Tuesday

Wine drunk tofu with sweet sour vegetables



Tofu is a regular feature in our meals...but i usually buy the readymade baked tofu...and use the extra firm tofu that is water packed just for baking or scramble. But, i have been lazy to go and do grocery shopping..to be honest a little scared, as i seem to spend lots and hoard stuff like crazy..the minute i step in whole foods...buying everything in sight! that store does it to me..i wanted to practice restraint ( yeah...just practice..it is very very hard!!). I decided to do the tofu baking myself and this way i control the ingredients.

The baking process is very simple...but the important part is flavor. You must like the way the marinade tastes to enjoy the final product. So, here goes my recipe..as usual everything can be substited.

Ingredients:

Marinade

red wine -1/4 cup (i used cabernet sauvignon)
olive oil -2 tbls
hoisin sauce - 1 tbls
crushed red chilly flakes - 1 tbls
salt -1 tsp

Other

vegetables - 2 cups (i used brocolli,carrots,snow peas,sugarsnap peas,corn)
brown sugar - 1 tbls
rice wine vinegar - 1 tsp.(optional)
peanuts - 2 tbls (toasted)
almonds- 2 tbls
raisins - 1/4 cup
sesame seeds - 1 tbls (toasted)
green Chilly sauce - 1 tbls
red chilly sauce -1 tbls
sunflower oil - 1 tbls
salt - 1/2 tsp.

Method:

1. Drain the tofu over a few paper towels and place a heavy book on it. Let the tofu remain this way for 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the marinade by mixing all the marinade ingredients together and keep aside.

3. After the tofu has been drained for 30 minutes, slice the tofu into pcs and place it in a baking dish in one layer and pour the marinade over the tofu. Let the tofu stay in the marinade for 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 400F and bake the tofu for 30 minutes ( close the dish with an alluminium foil). After the 30 minutes are done, flip the tofu and bake for 20 minutes more without the foil. Baked tofu is ready people!!

5. In a large wok, heat 1 tbls of oil, when it starts to smoke add the veggies and 1/2 tsp. of salt and the brown sugar. If you feel the veggies are getting too dry, you can add the marinade on it to go along.

6. When the veggies are cooked, but have a crunch to them, add the peanuts,raisins,almonds,sesame seeds, green chilly and red chilly sauce and coat the veggies well.

7. Serve this on a bowl and top it with tofu pcs. Do eat the veggies hot..as they become limp when cold..and they do not taste good.

This dish has grapes fermented in form of red wine and also 1/4 cup of raisins so it is going to Swapna of Swad who is hosting AFAM and the theme is grapes.



Notes:

1. All the tofu draining and marination can be done a day earlier. If you do not have the time for allowing to marinate..it is ok..you can bake it the minute you add the marinade to the tofu.

2. Please use the wine you would drink for the marinating the tofu.You can use white wine or altogeher skip this and add more soy sauce instead.

2. Extra tofu pcs. can be stored in ziplocks, but be consumed in a few days. You can also freeze the tofu and thaw it when you want.

28 comments:

Sreelu said...

Rajitha, recipe book marked, I agree whole food does it to you. I have brought stuff like kuskus, sake etc .. never used it beyond once.keep practising girl !!!

bha said...

i love tofu as well. nice recipe to try on a friday night....thanks for sharing

TBC said...

Hey Rajitha, you have done such a fabulous job with the starter. O.k., so I'm not a sweet,nice & kind chick now, huh?;-)
The dinner rolls look very good!

The tofu dish looks like something you would get at a nice, fancy restaurant.I have not tried using wine in a marinade. Maybe,it's 'cos my hubby always gets to the wine before I can use it for anything else!;-)
How smart of you to send this for AFAM-grapes.

Pravs said...

Wow! So different recipe with tofu. I hardly cook tofu..this ones looks very good. So how will the tofu taste with all the wine it's drunk ?

Richa said...

looks quite tempting. am not crazy @ tofu but the almonds & raisins got me in ;)

amna said...

i love the name of the dish! wine drunk tofus?! hahaha!

