Spicy Orange Tofu
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb regular tofu (best when frozen and thawed at least once)
1/4 cup orange peel
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional and amount desired)
Cut tofu into strips. In wok or skillet heat oil over med-hi heat. Add tofu and stir fry until golden (it may be easier to do 1/2 or 1/3 of tofu at a time). Add orange peel, garlic, and ginger. Stir fry 1 minute.
In medium bowl combine cornstarch, broth, soy sauce, sherry, marmalade and red pepper, stir into tofu. Stir constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Serve over rice.
Note: Adjust the spiciness by adding more or less red pepper. The 1/2 tsp does make it pretty spicy.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I made this about a year ago and didn't leave a comment. I'm making this again tonight. It is indeed a good and memorable recipe! About as good as you can get from a good Chinese fast food place. Both me and my husband really like it :)
I love that the tofu isn't deep fried like in resturants and the sauce is just as good, if not better. I find it more complex than most resturant sauces: two different orange flavors between the peel and the marmalade, the sweet tartness of the sherry, the saltiness of the soy sauce...
As is, I think this recipe would be pretty icky. (Sorry)
I made the sauce in a pan first so I could taste it... and it's good that I did because I had to make a lot of changes. It still came out too salty and bitter... and I only put in half the soy sauce and a fourth of the peel! I really wanted it to be sticky and sweet like from a restaurant.
Based on how mine turned out, I would make these changes:
2/3 cup marmalade
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup broth
1 Tbs tamari (maybe less)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1/8 - 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp sugar (more or less to taste)
2 Tbs cornstarch
I made this again with tempeh and what I had on hand... used mostly orange juice (about 1 cup or so, with just a little broth added in) and left out the orange peel and marmalade. I also left out the cornstarch mixture, so it would just be a light glaze, not too heavy. I served the tempeh over rice and spinach. Way yum.
I made this marinade last night and let my tofu sit in it over night. I made an awesome stir fry with it. I used Jasmine rice and my stir fry had artichoke hearts, water chestnuts, french style green beans, onion, green onion top, red pepper, green pepper and red cabbage. Both of my kids cleaned their plates! Delicious! I am pleased to say that I have left overs for lunch tomorrow. :)
Took one bite...aweful. Took another to be sure....disgusting....threw it out.
:-XA Friendly Warning!!! We made this again last night and, without realizing it, bought a bitter orange marmalade instead of the sweet. It really made the entire dish bitter. Make sure you buy a sweet marmalade! :o
Loved this recipe. Served it over brown basmati rice and it was perfect. We really liked the sweet-hot flavor. We added some broccoli that we cooked separately and just stirred in at the end.
Forgot to mention in my review, definitely make more sauce than it says to, you'll want enough to mix into your rice or veggies or whatever you have with the tofu. It really is that good.
This was amazingly good, and really really close to the spicy orange chicken I so loved in my meat-eating days. As recommended by some of the other reviews, I added about a tablespoon of sugar to the sauce, used 1/2 cup veggie broth and 1/2 cup orange juice, and added some mandarin slices when I added the garlic. This was one of the best recipes I've gotten off this site, and that's really saying something. I'll add a couple pics, since there aren't any on this recipe yet, but they're kind of crappy cuz they're from my cell; I couldn't find my digital camera. Definitely try this one, it's a keeper! :D
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