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?
wow this was great!i made a lot of changes due to ingredients that i didnt have. i used morningstar chicken strips instead of tofu because im not a big fan of tofu. i used arrowroot flower instead of cornstarch (theyre basically the same anyway) i didnt use sherry or vinegar i used regular pepper instead of red pepper, and i didnt use fresh ginger or garlic. i used ginger spice and garlic poweder..oh and vegetable broth instead of stock...wow i guess i changed everything haha but it was great! it serves about 2. everyone said double the sauce. i didnt because i thought it would be a little too much i wish i wouldve had a little bit more though but double is too much
I had a few slight issues with this recipe, but they were all entirely my fault and can be fixed the next time I make this. There *will* be a next time, because even with the problems, it was still tasty.
I'll admit; I'm usually a bit lazy with my cooking. First, I mixed up the "egg" mixture in a container, put the tofu pieces in it and stirred them around some to make sure they were coated, then just started sprinkling the corn starch directly onto the tofu. Luckily, I'd only used a little less than half of the corn starch when I realized that the bottom of the container bore a striking resemblance to Elmer's glue, so I went ahead and put the tofu pieces into the heated, oiled pan, let them cook for a very short while, then sprinkled the remaining cornstarch over the tofu pieces in small batches, stirring in between sprinkling.
Second, instead of preparing the sauce in a separate pan, I added all of the ingredients into the same pan with the fried tofu. This created tofu that was probably not nearly as crispy as intended (mine was a smidge soggy), but it was still edible.
Since I didn't have any veggie broth, I put 3/4 cup water, a handful of kale, about 1/3 of a carrot, a couple shakes of salt, and a squirt or two of soy sauce into my Blendtec blender, and used that. I also decided not to use as much sugar as the recipe calls for, and instead just sprinkled some sucanat over the top of everything in the pan (I didn't measure, but if I had to guess, I'd say I used less than 1/8 of a cup). Also, for the "red pepper", I diced one red serrano pepper, which provided a really nice spice that didn't go overboard.
Overall, it was quite tasty, and when I make it next time, I won't take the "shortcuts" I used this time.
The Traveling Austin Vegan
http://thetravelingaustinvegan.blogspot.com
So the easiest way to do it is to use one hand to dip in the wet mixture
Just grind 1 tbs of flax seed in a food processor. Then pour it into a bowl w/ 3tbs of water and whisk together. Ta-Da! 1 egg Replacer Equivalent!
Is there a way of replacing the egg-replacer? I've never seen that stuff here in Germany :(
I have used corn starch as a replacement, and have also made it "naked" both with good results.
Is there a way of replacing the egg-replacer? I've never seen that stuff here in Germany :(
I made this tonight for dinner, so fantastic! I feel like I never need to order Chinese food again. ;)b
This sauce was too sweet for me, but that's just personal preference :) Everyone else seemed to really enjoy it.
I made this yesterday, and I agree that it is way too sweet. I reduced the sugar as many others have suggested, and it was still too sweet for me. However, I understand why people like it so much, even if it's not to my taste.
I added lots of veggies to this and made it a veggie stir fry. Next time that I make it I am going to change the sauce, but keep the tofu instructions, the tofu was AWESOME!
I took some pictures of the process and put them on my blog, if anyone is interested in a play by play!
http://goodbyebiscuits.blog.com/
This stuff is unbelievable! One of the most amazing things I've ever made. I used frozen tofu which gave it an even meatier texture. I misread the recipe and individually coated each piece of tofu in the cornstarch mixture, making the things taste pretty starchy. It didn't taste that good 40 hours later, lol. But this stuff is SO good, I really have to restrain myself from making this too often!
Pages