These deep fried tofu puffs are perfect for a Chinese-style dinner. Enriched with mushrooms and pak-choi cabbage they are packed with umami!
Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano.
You might have noticed that I'm a foodie and that I love different cuisines from all around the globe. Veganising recipes is my daily challenge and discovering new flavours and ingredients one of my hobbies.
Chinese cuisine is definitely on my top 3 of fav cuisines ever.
I had started cooking Chinese food when I barely was a teen, around the age of 12-13 yo, roughly a week after I first tried Chinese food in a restaurant. It was literally love at first bite. I was stunned and amazed by the cocktail of new flavours, consistencies and cooking techniques I was about to discover.
Luckily at my parents' I've always been free to follow my hobbies and be 100% creative (not to mention that my mum let me make 40 savoury crepes all by myself when I was 9 - that was my "treat" for her because she had nausea and high fever, and I do remember that despite that she managed to sample my crepes. Best mum ever! 🙂 )
I had started baking cookies at the age of 4 I believe (I still remember my very first batch of chocolate cookies shaped into little stars and topped with icing sugar <3 ), and cooking basic things like pasta dishes one year after.
But enough talking about me, and back to the Chinese cuisine. I remember that nailing those flavours was the challenging bit for me, it required me years of study, tasting and practise to finally cook an authentic meal to perfection. Back then - OMG I feel so old now! - it was really hard to find the right ingredients, not to mention how expensive they were. Now we can save half of the prep time buying pre-made sauces, like hoisin, teriyaki and even a vegan version of oyster sauce, made out of mushrooms, which is the queen in this recipe.
Since I became a vegetarian, almost a decade ago, one of the ingredients that I've loved cooking with is deep fried tofu (also known as tofu puffs). You can easily make it yourself with a bit of patience and if you don't mind your kitchen (and house) smelling of fried food (I personally fry very very rarely, maybe 2-3 times per year), or buy it already deep fried, like I do 😛 I love its consistency and how versatile it can be, in stir fries, noodles or rice dishes. Even for those that are not huge fans of tofu, this little boy tastes nothing like regular tofu, it tastes more similar to an eggy batter and its very soft and chewy. You need to try it!
In this recipe I've paired it to baby pak-choi, closed cup mushrooms and black mushrooms, and stir fried with..guess what? mushroom sauce (aka Vegan oyster sauce)!
Can you tell I also love mushrooms? 😛
Chinese Style Deep Fried Tofu Puffs with Mushrooms Recipe
Ingredients:
250 g Deep Fried Tofu
150 gr Closed Cup Mushrooms
100 g Baby Pak Choi
30 g Mushroom Sauce
20 g Dried Black Fungus
3 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 Clove Garlic
½ teaspoon Chilli Flakes
Sesame Seeds
Salt
White Pepper
Method:
Soak black mushrooms for at least 15 minutes in cold water.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil along with the garlic (grated) and chilli flakes.
Add the tofu and stir fry for 5 minutes, until crispy and golden.
Transfer tofu to a dish and put aside.
In the same pan add 1 tablespoon of oil and the chopped veggies.
Season with salt and pepper and stir fry for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tofu, mix well, then pour the mushroom sauce.
Stir fry for a couple of extra minutes and serve with a generous sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Penny Haulman
I stopped consuming meat and eggs in August 1971. One day to the next. I’m 78 now into my 52nd year, animal free! Thank you for this dream come true site. One of my lifetime prayers since then is to see the earth’s people, choosing plant diets, glad for the directions. And instructions you make for us. Hei! Ya Hei!
Adriana Z.
I'm so pleased to hear that Penny, that's amazing!!
You're more than welcome and I truly hope you will enjoy my recipes.
A warm hug to you! 🙂