Beer-Battered Sweet ‘n Sour Tofu w/Steamed Broccoli over Jasmine Rice

When I went off to Rutgers University for my first semester of college in the fall of 1995, there were several restaurant and takeout dishes that became culinary staples in my life. There was that 14-inch cheese pizza from Douglas Pizza…  with a crust so paper thin you could crumple up an entire piece into a ball and wedge the whole mass into your mouth, if you were so inclined.  There was that bucket of sweet ‘n sour wings from Cluck U Chicken…  slightly disappointing in comparison to the traditional buffalo wings that I enjoyed back home in Western New York, but still substantial enough to satisfy my poultry fix.  And if my friends and I were craving a road trip, we’d cram into my roommate Ros’ rusty Ford Taurus named Bonnie and head to Denny’s at three in the morning to enjoy a Play-It-Again Slam or Moons Over My Hammy.

Perhaps my favorite delicacy freshman year was C17 Sesame Chicken from Hong Kong Kitchen, the local Asian take-out joint.

Please take note…  I didn’t say, “Sesame Chicken”.  What I said was, “C17 Sesame Chicken”.

After regular exposure to this entrée for the first month of the semester, Ros was quick to point out that Sesame Chicken was labeled ‘C17’ on most all takeout menus, regardless of the establishment.  Almost twenty-five years later, a quick search of the internet reveals that ‘C17’ is still the number of choice for sesame chicken at many Asian establishments.

Having been a vegetarian since 2010, almost a decade has passed since I’ve ordered sesame chicken.  However, I’ve grown quite fond of sweet ‘n sour/sesame tofu as a replacement.  For most of my vegetarian and now vegan existence, I’ve been completely satisfied with my options at the various establishments around my locale.  However, late last year I got the itch to prepare a variation of this dish from scratch.  After some trial and error with other recipes and a bit of experimentation, I’ve come up with my own version of beer-battered sweet ‘n sour tofu.

Read on for the crispy, mouthwatering goodness:

Prepping the Tofu

For this recipe, I use one block of extra firm tofu, pressed and drained for 8-12 hours before battering and frying.  You may use a standard tofu press to accomplish this task.  Or, if you don’t have a tofu press but can locate some random, heavy objects around your kitchen, these will do just as well.

I don’t own a tofu press, as I consider it an optional, luxury item at this stage of my life.

Instead, I drain the tofu, pressing and squeezing out as much excess liquid as possible right off the bat.  Then, I line a plate with a few layers of folded paper towels, set the tofu on top, add another layer of folded paper towels on top of the tofu, top that with an upside down plate, set my heaviest cast iron skillet on top of that, and rest my blender base inside the skillet.  This entire set-up can sit easily on the bottom shelf of my fridge for 8 hours while I’m at work.

The Sweet ‘n Sour Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tsp water
• 2-4 minced cloves of garlic
• ½ tsp freshly grated ginger (sub dry ginger if lazy)
• ½ tsp chili pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• ¼ tsp sea salt

Whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl and set aside.  Combine the rice vinegar, ½ cup of water, maple syrup, tomato paste, and soy sauce and whisk together thoroughly.  If you have a Pyrex or similar 2-cup measuring vessel, you can measure the ingredients easily directly into this container.  Simply fill with water to the ½ cup line, add the maple syrup to the 1 cup line, add the vinegar to the 1 1/3 cup line, and then add the tomato paste and soy sauce.  Set aside.

Pre-heat a small saucepan on medium heat for five or so minutes, add a tsp of olive oil, and bring it to temperature, swirling it around to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the garlic and sauté for just a minute or so until golden but not burned.  Add the wet ingredients and spices and whisk together.  Once the sauce comes to a boil, whisk in the cornstarch mixture, reduce the heat to lowish, and simmer gently for ten minutes.  Remove from heat, cover, and set aside.

I recommend making this sauce a day or more in advance, which will reduce the workload on the evening you actually prepare the dish.

