Hi, new vegan here. Just started swapping out meat for tofu whenever I go out and eat. I am struggling a lot with cooking good tofu at home. My air-fryer tofu always seems to come out too rubbery and chewy. Yesterday, I went to a new Thai restaurant out of town and ate what I can only describe as THE BEST tofu I've had so far. It was tenderly crispy on the outside, and on the inside it had this… velvety, silky, soft creamy interior that was just so bloody good. I love love love the contrast in texture. I tried to ask them how the tofu was made but their English was not very good so I didn't get anywhere with that question. Can someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me how to make this at home??? I am literally a tofu noob and I am not happy with the tofu I make at home
by newvegan22
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Deep fried soft tofu.
Coat / toss gently in cornstarch. Deep fry. Sprinkle with salt. Enjoy.
Full disclosure, I’ve never tried this method. But I have seen videos adding baking soda to the cornstarch coating on fried tofu (or boiling your tofu in bakingsoda +water) and that should give you a bubbling, crunchy coating and a creamier inside: [https://tofu.theclubb.co/video-post/baking-soda-tofu](https://tofu.theclubb.co/video-post/baking-soda-tofu)
Was it maybe egg tofu?
A lot of Asian restaurants will deep fry the tofu to achieve this sort of taste and texture, but if you wanted something a little healthier, you can absolutely cook tofu in an airfryer without that rubbery texture, it just takes a few more steps. I am ripping off another Redditor here but I cannot remember who, so apologies to that person.
Get your tofu and press it to remove excess liquid.
Slice the tofu into whatever shape you want – although try and keep them the same – and hten marinade your tofu for as long as you can.
Pat the tofu as dry as you can get it, then mix with corn flour, salt, pepper, spices, etc., ensuring that the tofu is evenly covered.
Get your air fryer up to temp – you want high heat here, something like 210c.
Give your tofu a quick spritz of oil – preferably from an even spray, so you are not soaking the tofu, and then pop it into the air fryer. Cooking it for about 10-12 minutes should give you a really nice crispy outside, but a pleasant and still moist inside.
parboil your tofu cubes in salty water with a little bit of baking soda . firm/ extra firm is better. strain, pat dry, then coat with cornstarch and airfry or deep fry. baking soda is the answer for crisping up the edges and turning the interior creamy and pudding like. just be careful not to use too much baking soda or else that will be the main flavor.
Isnt it just regular fried tofu? The reason we use firm tofu and remove all the liquid from it is to make it meaty and chewy. Use a soft tofu and don’t freeze/microwave/press and you should get something similar to this. I would try with silken tofu first since it kiiinda looks like a firm silken tofu https://www.sunglowkitchen.com/fried-silken-tofu/
But yeah, try that if you can find it. Otherwise find the softest tofu you can find and work from there.
This could be lava tofu. I was just reading about it yesterday. You soak tofu in an alkaline bath before baking. There are several recipes on line. I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t offer my own or recommend one. It does look tasty!
Like others have said, this is coated and fried silken tofu. Do not press this stuff, it’s too soft for the pressure
Double freeze. Press. Then do whatever you want. The picture is deep fried but you can achieve similar with pan fried. Also, soft tofu, to me, does not hold flavor the same as firm or firmer tofu. But the double freeze is a must.
My husband has perfected this for us in the last few weeks. He gets medium firm tofu (we can only find it in Asian markets), and presses it for a few hours. Then coats it in a mixture of potato starch, corn starch, and finely ground panko, and then pan fries it. It’s amazing.
I don’t freeze. Just press after cutting into slabs with paper towels. Salt lightly. And throw them in the frying pan. I’ve had some luck with just flipping them to all sides, twice!!! Takes a bit. But they come out great.
I learned a long time ago if you want to make really good deep fried French fries at home the trick is to fry them twice. Someone will explain why this is so wrong and unnecessary; but anecdotally, it works well for me and my kids will even pound them.
A win is a win.
