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Spiced Tofu Snacks

Posting Date: 05/24/20

Spiced Tofu Snacks are 100% delicious because they are crispy and flavorful. Even tofu haters love them. Tofu snacks can be served as snacks but you can also serve them on top of salad, like croutons, or on top of soup, like crackers. You can also serve them with rice and other dishes.

I first came with the idea when I tried to make my tofu crispier for a tofu dish. I coated diced tofu with cornstarch so that it would be crispy and yet light. It was so addicting that I could not stop snacking them even though it had no flavor. So, I came up with an idea to make tofu snacks and coat them with spiced cornstarch.

For this recipe, I use salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, and turmeric powder. You can use other spices to flavor the tofu, such as curry powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, etc. You will still need to add salt and pepper if it doesn't contain salt and pepper yet.

To make the tofu crispier, you should dice it small but you shouldn't dice it too small that it has more coating than the tofu. I dice it into 1/2 cm x 1 cm x 1/2 cm (about 0.2"x0.4"x0.2") so that there is a balance between coating and tofu.

The most important thing when you cook with tofu is to let the liquid drain off the tofu before adding the spices so that the liquid will not dilute the spices causing it to taste bland. To do that, make sure you rinse the tofu first, pat it dry with paper towel, and let the tofu sit on colander with a weight on top for 30 min. The weight presses tofu to squeeze the liquid out of tofu so that it has less liquid by the end of 30 min.

When you fry tofu, make sure you don't flip it over or move it too early. If you flip it over or move it too early, the tofu might still stick on the pan and thus, you could break it. So, wait until the bottom of tofu has develop a golden brown crust before you flip or move it.

Instead of frying the tofu, you could bake it in the oven. To do that, coat it with cornstarch mixture first. Line baking sheet with Al foil. Spray the foil with vegetable oil. Place tofu on baking sheet. Drizzle with vegetable oil. Toss so that all diced tofu is evenly covered with the oil. Put it in the oven at 400 deg F for 15-20 min or until it becomes crispy. Take it out of the oven. Flip the diced tofu and bake it again until it becomes crispy. I personally prefer frying the tofu rather than baking because baking causes the coating to be drier. However, if you have health concern, go ahead and bake it instead.

The recipe serves 3-4 people as snacks.

Ingredients:

16 to 19 oz firm tofu
For spice ingredients: 2 teaspoon salt
For spice ingredients: 1 teaspoon black pepper
For spice ingredients: 1 teaspoon paprika
For spice ingredients: 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
For spice ingredients: 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
For spice ingredients: 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
For spice ingredients: 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 cup cornstarch
vegetable oil
salt to sprinkle on fried tofu

Methods:

Rinse tofu with water. Pat it dry with paper towel. Place tofu on colander over a kitchen sink or a container. Make sure the bottom of tofu doesn't touch the bottom of kitchen sink or container. Place a heavy item, such as a bowl, cup, etc. , on top of the tofu. The heavy item will press the tofu so that it will drain more liquid. Leave it for 30 min. Tofu contains a lot of liquid. By draining the liquid, the spices added to the tofu will get intensified, making the tofu more flavorful.
While waiting for tofu, put salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, and turmeric powder in a small bowl. Using a fork, mix to combine spice ingredients. Put cornstarch on a plate. Add spice ingredients into it. Using a fork, mix to combine cornstarch with spice ingredients.
After 30 min, pat the tofu dry with paper towel. Dice to smaller size. The smaller the size, the crispier it will be. However, you don't want it too small that you taste more of the coating than the tofu. I dice it to 0.5 cm x 1 cm x 0.5 cm (about 0.2" x 0.4" x 0.4").
Pour enough vegetable oil into a deep pan. Heat the oil over medium high heat. You don't want the oil to be too hot that it burns the coating on the tofu but you don't want the oil to be too low causing it to be greasy.
Once the oil is hot, coat some of the diced tofu with the cornstarch mixture so that all sides of the tofu is coated with the mixture. You may want to coat the tofu you are about to fry, i.e. don't coat the entire diced tofu until you are about ready to fry it. Shake the tofu off from the excess cornstarch before putting them gently in the frying pan. Make sure you place the diced tofu in a single layer in the pan and don't overcrowd the pan. Otherwise, the tofu wouldn't be crispy and would be greasy. Fry the tofu until it is crispy. Once the bottom side is crispy and golden brown, flip it over to fry the top side. Do not try to move or flip over the tofu too early or otherwise, it would break. So, wait until the bottom side is crispy and has developed a crust before you try to move or flip over. Fry until all sides are crispy. Remove fried tofu using slotted spoon to drain excess oil. Place fried tofu on a plate lined with paper towel and sprinkle with pinch of salt. Repeat this step until all diced tofu have been fried.
Serve while still warm. If you have excess tofu, cool it down first and store in a tight sealed container.

Notes:

Always drain liquid from inside tofu before working on it. This will make tofu less bland. To drain liquid from inside tofu, place it on top of colander. Place something heavy on top of tofu to press it. Don't forget to put container underneath the colander while making sure the bottom of colander doesn't touch the bottom of the container or you can do it over the kitchen sink. You should drain the liquid for at least 30 min.
Do not move or flip over the tofu too early while frying it. Otherwise, you could break it. Wait until the bottom side is crispy or has developed a golden brown crust before moving or flipping over the tofu.

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