Orange Chicken Style Tofu
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound extra firm tofu, drained and pressed, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
hot cooked rice, to serve
1. Saute tofu in 2 tablespoons oil until browned. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, saute garlic and green onions in remaining 1 tablespoon oil until garlic is golden.
2. Add water, orange juice, lemon juice, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium.
3. In a small cup or dish, mix together cornstarch and water until thoroughly blended. Pour cornstarch mixture into sauce, stirring constantly.
4. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sauce thickens to your liking. Remove from heat and combine with tofu until completely coated. Serve over rice.
Use more or less cornstarch mixture depending on how thick you like your sauce. You can also add ginger if you like that flavor. Or orange peel or orange juice concentrate for more orange flavor. Enjoy!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This is the best recipe that I've tried in a long time!
I doubled the garlic, tripled the red pepper and used white sugar with
a T. of maple syrup (because we were out of brown sugar). Delicious!
i have been a vegetarian for about a week now, and being a teen in a family of 6, it is hard to find easy quick DELICIOUS nonetheless vegetarian meals, and this was exactly what i was looking for. i love tofu, but i can't get the tofu to absorb any seasoning, the outside tastes good, but the inside is bland, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to change that?
You can, and you can't. Freezing does work, and gives the tofu a more "meat-like" texture in addition to the pourousness, which helps soak up the flavour. If you want to marinate tofu to increase the flavour, any cubes or slices need to be small or thin (like 1/4") because the marinade will penetrate only the first few millimeters of the tofu. This is especially true of extra firm tofu - the firmer the tofu, the less it is going to soak anything up. You can also try pressing the water out of the tofu (which you should always do to tofu that's been frozen) by placing the tofu on a plate and putting another plate, perhaps with something a little heavy on it, like a bowl, to slowly press the water out of it. This should take about 15 minutes or so, and you should drain off the water that collects on the plate every few minutes. With less water, any marinade you put on the tofu will be soaked up a bit better. This is also somewhat true of sauces.
Good luck! :)
i have been a vegetarian for about a week now, and being a teen in a family of 6, it is hard to find easy quick DELICIOUS nonetheless vegetarian meals, and this was exactly what i was looking for. i love tofu, but i can't get the tofu to absorb any seasoning, the outside tastes good, but the inside is bland, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to change that?
Try freezing your tofu first. It creates a more porous texture (and makes it easier to drain), allowing for better absorption of items like sauces. Plus, it has a nice chewy texture that's great for dishes like this one.
i have been a vegetarian for about a week now, and being a teen in a family of 6, it is hard to find easy quick DELICIOUS nonetheless vegetarian meals, and this was exactly what i was looking for. i love tofu, but i can't get the tofu to absorb any seasoning, the outside tastes good, but the inside is bland, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to change that?
This was lovely! I doubled the sauce, as one reviewer suggested. Used frozen/thawed/pressed Chinese spiced tofu and tore it into bite sized pieces before browning. Added a minced sliver of ginger as the recipe's author suggested and half a red pepper, cut into squares, as well to the scallion-garlic saute.
I'm going to triple this recipe for my next vegan gathering. It was awesome!
Yum!!! This was really good. I only did a few alterations.. I used basmati rice cause that's all we had, but I would have used brown for more nutrition.
-Cut back on the oil for sauteeing the tofu
-Added probably 3 x the amount of orange juice
-Added dried orange peel
-On top, seasame seeds!
Also, maybe I am stupid, but my cornstarch is not very smooth, and i couldn't smush all the little chunks up, so the end product had a few little chunks of cornstarch (like tiny balls).. maybe sifting it? I'm not sure!
Make this, it's easy, fast.. only bad thing is that now I have like 4 pans to clean out :(
This was rather good!
Double the souce, but half the sugar and double the orange juice.
Lots of red peper.
Yum!
Now, if only I can figure who to get the tofu from sticking to the All Clad pans.... ???
Fantastico! I doubled the sauce (but still used just two green onions, including their leaves), further doubled the orange juice, froze the tofu beforehand, and cooked the tofu in a blend of both canola and sesame oils (2 Tbsp canola, 1 Tbsp sesame). My parents and I both loved it, and I loved how cheap and easy it was to make - I only had to buy tofu and scallions, so it's nice having a recipe that I don't have to buy five million (expensive) ingredients for. Next time I'll have to serve some spring rolls with it!
oh yum this was good!! i changed a few things: a bit more orange juice, all in one pan with regular onion, asparagus and green pepper, lemon zest at the end. nothing major. so yummy. thanks for the recipe!! i think next time i'll so us some extra sauce, but that's just cause i likes it saucy :)
warmth.
Any suggestions on what kind of vinegar to use? I'm assuming distilled white or white wine, but I figured I'd ask.
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