 The Beer Batter

• 1 cup flour
• 1 Tbs cornstarch
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• 1 cup of your favorite mellow lager or amber ale (I like a nice Oktoberfest for this purpose.  Also, I would stay away from IPAs, unless you want your tofu tasting hoppy and bitter)

Whisk all of the dry ingredients together.  Gently pour the beer into the dry ingredients to minimize fizzing, expansion, and a possible giant, overflowing head.  Mix together with a fork, breaking up any large lumps that form.  Hold off on adding the beer until just before you’re set to batter and fry the tofu.

Putting it all together

For this particular dish, I like to keep it simple and serve the tofu with broccoli over jasmine white rice.  First, I get the rice going, following the directions on the package.  While the rice is cooking, I sauté the broccoli and then batter and fry the tofu.  Once the rice is finished, just remove it from the burner and keep it covered.  Fluff with a fork before serving.

Read on for the detailed steps…

Once the rice is cooking, preheat a heavy cast-iron or stainless steel skillet over medium heat, or just a bit hotter (6 out of 10 on burner) for a good 7-10 minutes.  Cut up a medium-sized head of broccoli into smaller pieces of, um…  broccoli.  I believe they’re called…  florets.  Once the skillet is heated, add a dollop of olive oil and swirl around to coat.  If using cast iron, use a paper towel to smear the oil around and wipe out any excess.  With cast iron, you just need enough to coat the bottom of the pan, which is barely any at all.  Add the broccoli and sauté for five minutes, stirring frequently.  Add a few splashes of water to steam and soften the broccoli slightly.  Sauté for two more minutes and transfer to a serving container.

Tofu time!  To save time and clean-up, your best strategy is to use the same skillet to fry your tofu.  After emptying out the broccoli, give the bottom of the skillet a quick wipe with a wad of paper towels to remove any excess broccoli detritus.  Then, return it to the burner, which should still be set at about 6 out of 10 on the heat scale.  I always use extra light olive oil for deep frying, but you can also use canola oil.  Add enough oil so that there’s about ¾ to an inch layer on the bottom of the skillet.  While your oil is heating up, cut up the block of tofu into cubes about ¾ inch to an inch thick.

After about 7-10 minutes, your oil should be hot enough to fry the tofu.

As an aside, some people recommend using a thermometer to get a precise temperature reading.  I say…  “Nah!  Just wing it.”  Once you get to know your stove temperatures and tendencies, you’ll be more comfortable with estimating the time necessary to preheat your oil.  Also, I deliberately leave the oil level just low enough so that the pieces of battered tofu make regular contact with the bottom of the skillet, instead of floating above.  That way, if I err just a bit lower on the oil temperature, the tofu will still crisp up as it makes contact with the hot skillet.

Aside over…  Before you begin frying, line a large cookie sheet with 2-3 layers of paper towels and keep it nearby.  You’ll also want to have a set of stainless steel tongs with a long handle to safely agitate and remove tofu from the hot oil.

Once you’ve added the beer to the dry ingredients and prepared the batter, dip individual pieces of tofu completely into the batter to get them completely coated, hold them above the container to let any excess drip off, then drop them carefully into the hot oil.  Beware of spattering oil.  If you’re using an entire block of tofu, you’ll probably have to fry three or four batches, depending on the size of your skillet.  As far as batch size, you can fry enough to loosely cover the bottom of the skillet.  But be sure that the pieces of tofu can move around freely without crowding each other.  If any stick together, wedge the tongs between the attached pieces to gently separate them.

After five minutes, you can use the tongs to begin checking the underside, which should be brown and crispy, but not burnt.  See the pictures above.  I find that 6-7 minutes on each side is just about right.  As each batch is completed, remove the individual pieces of tofu from the skillet and spread them on the baking sheet where they’ll cool, as the paper towels soak up excess oil.  Be sure to hold the baking sheet near the skillet when unloading the tofu, as you don’t want to drip hot oil everywhere.

Once all of the tofu has been fried, dump it into a large mixing bowl, add the sweet ‘n sour sauce, and mix to combine thoroughly.  Finally, add a generous scoop or two of rice to the bottom of a fancy-looking bowl, and top with broccoli and beer-battered tofu.  As an optional bonus but satisfying bonus, I highly recommend topping your entrée with scallions and sesame seeds.

Enjoy…  Nosh away…  You’ve earned it!