Frying Tofu
Posted by Youkaiyami on Jun 08, 2009 · Member since Dec 2008 · 63 posts
Help...I wanted some EXTRA crispy tofu for a tofu-ritto. I left the slices (about 1/2 inch thick) of tofu in some enchilada sauce to marinate for like...well, forever. And I put them in a cast iron skillet with about 1/2 inch of oil to fry them. (I fried them because baking one batch of 1/4 inch pieces didn't seem to make it crispy despite crispy being in the recipe title).
But when I put them in, the oil popped so bad I had some not so fun oil burns :'( ! I had to slow fry them(flipping once in a while) on the lowest setting, I just ended up with mushy tofu on some pieces and burned tofu-fries with the other.
Is tofu hard to fry like that? Do I have to cover the pieces completely?
Please help, oil burns aren't fun.
I find that using less oil makes tofu crispier.....I barely use any and mine get super crispy (cuz I don't like soft tofu - at all).....if you let them sit in a lot of oil, the tofu tends to absorb the oil, which is pretty gross.....at least thats been my experience...
I don't use a marinade if I want crispy tofu. Tofu that has been marinated either stays soft, or gets chewy (in my experience). I like to fry it as is, and then add sauce.
Ah...okay, I had it in the marinade cause all I knew was that I wanted that spicy flavor, I decided to fry it on a whim.
Allychristine has it. The tofu was too wet, and that makes hot oil angry. Next time, make sure it's dry and well-pressed, then fry it up. THEN the sauce, always the sauce. :)
My carnivore partner loves tofu fried crispy the way I do it. All I do is the freeze and squeeze method, then toss it with some cornstarch and fry it. It works all the time. After it's fried, toss it with your sauce or put it in with whatever you're making. It stays crispy.
You can marinate tofu but you have to remove it from the sauce after its soaked overnight, allow most of it to drip off (or pat it with paper towels), then shallow fry in a little oil. This is kind of tricky as you can end up splattering sauce and making the oil angry. My advice is to sauce after until you get the hang of it and buy a splatter shield.