I know that for meat eaters, tofu can be a tough sell. I can commiserate. The first time I tried it was from the salad bar in college. I put it on my salad because I thought it was feta. Boy, was I disappointed! It was a tasteless, cold, mushy surprise. It was a looooong time before I had the courage to try it again.
After that story, will I ever convince any of you out there who are skeptical about tofu to try this recipe? I hope so, because this dish has a lot of flavor. Tofu is extremely mild and will taste like whatever you cook it with. I have shared other tofu recipes on this site, namely Vegetarian Sloppy Joes and Spaghetti with V-Balls. This recipe gives tofu a different twist. It is marinated overnight with soy sauce that is flavored with garlic, ginger, and orange. The tofu soaks up all of that fantastic flavor.
Although it takes a bit of planning to make this dish so that you have enough time to marinate the tofu, it only takes 35 or 40 minutes to cook. If you marinate it the night before, you can just pop it in the oven when you return from work the next night and it will bake in the time it takes to cook the rice.
Orange-Soy Tofu
Serves 4 as a main course
25-35 minutes preparation time, plus several hours for marinating
30-45 minutes baking time
1 cup soy sauce
juice and zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 whole garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 pound extra firm tofu
cooked brown or white rice for serving
Mix all of the ingredients except the sesame seeds and tofu in a small sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes to thicken. Remove from the heat and let cool. Add the sesame seeds.
Drain the tofu and cut it into slices. Arrange the tofu slices in the bottom of a shallow baking dish. Pour the sauce over the tofu and let it marinate for at least 3 hours or as long as 24. The longer the tofu marinates, the more intense the flavor will be. Turn the tofu during the marinating process to ensure that both sides absorb the marinade.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain the marinade off of the tofu into a separate storage container. I have had good luck keeping this marinade in the refrigerator for several weeks. Bake the tofu until it is lightly browned and heated through, 30 to 45 minutes. Serve with rice.
Whew, I'm glad the marinade can keep...that's a lot of soy sauce. I'm always looking for a new marinade, and this one sounds great, not to mention the whole baking thing. yum. Sounds like dinner tomorrow.
Posted by: Andrea | February 04, 2010 at 09:55 PM