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?
All I can say is oh, my, god. This stuff is the *@^!
Added some extra veggies and next time will try to add a little more veggie stock and less oil for the sauce.
Will definitely be making this for my non-vegan friends because there is no way you can not love this.
Whoever came up with this - thank you! :D
I've made this recipe several times now and can't praise it enough! It's one of those rare recipes that REALLY works :)
My slight adjustment:
I used Cauldron 'Original' Tofu, squeezed out all the water and then cut it into chunks. I then dipped the chunks into some kuzu liquid (to act like a beaten egg) and then rolled it in polenta and fried it. If for some reason you have some left over I found that it keeps well in the fridge, and the polenta crust doesn't go soggy and yuk as could be expected.
I can't say how much I love this recipe! My family was very impressed as well which is great considering none of them would touch tofu with a 10 ft pole! Once you get the technique down it is a super easy meal to make, you can play with the spices, veggies, etc. I have now started to play around with the tofu. Today I cut the tofu into strips and mixed that with the 'egg' and cornstarch mixture, added some spices to that and then cooked it as the recipe says. When that was done I stir fried up onion, ,green and red peppers, black beans, jalapeno pepper, cumin, paprika, chili pepper and garlic and made some great tasting fajitas! Thanks for the recipe, it has opened up many doors in my kitchen!
DarkSun2, I realized I said that I cubed the tofu and fried it on all four sides... I meant all six sides, as cubes have six sides my bad... Anyway, I'd estimate that it takes me at least a good 15 minutes to fry it.
DarkSun2, I'm assuming that you're adding the water to the egg replacer powder, right? If so, it sounds like you're doing it right. I find that mine works better when I have a really good coating of cornstarch, so I make sure to press the tofu into the starch (after coating well in the egg replacer/water first) so it gets a lot on there. It does take me pretty long to fry the pieces up... I cube the tofu and try to fry them on all four sides. They should be sort of hard after frying, at least this is what works for me. The first time I made it I thought I wrecked it because they felt kinda like rocks! But when coated and heated with the sauce it was perfect. Actually, I burnt a batch once and it was still fine. hope this helps.
Laur B., thanks for your reply. I'm preparing the egg replacer with the water, yup. I guess the issue must be that I'm not frying the tofu for a long enough time. Do you (or does anyone) have an approximate time they could give me for how long they fry the tofu on each side?
I've made this recipe twice and, while it came out really yummy both times, I can't seem to get the tofu to come out crispy. Any advice?
Here's what I've been doing:
I use Ener-G egg replacer to coat the tofu and then roll each piece in the cornstarch. After they're all covered I put them in the pan and start frying until they look golden, which doesn't take long at all. Could it be that I'm not frying them for long enough? The second time around I tried to fry them for longer, probably twice as long, but was worried I'd burn them. Either way, the results were basically the same. The tofu wasn't crunchy. Any ideas?
DarkSun2, I'm assuming that you're adding the water to the egg replacer powder, right? If so, it sounds like you're doing it right. I find that mine works better when I have a really good coating of cornstarch, so I make sure to press the tofu into the starch (after coating well in the egg replacer/water first) so it gets a lot on there. It does take me pretty long to fry the pieces up... I cube the tofu and try to fry them on all four sides. They should be sort of hard after frying, at least this is what works for me. The first time I made it I thought I wrecked it because they felt kinda like rocks! But when coated and heated with the sauce it was perfect. Actually, I burnt a batch once and it was still fine. hope this helps.
This sounds really great... I definitly will try this (hopefully) sometime in the near future... does it metter if I try extra-firm tofu the comes already cubed? (NaSoya)
DRA88, pre-cubed tofu will work great. I cube mine anyway so you won't have to cut it up!
This sounds really great... I definitly will try this (hopefully) sometime in the near future... does it metter if I try extra-firm tofu the comes already cubed? (NaSoya)
I've made this recipe twice and, while it came out really yummy both times, I can't seem to get the tofu to come out crispy. Any advice?
Here's what I've been doing:
I use Ener-G egg replacer to coat the tofu and then roll each piece in the cornstarch. After they're all covered I put them in the pan and start frying until they look golden, which doesn't take long at all. Could it be that I'm not frying them for long enough? The second time around I tried to fry them for longer, probably twice as long, but was worried I'd burn them. Either way, the results were basically the same. The tofu wasn't crunchy. Any ideas?
i tried the breading method everyone suggested, what a mess! the tofu stuck to the cutting boards, stuck to the countertops, stuck to the pan, and stuck to itself. it stuck to the pan so bad we just ended up dumping it all in a larger pan and deep frying it, where the tofu clumped into a large (but still tasty) clump. it was the perfect texture in the end, and the sauce was perfect, but for so much trouble and mess (my kitchen looked like a cornstarch bomb went off in it), i think id skip the cornstarch next time and just fry them, maybe with a little flour or breadcrumbs. or maybe bake for something a little lighter.
id definitely make the sauce again (doubled this time!), but my kitchen is too small for this recipe!
my boyfriend loves general gau's tofu, so im glad theres a decent recipe out there, so we dont blow so much money at the expensive vegan chinese place in allston that doesnt deliver <3
First time making it. My roommates say it was one of the best meals we've had in this house. I didn't have cornstarch so I rolled the tofu chunks in a little flour after dipping them in egg. Seemed to work well. I used a ridiculous amount of ginger as well.
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