Lemon ginger tofu

Hello Hive friends.

It's not always that I indulge something deep fried. Today is a day to let it all go, as an attempt to dull my constant state of anxiety.

This is something to remind me of the lemon chicken I used to have, back in the non vegan days. The late night or celebratory events in a Chinese restaurant. There was a shameful amount of MSG, oil and salty crispy dishes, that tantalized the taste buds. Later after taking home the leftovers, we would have more. Sometimes it would be eaten cold late at night.

Well this is not chicken. I chose to use tofu, which is hated by many people, especially in the western world. That's okay. I won't try to convert them. Once I started eating plant based, tofu was the meaty protein substitute. I liked it before, but now I like it much more.

Normally I slice it into squares, cubes or rectangles. This time I thought I would make rounds, for the sake of aesthetics. I started but slicing down lengthwise on the side.

When my partner Marc saw the scraps left from cutting, I assured him it would be used later.

Each block of tofu was cut into four pieces of fillets. One fillet per piece.

One reason why some people don't like tofu, is that it is flavourless.

I made a random decision to marinade it in vegan oyster sauce. The only problem is that I can't find it anywhere these days.The solution was to make it.

Lemon ginger tofu
3 blocks of 450g tofu
1 cup oyster sauce marinade (optional)
3 cups lemon ginger sauce

Optional for marinade
Vegan oyster sauce
1/4 cup dried shitake mushrooms finely ground
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp mince garlic
1 tbs miso paste
1 tsp mushroom seasoning
1/4 Chinese 5 spice
2 tbs cornstarch
1 1/2 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 cane sugar
1 cup water

After grinding the mushrooms, I added everything together in a pot and brought to a boil. It was simmered for five or ten minutes. I just looked to make sure the cornstarch was cooked in. It was thickened like the store bought one.

I really loved it. It was my first time making it. To be honest it was better than the store bought one, so I will never buy it again.

I coated each piece and left it in the fridge for a few hours.

In the end the flavour of the marinade did not do much. I was really happy that I made it all the same. It was a nice thing to have on hand for a stir fry later.

To fry the tofu, I made a batter to dip each piece.

Batter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup soda water (not sparkling) very cold
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Mix ingredients together until smooth.

I made the batter thick enough that it would coat the tofu completely.

I used a small pot to fry each piece. As I said before, I don't often deep fry so I don't have much oil. A small pot makes the oil deeper.

I fried each piece until the coating was crispy and golden.

Meanwhile I had already prepared the lemon ginger sauce. This is sweet and sour, which I really like once in a while. I try to limit my sugar intake.

Lemon ginger sauce
lemon juice
vegetable broth (or water)
organic cane sugar
minced ginger
minced garlic
cornstarch
salt to taste
oil to saute garlic and ginger
shoaxing wine (optional)

I first added ginger and garlic to the pot and cooked until golden.

As an after thought I deglazed the pan with Chinese cooking wine.

After this, I added the sugar. White sugar would have made the sauce lighter in colour and less caramelized flavour. I just don't use white sugar to ensure that it's vegan. Many white sugars are not vegan because they use bone char for processing.