Chinese cuisine has been a part of our lives more than any other cuisines in the world. And in different ways we have added bits and portions to make our own Chinese cuisine to suit our taste buds. Most of their recipes are easy to cook, takes little time and are quite tasty and lip smacking. And if you have a party at home and don’t have enough time to cook then stir fried noodles and some mouth watering side dish are the best options that can save you at that moment.
Today I will discuss a lip smacking side dish that is tasty as well as filling. I will tell you how to cook sweet and sour tofu at home so that the next time when someone comes to your home unexpectedly and you don’t have meat at home, you can make use of tofu to cook this tasty meal that they will remember for quite a while. If you want you can add a pinch of crushed red pepper or a small tea spoon of chili garlic sauce to make it extra spicy.
In order to cook the sweet and sour tofu you need certain ingredients that are mentioned
- Pineapple chunks packed with juice in a can – approximately 20 ounce
- Red wine vinegar – 3 table spoons
- Ketchup – 2 table spoons
- Soy sauce – 2 table spoon
- Brown sugar – about 1 table spoon
- Tofu – 14 ounce that has been cut in ½ inch cubes (rinse and dry it)
- Cornstarch – 2 tea spoons
- Canola oil – 2 table spoons
- Garlic – 2 table spoons that has been minced
- Ginger – 1 table spoon that has been minced
- Red Bell pepper – 1 that has been cut in strips with a size of ½ inch by 2 inch
- Green bell pepper – 1 that has been cut in strips with a size of ½ inch by 2 inch
- Sugar – as per taste.
You don’t need salt because vinegar and soy sauce already has some salt added to it. Now how do you cook the sweet and sour tofu?
Before you actually start cooking the sweet and sour tofu there are certain things that you need to do beforehand. Of the 20 ounce pineapple, you need to set aside the pineapple while you keep 1/4th sauce, sugar and ketchup in a bowl until and unless it becomes absolute smooth. Now take the tofu and mix 3 table spoons of the sauce to it and then toss it properly so that the tofu gets of the juice for preparing the gravy. Whisk the juice along with vinegar, soy marinated with the sauce. You can keep it for marinating for a minimum of 5 minutes while the maximum time limit is 30 minutes. I normally marinate I t for 15-20 minutes.
Add the corn starch to the rest of the sauce so that the gravy gets thick and gets a volume of its own. Place a non stick skillet over the gas oven and add 1 tablespoon oil in it and heat it till it is medium high. Add the tofu to the oil and fry it till it is light golden brown. Once it reaches this color, remove it from fire and put it on a plate. It normally takes 7 – 9 minutes to reach this golden brown color. Put the remaining oil on the pan and heat the oil to a medium level to which you need to add garlic and ginger. Go on stirring this for about 30 seconds and then pour the rest of the sauce and keep stirring until and unless it becomes thick.
Now as a final step add both the tofu and the pineapple and cook for about say 2 minutes or until done. Serve it on a proper bowl with stir fried noodles and enjoy your meal.
You can also check out some healthy and delicious vegetarian and vegan food recipes from Urban Raja.