Lemon tofu

August 14, 2021

   

It's no secret that we've been smitten by Hetty McKinnon recently, working our way steadily through her truly excellent To Asia, With Love. So when Cindy read about Hetty's Chinese Takeaway, a new series of recipes for ABC Everyday vegetarian-ising classic suburban Chinese restaurant dishes, she signed up immediately. 

The first dish we've tried is this lemon tofu, based on the classic sweet lemon chicken that we both ate countless times before going vego (and a few times since!). It's a brilliantly easy recipe, although there are a few pots and pans on the go by the time you cook a side of rice and some greens. Our tofu cubes were perfect little bundles, with a nice cornflour-y coating giving them some crispiness and the gloriously retro sauce adding some sugary, lemony good times. We'll definitely be making this one again.

Lemon tofu

(via Hetty McKinnon over at ABC Everyday)

400g firm tofu

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce/tamari

1/2 cup cornflour

3 tablespoons veggie oil

1 spring onion, finely sliced (for garnishing, don't buy a whole bunch just for this recipe!)

sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

3/4 cup veggie stock

~100ml lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons was enough for us)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoons of cornflour, whisked into 3 tablespoons water

Pat the tofu dry and cut it into chunky cubes, about 2cm. Pop the cubes in a lunchbox with the soy sauce and toss gently to coat, letting them marinate for 5 minutes or so.

Drain off the excess soy sauce and then toss the tofu cubes gently with the cornflour (we popped them both in a big lidded bowl and gave it a gentle shake, but it will depend on how solid your tofu is as to how careful you need to be). 

Heat the oil in a large frypan and, once it's pretty hot, pop in your coated cubes. We did this in two batches to make sure there was space for carefully turning the cubes and getting them nice and browned up - it should only take about a minute per side. Set the fried cubes aside on some paper towel and make your sauce.

Fry the garlic and ginger in the sesame oil for 30 seconds or so and then pour in the stock, lemon juice, syrup and salt, stirring to combine. Once it comes to the boil, kill the heat and stir your cornflour mix through to thicken it up.

Serve the tofu on rice, with the sauce ladled over. We made simple stir-fried beans with some of Hetty's ginger and shallot oil to add some veggies to the meal.