General Tso's Tofu

This recipe is adapted from several recipes and quite a bit of experimentation. It's fucking fabulous, if I do say so myself.
Ingredients:
1 package extra firm tofu
1 yellow onion
1 large head broccoli
broth
corn starch
canola oil for frying
sesame oil
soy sauce
rice vinegar
rice wine (or a nice, dry white)
sugar
garlic
whole red (bird) chilies
crushed red chili flakes
Instructions:
1. Pull tofu out of package. Place thick padding of paper towel on a flat plate. Put tofu in the middle of the paper towel. Place another wad of paper towel on top of the tofu, then place flat plate on top. Weigh down with cans and press until the paper towel is filled with water. The texture of the tofu should be like cheddar. Cut block in half horizontally, then diagonally and repeat until tofu blocks are 1/3 inch thick and 1 inch wide triangles. Removing the water from the tofu makes it considerably more likely to cling together.
2. Pull out bowl and put down a layer of corn starch. Pull out frying pan, put down a 1/2 inch of oil, and heat until corn starch fries briskly when dropped into pot. Get out plate and pad with paper towel. Roll tofu in corn starch and fry until browned. Put fried tofu aside.
3. Chop broccoli and onion into coarse chunks. Place in wok or large pan with broth and poach until both are softer, but not mushy. You want to stop when the broccoli still has some 'tooth' to it. Pull and leave broth in pot.
4. Add dash sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, sugar, rice vinegar, crushed red pepper, whole red chilies and booze. On the side, dissolve 1 tablespoon corn starch in water. Cook mix in pot until ingredients are well blended. When mixture tastes like sauce (feel free to adjust, just be careful of the sodium in this mix), slowly stir in corn starch mixture, then add back tofu, broccoli and onions. Cook until sauce is thick and coats veggies and tofu. It's done and good with rice, of course.
I usually garnish with green onions.
 
 
Category:Recipes
Category:Vegetarian recipes