Sesame Noodles with Crispy Tofu

So, this recipe is from my daughter because I was trying to like tofu.  I had tried it numerous times and did not like it at all.  I had cooked it a few times but not for myself.  My niece is a vegetarian so I would cook it for her when we got together for family gatherings (do miss those right now, 😦 ) but I would never eat it myself.  My daughter encouraged me to try this recipe.  It was one of their favorites and they would make it almost once a week.  So I gave it a try and  I loved it.  Tofu soaks up all the flavors and for me to like it, I needed plenty of flavor.  This recipe delivered.

I do not make the cucumber salad but encourage you to try it.  I will myself someday.

I also do not use the red chile but substitute chili garlic sauce.  I don’t use alot but feel free to go up to 1 tablespoon if you like.

Also, I use a little more soba noodes, 6 ounces instead of 4 ounces.

The red chile sub and increase soba noodles are my daughters recommendation.  Also serving it with roasted broccoli.  I also like roasted broccolini with this as well.

Because of the shopping situation these days, I also did not add the scallions.  But I will put them on the ingredient list so one day…….

Sesame Noodles with Crispy Tofu by healthyish

(hmmm I did not realize healthyish was Bon Appetit)

3 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce ( I use 1 teaspoon)

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons honey

1, 12 ounce block firm tofu, drained, patted dry (I can only find a 16 ounce block so I cut a slim piece off to make it 12 ounces)

1/4 cup neutral oil, grapeseed, canola, peanut or vegetable

6 ounce dried soba noodles (or 14 ounces of refrigerated cooked soba noodles, placed in 6 cups boiling water, let sit 1-2 minutes, drain, put a bit of oil in, and stir)

2 tablespoon tahini

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

3 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal (optional)

Fill a medium/large saucepan with 3/4 water and place on burner.  Set on high heat.  This is for cooking your soba noodes.  Just a little prep here 🙂

Place the first 4 ingredients: rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce and honey, in a small bowl and whisk together.

Cut tofu into 3 even pieces and then each piece cut into 3 even pieces, so you end up with 9 mini blocks of tofu.  Pat dry with paper towels.

Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Cook tofu, UNDISTURBED, for 4-7 minutes until very crisp and dark brown underneath.  Transfer tofu to a plate and wipe out skillet.

Heat skillet over medium heat, add rice vinegar mixture and then tofu.  Cook, turning tofu occasionally, until sauce is glaze like and thick, about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook soba noodles according to package directions.  Drain.  Do not rinse.  Set aside.

Transfer tofu to plate again, leaving sauce in pan.  Whisk in tahini and vinegar.  Add noodles and toss until coated with sauce.  As you can see from the picture this got too thick. I may have added a bit more tahini than the recipe asked for.  But I’m glad this happened, it was easily resolved by adding water, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until I could see the noodles were getting nice and coated with the sauce.  Top with tofu and serve.

sauce ingredients:

tofu:

soba noodles:

tahini and rice vinegar:

cooking tofu:

cooked soba noodles set aside:

crisp and dark brown tofu simmering in sauce:

turning tofu:

and then set aside:

add tahini and rice vinegar:

a little too thick, but added noodles anyway, and added water until right consistency:

add tofu and serve:

Yum!