cries out for marination! It tasted like, well, plain tofu... though the texture was great, unfortunately it wasn't as tasty as the yummy sauce around it. I used frozen/ drained/ pressed xt firm tofu; next time (and o yes: there WILL be a next time!) I'll use frozen/ drained/ pressed/ marinated tofu, definitely!... maybe make a double-batch of the sauce & use half for marinating; or whip up a garlic/ ginger/ soy marinade... something like that. Also, I used 1 Tbsp sesame oil + 2 Tbsp peanut oil to saute ginger/ garlic, & that seemed to impart additional goodness of flavor...
Before starting the tofu, I started some jasmine rice; sliced broccoli flowers, & laid across top of rice to steam while rice cooked... the timing of this arrangement worked well, with both rice & broccoli done about the same time as tofu/ sauce. Then I used tongs to move broccoli spears into sauce, tossed with tofu, & served w/ rice on the side. Yummy! Will tweak slightly next time, to flavor tofu... but I definitely see why this get's so many rave reviews.
:)>>>
Thanks!
I am dying to make this one. Can someone please tell me how to make a good vegetable stock? :)
I hate tofu, so I used Potatoes chunked(par boliled) in place of the tofu, I just cooked them in the oil til they were browned, I have also substituted cauliflower for the tofu, cooking it just like the potatoes.... using the rest of the ingredients...it is very good, a keeper for sure ;)b
Seeing as I dont have any egg substitute... when I made this recipe, I instead heated up a pan and DOUSED it with nonstick spray. I sliced the tofu in half through the side middle, and sprinkled on some salt. I then tok a teeeeeeny pinch of sugar and sprinkled evenly over the side. Then I put the tofu in and did the same to the non-cooking side. It browned up PERFECTLY with no sugary taste... It might have taken 3-4 minutes a side, but it was so delicious and a lot healthier :)
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