3 Saucy Tofu Recipes | Easy Vegan Orange, Ginger Sesame, Sweet & Spicy Tofu + How To Cook Tofu

Hey guys, so this video involves a lot of tofu obviously and I'm so excited to be sharing this with you because I love tofu and I love cooking with it. It is so versatile and absorbs flavors so well. So I'm going to be sharing with you three saucy tofu recipes and basically they are like really really good and really really satisfying and I hope you enjoy some of these sauces and let's get started. So please don't forget to subscribe to my channel and like this video. So let's get cooking. So of course we're gonna start off with some tofu. So we're gonna need 400 grams of tofu for each recipe. So this is like the base recipe that you'll need and basically I already pressed my tofu beforehand. I usually just wrap it with a towel and just place a heavy surface on top of it so the water squeezes out. So make sure that your tofu drains the excess liquid so this way the tofu doesn't get too wet and it absorbs the flavor really well. And afterwards once we've sliced the tofu into cubes, we're gonna add in some cornstarch or two tablespoons of cornstarch, some salt and just kind of mix that together. So this is going to be the coating for the tofu and it's going to add that like nice crispy exterior once we fry it up later on. So this takes a bit of patience but basically we're going to coat the cubes in the cornstarch. If you want to make it a bit easier, you can also just place it in a bowl and just add in the cornstarch and the salt and just kind of mix everything together. But I prefer this way because I really want to coat every piece like evenly. So I just coated that up until each piece was coated in the cornstarch and then afterwards we can kind of like get the cornstarch from the sides just so nothing goes to waste. And then here we have the coated tofu. So we're gonna heat up a large pan here. So I did use a dutch oven which I don't really recommend. I added in some neutral oil just enough to cover the surface and just leave that to simmer and once it boils we're gonna add in the tofu. So I really highly recommend using a non-stick pan here because the tofu does tend to stick sometimes. But I stuck with this one and I still got crispy tofu at the end but there was a bit of a struggle. But basically we're gonna pan fry it on each side until it turns slightly golden. So you guys can probably see my struggle here a bit of trying to get it out because some of the tofu pieces kind of stuck to the bottom. But I was able to get them crispy on all sides so at the end that was really good. And I just flipped them over and cooked it until all the sides were evenly golden brown. So this can take a few minutes and if you want to speed things up you can also actually just deep fry the tofu. You're also up to air fry or bake the tofu. This one is basically pan fried tofu without the cornstarch coating. So yes you can just add some salt and just pan fry the tofu without the cornstarch. It's totally fine too and it's up to you. So basically this one is the one with cornstarch coating and you can see there's a bit of a crust there that's not the other one that didn't have cornstarch. So there we have it. And we're gonna start off with the first recipe. It's a ginger sesame tofu with some green beans and some bell peppers. So this one is like really fragrant and really aromatic and I really like how savory this is and I love the flavor that ginger gives to this tofu. So we're gonna start off with the sauce. It's half a cup of water with some soy sauce. We're also gonna add in some maple syrup for sweetness or other liquid sweetener or sugar if you'd like. Also add in some coconut sugar. You can also add in more if you like the sweetness. Toasted sesame seeds, some toasted sesame oil for extra fragrance, and some cornstarch just to thicken the sauce later on when you're cooking it down. So just give that a good mix until this cornstarch dissolves and you have like a slightly thick, not really thick sauce, but it looks a bit like thick. And there you have it. We're just gonna set this aside first and then after we prepare like grated ginger. So this is for stir-frying. We also have here some onion and some bell pepper that we just sliced up and some chopped green beans or other type of veggies that you want to add. I'm gonna add in more sesame oil to the pan and basically we're gonna go ahead and saute the bell pepper and the onion. So we're just gonna saute this for maybe two to three minutes on medium-high heat until it's tender and the onions are slightly translucent. So just cook this down a bit before you add in the green beans. And after you add in the green beans, you just give that a good stir and stir fry it as well until the green beans are tender. You can add in some water if you'd like. So a splash of water here just to cook down the beans since they can be quite tough at the outside when they're not cooked well. So just give that a good mix also and add in the grated ginger. And you're gonna want to stir fry this until the ginger is aromatic but make sure not to burn it. So just stir fry it for a few minutes and afterwards we're gonna add in the sauce. So before you mix add in the sauce make sure to mix it well because the cornstarch does tend to sit at the bottom sometimes. So after you add it in, leave it to simmer over medium heat and add in the tofu. And these are the crispy cornstarch coated tofu and basically we're gonna cook it down in