Sichuan Hot Tofu

A hot and additive Sichuan hot tofu. I believe most of you love Mapo tofu and consider it is one of the best dishes in Sichuan cuisine. I am happy to share my new inventions. Recently I visited a vegan restaurants and taste how great tofu can be with this cooking method.

I used to love cook tofu with salt and pepper but this one is my favorite. Tofu is firstly pan-fried to get crispy surface. Meanwhile it helps to remove the water content, which further creating a best chance of absorbing flavors and seasoning. This is a very similar theory with pan-fried dishes, like pan-fried green beans, dry fried cauliflowers. Then the fried tofu is tossed quickly in aromatics and chili powder, make it even hotter and profound in flavor.

Adding coriander is a super lovely idea for this recipe. It enables the tofu with high level of aromatics. However, the adding time should be at the ending of then heating process to avoid killing the fresh coriander.

I used to toss pan-fried tofu with mixed seasonings to make a super easy salt and pepper tofu. That’s one is super easy and can match with the original aroma of soy beans. However, this one is quite different as the main flavors comes of aromatics. Soy bean taste is almost covered.

Cook’s Note

• I recommend using regular tofu for this recipe. In the process of pan-frying, the water will be removed which further leaving tiny holes inside the tofu pieces. This small holes work good for flavor absorbing. But tender tofu can’t work too because it is so easy to break.
• To get a lovely crispy outside and soft inside tofu, the tofu pieces should be thick (around 0.8 to 1cm).

Instructions

Cut tofu into 0.8 to 1 cm thick pieces. Square or rectangle works fine.

Heat oil in wok, place the tofu pieces in and then let them stay for 3-5 minutes until one side becomes slightly browned and hardened. Then turn over and fry the other side. Fry the tofu pieces until crispy and slightly browned on both sides. Transfer out.

If there are extra oil in the pan, discard extra oil and leave around 1 tablespoon of oil in pan. Fry chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorn with slow fire and then add ginger, garlic and red onion. Fry until aromatic.

Return the pan-fried tofu. Add sugar, which is the key point of this dish, pepper peppers and cumin powder. A simpler way is to use a barbecue mix.

Quickly mix well and serve hot!