Hey peeps, and welcome back to Cool Beans! If you’ve been here for a while, you know we’ve got kind of a thing for freezing tofu. When you freeze and thaw tofu, the ice crystals that formed in the chiller leave behind a spongier, firmer, and more absorbent block than you’d get straight from the fridge. It can stand up to just about any cooking method without falling apart, allows you to skip the pressing step, and drinks up marinades via its newly embiggened pores. The catch? You have to remember to put the block on ice. But what if I told you that boiling your ‘fu can get you similar results in minutes? Sounds counterintuitive, but it works.
Hot tub tofu machine
Giving tofu the hot-tub treatment has been making the rounds on social media, but I first read about the technique in cookbook author Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Tofu. It’s a common practice in Chinese soups and stews to pre-boil the block in salted water to strengthen it and help it hold up during long simmers. This trick—which works with firm tofu, but not with more delicate soft or silken varieties—is also especially helpful in recipes that call for crispy tofu, where moisture is the arch-enemy of crunch. But honestly, it’s a good idea in any dish where things get knocked around a bit, like a stir-fry. The salt draws moisture to the surface and the high heat helps it evaporate quickly post-plunge, so it dries off easily with a kitchen towel. (If you’ve ever heavily salted and blotted eggplant before cooking it, you’ll recognize the approach. It’s a similar idea.)
The bonus of this method is that you’ve already got water boiling, so I decided to take advantage and chuck in some broccoli and rice noodles once the tofu had finished its hot bath. And, because we hate waste of any kind, I threw in the broccoli stems, too. While everything drains, I whisk together a quick sweet and sticky tahini-based sauce and fry up the tofu until it’s golden and crispy.
Sesame Noodles with Crispy Tofu and Broccoli
Yield: 3 to 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 14-ounce block extra-firm tofu
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more for water
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
- 1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets*
- 6 ounces thin rice noodles
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ½ cup soy sauce or liquid aminos
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons tahini**
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
Procedure:
- Boil the tofu. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and season well with salt. It should taste salty, but not like seawater. Add the block of tofu and let it simmer over medium heat for 4 minutes. Remove the tofu with a large slotted spoon and transfer to a clean kitchen towel to dry; slice into 1-inch cubes. Add tofu to a bowl with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons cornstarch; toss to combine.
- Cook the veggies and noodles. To the same pot of water, add the broccoli and noodles and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the noodles are cooked and the broccoli is crisp-tender. Drain immediately and run under cold water until cool.
- Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, tahini, maple syrup, sesame oil, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons water. Set aside.
- Crisp the tofu. Heat canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add tofu in a single layer (working in batches if needed) and cook, turning, until golden brown all over, 10 to 12 min total.*** Transfer crispy tofu to a clean kitchen towel and let drain.
- Assemble. Wipe pan and return to medium heat. Pour the sauce into the pan and cook until thick and bubbling, about 20 seconds. Remove pan from heat and add tofu, broccoli, and noodles; stir to coat. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.
Notes and Substitutions:
- *If your broccoli has a stem, peel the tough outer skin, then slice the stem into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Cook the stem pieces along with the florets.
- **You can use any nut butter in place of the tahini.
- ***To air-fry the tofu: Spray the air-fryer basket or tray lightly with oil, and air-fry at 400 degrees in a single layer for 12 to 15 minutes, flipping halfway. Work in batches, if necessary.