Sig said...

Love the name of the dish... :) and it looks great too with all those nuts...
So wine made with grapes, hence an entry for AFAM.... That is sooo clever, hats off to you madame... :)

sra said...

That's a handsome dish!

Suganya said...

Have you tried frozen-thawed tofu? That is the inspiration for Spongebob Squarepants :D

Shammi said...

Rajitha, that photo is fantastic! And so is the recipe. I've got some fresh beancurd which needs using up, so guess what's for dinner tonight... :)

FH said...

Delicious Tofu R! My daughter loves Tofu, will try this for her!:))

Rajitha said...

sreelu- glad to know that you buy things that are used once and then retired ;)i do it all the time!!

bhags- yeah...it is good on fridays when you can drink a lot of wine with it too...

tbc- ah! you are the original rocking girl...and you are right on the wine...jeeves drinks wine every day...so this was all i could find opened.

pravs - hic! that's all the chubby tofu said ;)

richa- glad to rope u in...almonds or by raisins

nags - glad to make u laugh

sig- and u thought i was dumb all along ;)...ha ha

sra- i will tell mr.tofu about the compliment ;)

suganya- people have told me tofu when frozen then thawed tastes meaty....so i am not too interested to try it that way.

shyam- thanks....hope you will like it :)

asha- do try asha..if she cannot drink wine(what a bummer)....then you can sub the wine on the marinade and u drink the wine while making it

Bong Mom said...

Looks lovely. Thank God WF is almost 30 mins drive from my home so cannot go there as often :D

Laavanya said...

Hey Rajitha, neat dish that is - vibrant and bursting with goodness. The Tofus seems pretty happy to be drunk.. :)

Bharathy said...

Great!!Tofu with all the goodness of wine inside!!!Lovely new recipe,Rajitha!Too good!!

Padma said...

Rajitha that must be one scrumptious bite of whole veggies in it, must be sweet also to taste right? I loved the combination of ingredients here...love tofu n will try this soon

Rajitha said...

sandeepa- that is a good thing..whole foods is a 10 minute drive and on my way to work

laavanya- they were happy i tell u..so was i ;)

bharathy- thnks..red wine is great for health..i try incorporating healthy eating...he he

padma - do try..it was good...crunchy,sweet and tangy in a bite :)

Cynthia said...

Look at that gorgeous veg dish!

Viji said...

It is inviting Rajitha, though not a fan of Tofu. Viji

Shella said...

Though I've never had tofu - this looks absolutely great. We get paneer so freely in India, & I really wonder if it tastes very different from Paneer??

Finla said...

It looks really delicious. I have only once made tofu. And i didn't like it. I thgt the taste was bland. Your recipe looks full of flavour and not to mention the wine

Rajitha said...

cynthia - thanks :)

v- i was not a fan of tofu too...but i have slowly evolved...

shella- thanks...tastes very diff. from paneer...while paneer has its own flavor..tofu has none

happy cook- boy! have i ruined many tofu dishes..the only way i like eating it now is baked or scrambled..you have to like the marinade :)

Siri said...

Hey Rajitha,

Thanks for dropping by my blog..:D
and Yummy stir fry gurl.. Tofu is my favorite and I can eat in any shape or form. heheh..I am sure the wine wud enhance the taste of tofu..:) Thanks for sharing..

Kribha said...

I've not had good luck with tofu so far. Maybe I'll try this recipe next time. Gourmet presentation.

Rajitha said...

siri- then you must try to make baked tofu..it is another level on taste

kribha - do try and lemme know..and thanks :)

Manju said...

yumm recipe!! n wut u said is sooo true...even i tend to hoard up stuff wenever i go grocery shopping n my mom is always after my life to make sure that i use all of them and not waste any..phew!!

Rajitha said...

superchef - i hear you...it is hard to resist, esp. when you have tons of recipes to try when you buy them and then get lazy after coming home!!

Manjula said...

First timer here..Nice stir fry here. Planning to try this tomorrow. Do you have any substitute for hoisin sauce? Is low sodium soy sauce ok?