Since the Chinese New Year is only one day away ( February 3rd ), I thought I'd share with you guys one of my favorite fast food inspired recipes. This orange tofu tastes exactly the way I remember orange chicken to taste but of course is about half the calories and much healthier for you.
I also made some kung pao gardein chicken but it did not turn out as planned. I still need to experiment some more before I can share that recipe with you. Don't you just hate when that happens? I get so excited for a dish to only find out that it did not turn out as planned. What did work though was my fried rice. I used this recipe and it will continue to be my favorite fried rice recipe for awhile.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
Orange Sauce
* 1 Tb minced fresh ginger
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 Tb canola oil
* 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
* 3 green onions, chopped
* 1 Tb mirin
* 3 Tb soy sauce
* 2 tsp brown sugar
* 1/4 cup rice vinegar
* 1/4 cup orange juice
* 2 Tb cornstarch or arrowroot, dissolved in 3 Tb water
* 1 lb firm tofu, press and drained
* canola oil spray
Directions
First prepare the sauce...
1. In a small sauce pan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the red pepper flakes, green onion and mirin and cook for another minute.
2. Add the soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar and orange juice. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture and cook for another 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken.
To prepare the tofu...
4. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
5. Cut the drained tofu into bite sized pieces.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the tofu and spray the top of the tofu with canola oil.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until tofu becomes golden brown at edges. Turn over tofu 10 minutes into baking.
8. Toss tofu in orange sauce and serve warm.
I will have to try this orange sauce recipe. I used one from 500 vegan recipes, it tasted great but was a little too thin for my liking. Your sauce looks perfect!
ReplyDeleteHell yeah fried rice! Another thing I've never made! I think I'm going to go all out with an Asian inspired meal soon. Orange tofu sounds like a good place to start as well :)
ReplyDeleteM M Mmmmmm this looks great! I've made lemon tofu before but now I shall be making orange tofu too! Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteRikki - Would you believe I still need to buy that book? My sauce is for sure thick, it actually made enough sauce that I baked another block of tofu today and toss it in with the remaining sauce.
ReplyDeleteOlivia - Fried rice is so easy to make. I do hope you try!
Trudy - Lemon tofu ? That sounds amazing..I must try making that someday.
I made spring rolls for dinner, but I didn't even think about the Chinese new year, lucky coincident. Happy bunny year!
ReplyDeleteThis looks very yummy!! I would love to have this for lunch in 10 mins! haha Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteOh man that looks awesome! I may have to try this with the fried rice the next time I get a craving for Chinese food.
ReplyDeleteSounds lovely! That's what I am going to make with the chunk of tofu in the fridge!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe!
Can you believe I've never had orange tofu. Now I must have it. :) Looks delicious.
ReplyDelete