I think it’s baojiang tofu! Never made it myself, but there are plenty of recipes online.
This looks like tofu just deep fried. Doesn’t look like there’s any velveting involved. I used to work at a Thai spot that would serve deep fried tofu and it was never velveted. Velveted tofu has a different texture and looks a bit more airy/layered.
This looks like the Baojiang/Lava/Alkaline tofu I just made for the first time! The inside gets like a custard while the outside holds its shape.
https://www.reddit.com/r/chinesefood/s/ytufdw3jsb
https://tofu.theclubb.co/post/baojiang-tofu-test-kitchen-aka-lava-tofu
Marinate firm tofu with baking soda, salt, and water (the recipe I used had a teaspoon of each with about 3 cups of water, i did half the salt) for 4+ hours.
The more time, the creamier the center but the harder the handling. I did about 10 hours.
Drain, pat dry and toss in cornstarch. I didn’t rinse the baking soda off but I’m curious what happens if you do.
Brush or spray with oil and bake/airfry until browned (400f 15 min or so) or shallow fry on the stove.
Velveting meat and baking pretzels use similar techniques, so even if you can’t find a lot online about what happens to the tofu the science is out there. I’m going to test it with different tofus to see what happens.
I’ve coated and baked silken extra-firm Mori-nu tofu before for a similar soft center/crispy outside effect; you could try that too. It was good but not quite the same and really delicate to handle.
Cornstarch and a little oil go a long way
Go to an Asian market and buy fried tofu.
As an Asian cook, this is typically shallow fried or deep fried soft tofu. Silken tofu would not be ideal for this. Deep frying ensures the soft interior while rapidly creating the crunchy exterior.
Coating in tapioca starch would achieve something like agedashi tofu, which is a slightly gummier texture once it cools, and is more useful for absorbing the soupier sauce it’s served in.
Biggest game changer when I went vegan, freeze and then thaw a firm block of tofu. I won’t ever not freeze it now. You can squeeze every drop of water out like a sponge, the texture is better and it soaks up whatever sauce you marinate it in. Light dusting of whatever seasoning you want and corn starch. Fry in a pan
Deep fryer lol
Boil your tofu! I’m pretty sure it’s how 99% of restaurants prepare it. Me and my gf cut up 2 blocks into big bite size pieces and throw into boiling water on the stove with 2 tablespoons of salt and a few dashes of MSG. Once the tofu is in the water bring it back down to a simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the water and let the tofu sit on a towel for 10ish minutes. I then proceed to pan fry however I want and the tofu always comes out crispy!
There are a lot of well meaning but very incorrect suggestions in here. This isn’t double frozen tofu, or corn starch battered, or air fried, or extra firm. This is just the regular Thai way of cooking the tofu, which is simply taken out of the package and deep fried.
Deep fry until golden and then let it drain onto some paper towels. That’s it. You’ll get better results with softer tofu if you want to match the tofu in the picture, but many Thai spots will also use regular firm tofu.
High heat/ low time. Something most commercial deep fryers can do. You can try at home, but remember the commercial fryers are capable of fully immersing the highly hydrated silken tofu without causing a fire (deep walls / lots of oil), so as long as you can think of it that way, it can be achievable. That’s why folks are suggesting an air fryer (heat from all directions, like a convection oven). It’s also a bit safer than investing in a deep fryer or shallow/pan frying. Good luck!
I marinate it in soy and chilli oil for a few hours then coat in panko breadcrumbs and put in the air fryer. It’s been a game changer!
Achieve the skill with practice first, the perfect tofu will follow. Haha 🤣
I got this result by tossing medium firm tofu (drained, cut into smaller blocks, layered with paper towel in a container in the fridge overnight to draw out a little extra moisture, then cut into cubes when ready to cook) in tapioca starch instead of cornstarch + a LITTLE drizzle of sesame or olive oil + seasonings (soy sauce, pepper, paprika in my last batch) and then air frying in my oven.