Recipe Review - Baked or Grilled Tofu

This recipe is great! It is a fantastic way to eat tofu, and is so versatile, both in seasoning, as well as temperature, cut, and cooking method. You can tweak the marinade to your liking with no trouble at all. You can eat it hot, room temp, or chilled. You can bake it or grill it! The only step you can't fool with too much is 'milking' the liquid out of the tofu. The best way to do this is get extra firm tofu, wrap it in a clean kitchen towel and lay something heavy on it. Stick it in the fridge the night before or the morning of and let the towel draw out and soak up all that water. That way, the marinade you put your tofu in gets sucked right in. Yum!! Play with the marinade if you like. Try to make the marinade spicier with more chili sauce or garlic. Add some sweetness with honey or brown sugar and sesame seeds. Use plain soy sauce or Ponzu. You can even use your old standby vinaigrette style salad dressing. Whatever you like!

Best Baked Tofu

I have used different variations of the marinade, but these are the staple ingredients - 1 block of extra firm tofu (pressed and cut to your liking), 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp sriracha, 1/8 tsp dry ground ginger (can use 1 Tbsp fresh grated too), and 2-3 pressed garlic cloves.

Stir the marinade and add your cut pieces of tofu. Let soak, tossing or flipping a few times, for at least an hour. The longer they are allowed to sit and soak up the goodness, the deeper the flavor you'll get. Stash your pan in the refrigerator while they are marinading.

You can grill the tofu on medium for 5 or so minutes per side. You can bake on a foil lined cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for anywhere from 10 - 20 minutes per side, flipping every 10 minutes. The longer you bake them the denser they will be. At a shorter baking time, they will have a sort of crusty exterior, but silky interior. I like them both ways, depending on the application. On salads or for dipping, or if eating them cold, I like them cooked a bit longer. If eating warm or over rice or noodles, a little less cooking time is my preference. Obviously, if you cube your tofu rather than leave in larger chunks, the marinade time as well as cook time could be reduced. Experiment to find what you like best!

You can serve your tofu with rice or sobe noodles with a similar marinade and fresh green onion or parsley and toasted almonds (or even crunchy chow mien noodles) on them. You can eat them plain as a snack. You can serve them on Asian greens. You can eat them warm, cold, or room temp. However you eat them, enjoy!