Vegetarian Recipe: Crispy Tangy Tofu

Every week on the Good Food Blog we celebrate Meatless Monday by sharing a vegetarian recipe from our archives.

Breakaway CookEric Gower shares a tofu recipe that’s a quick, tasty, and nutritious way to start a meal, and is one of his favorite ways to serve tofu. The top stays crispy, yet the rest absorbs the pungent citrus sauce. If you can find organic silken tofu, so much the better, though you can use regular tofu. Excellent with a chilled, bone-dry sake like a daiginjo (and, even better, one from Niigata Prefecture, Japan, where it tends to be citrusy and clean-tasting). It’s equally good with a glass of well-chilled champagne. He first shared this recipe for Crispy Tangy Tofu on January 5, 2008.

Keep reading for the full recipe…

Crispy Tangy Tofu

Makes 4 servings

• Zest of one large lemon (Meyer lemon is even better, if you can find one)

• Juice of one large lemon (about 4 tablespoons)

• Zest of one orange

• Juice of 1 orange

• 2 Tablespoons fresh carrot juice

• 1 Tablespoon honey

• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce

• Pinch of cayenne pepper

• 3 scant Tablespoons rice flakes (you can substitute fine breadcrumbs if you can’t easily find rice flakes, but they are well worth seeking out)

• Pinch of kosher or other salt

• Pinch of freshly crushed black peppercorns

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 block silken tofu, drained then wrapped in paper towels

• 1 heaping Tablespoon unsalted butter

• 1 tsp chopped chives, chopped (optional)

Zest the lemon and orange and set aside. Squeeze the lemon and orange juices into a small saucepan, add the carrot juice, honey, soy sauce, and cayenne, and bring to a boil. Let it simmer on low heat while you prepare the tofu.

Add the rice flakes (or breadcrumbs), salt, and pepper to a spice grinder and pulse a few times. Be sure that the paper towels have absorbed as much water as possible from the tofu, then slice the tofu along its “equator,” creating 2 large flat-ish halves. Cut each of those in half, giving you 4 flat pieces. Spoon the egg yolk on one side of each piece, and evenly spread the rice-flake crust over them.

Heat the butter in a small, nonstick fry pan over medium heat and sauté the tofu, crust-side down, for about 5 minutes, until it browns nicely. Carefully flip the pieces over with a spatula, and briefly cook the other side, about 2 minutes. Pour some of the reduced sauce into a warm plate or shallow bowl, and slide the tofu into the center of the sauce, crispy side up, and top with the orange zest and lemon zest, and the optional chives.