the sauce until it starts to thicken. So it may take a few minutes before the cornstarch thickens from the sauce. And you'll notice here that once you keep mixing it, it's going to slightly thicken up and you'll see that it's a bit glazed now. And afterwards you go ahead and taste this. If you feel like you need more seasoning, feel free to add more salt. And there you have it. So this is the ginger sesame tofu. So of course I enjoy this with some rice because I love rice and I love tofu so I feel like they're a perfect combo. And I basically had some steamed short grain rice here and I placed the tofu over and you also add in the sauce if you want like your rice extra saucy. So there you have it. So that's the first tofu recipe. And then next up I'm going to be sharing with you how to make this really delicious and slightly tangy orange tofu. So if you're a fan of like orange chicken or like orange cauliflower, this one is for you. And I love orange because it tends to like really brighten up a dish and I really love it with tofu because of course tofu absorbs flavor so well. So first we're going to start off of course with some oranges. I used like one whole like large orange here. So I squeezed that out and of course I discarded the pulp and the seeds if there are any. And I ended up here with half a cup of orange juice. You can also use like bottled orange juices but I prefer to use some freshly squeezed orange juice. It's like a lot better than those like packaged ones. Added in 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce or to taste. Some maple syrup or some sugar like anything to sweeten it up. Some water so 1 fourth cup of water. And one tablespoon of rice vinegar or just regular vinegar for extra tanginess. And some sriracha for spice and of course some cornstarch to thicken the sauce again. So we should give this a good mix and afterwards you'll see the color kind of changes and there you have the sauce. So we're going to just set this aside and we'll heat up a pan and add in some oil. So this is actually olive oil and I stir-fried some onions so it's totally optional. And I cooked that down before I added in the sauce. So give the sauce a good stir and you're going to leave this to simmer again over medium heat. And add in a few slices of orange juice if you want. So I've added like a few pieces here. Adds a good nice flavor too. And afterwards we're going to just leave that to simmer. So it's going to slightly thicken and turn into a glazed consistency. And then after it turns into a glazed consistency just give it a good mix again and add in the tofu. So this tofu is coated with cornstarch so you'll see the difference from the cornstarch and the one without cornstarch. And there you have it. So you see the sauce really thickened here. And cook it down a bit more so the tofu can kind of absorb the sauce and the flavors. And there you have it. So this is the orange tofu and this is really good with rice or some noodles. It's totally up to you. You can also enjoy it as is but if you're with rice or noodles and enjoy. So the next one is the sweet and spicy tofu. So last but not least this one is like really flavorful and really umami. I love the flavor and the spice of this one. Popped in some sesame seeds and some green onions. So basically we're going to start off first with the sauce. And I added in some room temperature water. Some gochujang. So this one is like a fermented Korean chili paste with a really nice spice but also umami flavor. And I really love it. So I dissolved it in some water and added in some ketchup. So you can use like any type of ketchup you want and just adjust the sweetness later on. Added in some soy sauce. And then I mixed that and I added in some maple syrup or any other liquid sweetener or sugar. Some minced garlic. And also some white vinegar just for that extra tanginess. And of course the cornstarch. And I basically just mixed everything together until everything was well incorporated and the cornstarch was diluted. And we're just gonna go and set this aside. And we're gonna pan fry the tofu. So this one is basically the tofu without the cornstarch coating. As you can see it's a bit more golden brown and it's a bit more just like really well defined in terms of like squareness or rectangular shape. And afterwards we're gonna set that aside first and heat up some green onions. We're gonna cook up some green onions here or just regular onions if you'd like for extra flavor and that aroma. And add in some bell peppers. So I had here just sliced green bell peppers and stir fry that for a few minutes until just tender. And I added in sauce. So you can see the sauce is like really thick and nice. And I gave that a good mix. And we're gonna leave this again to simmer over medium high heat before we add in the tofu. And we're just gonna mix everything up and kind of leave the sauce to thicken again for a bit because of the cornstarch. And just mix everything. And the tofu is gonna absorb the flavors here really well. And there you have it. So that's a sweet and spicy tofu. And of course we're gonna have it with some rice. And I had here again some steamed short grain rice and I've placed it on top. So there's the tofu and it really looks so good and so satisfying. Like I really need to cook this up again after watching this video. And there you have it. So I hope you guys enjoyed these recipes and I hope you enjoy making them and cooking your tofu. And I will see you guys in my next video.