“Check out what are the tips and tricks on making this sautéed tofu dish a success in both taste and appearance!”
Hey! I continued to post about this tofu dish… Mind me, it was because I wanted to tell you more about this particular dish and to introduce it to you as usual Chinese dishes now, since this is not the ‘original‘ version, but the modified one by pan-frying/ sautéing method (smile).
No worries, I am not repeating the recipe which you may find it in previous post, I just wanted to share with you my experience in cooking this tofu dish down to details, with some cooking tips and cautions to be taken starting from preparing till cooking, too.
When you prepare the tofu:
1) Cut tofu in large pieces, to minimize tofu from disintegrated later when stir-frying.
2) Pat dry the tofu cubes with kitchen towel/ paper, so that the oil would not splash so much while placing them into the heated oil.
When you cook the tofu:
1) Heat the oil in wok over high heat, and sprinkle some salt on the tofu before placing them into wok. Do not put so much oil to pan-fry it as I want to use the shallow frying method instead of deep-frying. Use a wok/ lar frying pan to do the pan-frying will do, unless you are always there to monitor your deep-fryer. Using the deep fryer with much more oil in it will be good only to make the browning more evenly, but you have to monitor the frying all the way so that the tofu will not be fried for too long till totally crisped. The tofu is required to be only slightly sautéed, in order to remain its tenderness inside out.
2) After frying tofu, drain on kitchen towel to lessen the oil intake.
3) Be gentle when you return the sautéed tofu to the wok to stir fry it with the sauce and spring onion. Otherwise, tofu will be easily disintegrated and affect the appearance on the dish later.
4) If you prefer more gravy, add more chicken broth. Eliminate or lessen the adding of the cornstarch slurry if you find the gravy is thick enough for the dish.
5) Place the spring onion/ scallion only on last stage. Dish up gently, too.
As Vegetarian dish:
This should be a vegetarian dish. For religious purpose, simply omit the adding of garlic, and cook this dish to serve as your vegetarian meal. However, I understand some of the more particular vegetarians are not even allowed to take spring onion. So, it depends also on your religious belief, in that case. for me, I am going to cook it on my next vegetarian day.