Recipe Vegan Orange & Miso Glazed Tofu

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So my first entry for a while into the ingredient challenge...
It's an easy but delicious entry.

Vegan Orange & Miso Glazed Tofu

Vegan Orange & Miso Glazed Tofu


There are not that many ingredients, 6 - counting the oil. I did have an orange handy so added some orange zest to the dish as well.
I chose a miso that we like, no point in making it with one you don't like. Just like dairy cheese, miso comes in different levels of maturity/strengths and also differing bases (soy, chickpea, barley, being a few) and you'll not always like all of them. One point to note, if you have a chunky miso that's not a smooth puree, you'll need to blend or liquidise all of your ingredients before marinating the tofu.

One the tofu front you need a firm or extra-firm tofu and I really do recommend freezing and defrosting the tofu. Freezing it opens up our holes in the tofu texture that absorb the marinade which adds flavour to the inside of your tofu triangle rather than supply coating the tofu. It really makes a difference and changes the and product for the better. Some people actually recommend freezing, defrosting, freezing again and defrosting again. I'm still running tests! Once you have defrosted your tofu slice it in to 1cm thick slices and then press them to drain. I actually sandwich them between 2 cooling racks with a chopping board on top and a bag or two of flour/sugar etc.

Ingredients
1 block (400g) extra-firm tofu
250 ml fresh Orange juice & optional orange zest
1 tsp Recipe - Homemade Chinese Five Spice Blend
1-2 tbsps of any Miso you happen to like!
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1-2 tbsp maple syrup or golden syrup or even brown sugar

Method
  1. Mix the fresh orange juice (and 1 tbsp of zest if using), miso & Chinese five spice blend together in a bowl ( blend if you've got a chunky miso).
  2. Cut the dry tofu slices into triangles and lay them in the bottom of a suitable dish that will allow the marinade cover the tofu completely and add the marinade.
  3. This bit is going to sound weird but you want either a potato masher or a fish slice/flat spatular or anything that allows you to completely squash each tofu slice (or pair of slices) and squeeze out the air bubbles in the tofu and draw in the marinade. keep doing this until you see very few air bubbles forming when you press the slices. Do them all, then allow the tofu to sit and marinate for as long as you need it to, so minimum 1 hour up to using the next day!
  4. Heat up a frying pan, add the oil and fry off the tofu slices until they are nicely brown all over. Don't worry about any sauce ending up in the pan, it is all heading that way soon enough! Lift the browned tofu out into a serving bowl.
  5. Mix your syrup or sugar in with the remaining marinade and pour the whole lot into the still hot frying pan. Return the tofu to the pan and simmer until the marinade is thick and well reduced. Extract the tofu pieces and pour what little marinade remains over the slices. "Decorate" with a chopped spring onion, a tsp of sesame seeds or Chopped parsley/coriander & serve.


I've adapted the recipe from Vegan Orange & Miso-Glazed Tofu
 
Its looks like a great recipe and one I will try. Why cut in triangles? I suppose because it looks pretty!

I have tried freezing the tofu (Tofoo brand) I buy here but it doesn't seem to have the desired effect. Tofoo is very firm and the freezing didn't seem to open up the holes. I may try again.
 
Morning Glory said:
Its looks like a great recipe and one I will try. Why cut in triangles? I suppose because it looks pretty!

I have tried freezing the tofu (Tofoo brand) I buy here but it doesn't seem to have the desired effect. Tofoo is very firm and the freezing didn't seem to open up the holes. I may try again.
Click to expand...
For us, the triangles made for 20 triangles from our block which gave 5 pieces each per serving. If I'd left them as rectangles, it would have been 2½ each, but yes, it does make them look prettier. It also helped them fit into my round skillet in one go. I know rectangles won't.

Regarding freezing. It is the act of freezing, not being frozen that counts. So if your tofu doesn't come much in the way of liquid in it, freezing in the packet without opening it won't do much. You need the water to expand to make the air pockets, just the same as ice and water can break up rock.

For my tofu which comes in a soft plastic container and is wet, not dry inside freezing twice made not that much of a difference compared to freezing once, so I'll only do the once in future. But my tofu is wet. We have to drain it and store in a sealed container and we've noticed that it continues to drain over the next few days. If your's isn't and doesn't behave like this, you may have to open the packet, move it to a freezer safe container and actually add water to submerge it leaving no air spaces in the container. Air will allow the water to expand within the container and not inside the tofu so you'll have to experiment.
Even my other half noticed the difference that freezing made. It's the first time I've done it and it definitely gets the marinade into the tofu rather than just coating it which is what I've had previously. The texture also changes, so if your tofu isn't the classic almost slimey texture and already has a sponge like texture you won't see a change.

It will be October before I'm back in the UK, so I can't experiment with the Tofoo brand until them. But over the next couple of weeks I can try to get some macro photos of my usual tofu unfrozen and frozen for you to see the difference if you'd like.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
It's the first time I've done it and it definitely gets the marinade into the tofu rather than just coating it which is what I've had previously. The texture also changes, so if your tofu isn't the classic almost slimey texture and already has a sponge like texture you won't see a change.
Click to expand...

It was the first time I did it too (just before Xmas). We seem to have come across this technique at the same time , more or less! Tofoo is a very firm tofu soI may try your idea of submerging it in water whilst freezing.
 
Morning Glory said:
It was the first time I did it too (just before Xmas). We seem to have come across this technique at the same time , more or less! Tofoo is a very firm tofu soI may try your idea of submerging it in water whilst freezing.
Click to expand...
It will need to be in an airtight container so that the ice can't expand outwards away from the tofu, but has to expand within the tofu.
 
I don’t think I’ve ever had tofu, but with maple syrup and orange juice in there, I wouldn’t hesitate to sample that.
 
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