General Tao Tofu

[Christopher Jon]

I made this yesterday and it was sooooooo good.

http://vegweb.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=cf41497295a3e9b13937a73b2a5367 f6&topic=8769.0

[Dhatri Goddess]

I second that!

I heard so many rave reviews for it so I finally made it a couple weeks ago and we LOVED it!
I made the sauce a few days later to accompany some spring rolls we threw together and it makes for a great dipping sauce!

Also recently I made just the fried tofu cubes following their directions and dipped them in ketchup. I thought it was way better than a recipe I made that was supposed to mimic chicken nuggets.

[karenlovessnow]

I am very excited to try this! :)

[beatricious]

I made that for a vegan potluck a few days ago! It is pretty much the best thing ever.

[ai_08]

Oh. My. Gosh. I thought I'd never eat it again. ^^"" Thanks so much!

[meatless]

I made this the other night because of the rave reviews. It was *ok.*

I may try it again with modifications, but it definitely isn't good enough that I'd serve it to guests.

[misq17]

I use a little less sugar but I love it. I would not hesitate to serve it to guests.

[jeff_veg]

I tried this tonight, and although I don't think it quite lives up to the hype, I thought it was really good. The biggest problem with it is that unless you are a cooking whiz, you will find this to be incredibly time consuming. I suggest enlisting some helper monkeys, or failing that, some friends.

My favorite part of the recipe was the tofu. Although it's a pain to do, the reward is tofu that turns brown and crispy and cooks cooks up wonderfully with no sticking! That's right, no sticking! Just gliding my tofu cubes around the pan in joy made this recipe worth it.

Everyone on vegweb raves about the sauce, but I thought it was kind of average. I thought that it needed some kick, so if I make this again I will add something hot. :lick:

Also, some tips:

- just about everyone on vegweb says to double the sauce.
- you should probably cut the sugar a bit.
- you don't need to use quite as much corn starch as they say. What you do is take two bowls and use one for the egg replacer and the other for the cornstarch. Left hand coats the tofu cubes with the egg, right hand coats them with the cornstarch and places in the pan.
- make sure you look around once in a while during the tofu frying because unknown to me, my entire apartment filled with oil smoke while I was cooking. On the bright side, I learned that smoke detector doesn't work.
- crushing ginger in a garlic press can potentially be a timesaver... but if you cram a huge chunk in all at once, and press it really hard despite the resistance, it may explode in your face. Not that this happened to me... :dunce:

[Lumos]

I love this recipe! My entire omni family loved it. I used soy milk instead of egg replacer and used red pepper flakes since I had no fresh red pepper. I also doubled the sauce and added mushrooms and it turned out awesome.

[PicklesAreVegan]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!!! Thanks for posting it! :pibo:

[Melanie]

It does look good. I just printed out the recipe..I'll try this soon :)

[SonicIggy]

I made this tonight, and... !... yep, it was great. I'll definitely be inviting friends over to try this one, and if nobody shows up more for me hahaha. But seriously, so good. Next Time I'll have to try doubling the sauce for sure. The only bad thing was that I didn't have fresh ginger, still good though.

[Savannah]

this is a pretty cool recipe. suggestion: try Tamari instead of soy sauce for a fuller mellower flavor. also yeah, i agree that is too much cornstarch!

[Beachbnny]

I finally made this last night after staring at it for years on vegweb. And it came out unbelievably delicious :) Here's what I changed after reading so many awesome suggestions:

Less cornstarch. I didn't understand the mixing it with water beforehand cause it just made a big gooey blob- blech! So I blended a teeny tiny amount with hot water and just added slowly. I also reduced the sugar amount and doubled the sauce.

I threw the onion, garlic, and ginger in the chopper and set aside together. Then I made the soy, sugar, vegetable stock etc. and heated it up so the sugar dissolved and set that aside.

I dipped the tofu lightly and browned it. Set aside. Oiled pan and sauted the onion mix. Then added the soy/ veg broth mix. Slowly added tiny bits of the cornstarch mix. Then threw in the tofu.

It just seemed to help having everything premixed and ready to go. I only do that for recipes like this one. But it was sooooooo good :)

[rabid_child]

I made this for dinner tonight. I also doubled the sauce, but only used 1 tbsp oil per batch of sauce.. 3 seemed excessive. Next time I'd reduce the amount of sugar. I think it was a bit too sweet.

[greenheart]

I made this last night for me and my omni BF. We both loved it. :bobo:

[federico]

A few questions:
- Can I fry the tofu in a skillet?
- Can I use rice milk instead of ener-g egg replacer?
- If I am using bottled sauce, how much time can I cut?

[beatricious]

A few questions:
- Can I fry the tofu in a skillet?
- Can I use rice milk instead of ener-g egg replacer?
- If I am using bottled sauce, how much time can I cut?

I think frying the tofu in a skillet would be fine, and I just skip the egg replacer entirely and it turns out fine. And making the sauce yourself probably takes about 10 minutes.

[idalupino]

This would be a good entry for the Chef to the Rescue contest I've mentioned on here before - right now the category is Asian/Indian cuisine! (Starting Monday it's veggie grilling/burgers.)

http://cheftotherescue.msn.com/?cn=rc

[Animosity]

A few questions:
- Can I fry the tofu in a skillet?
- Can I use rice milk instead of ener-g egg replacer?
- If I am using bottled sauce, how much time can I cut?


-Yes. Tofu can be fried in a skillet.

-If it's to dip the tofu in before frying, You don't need either. Cornstarch sticks to tofu without egg replacer or milk.

- No more than 5 or 10 minutes. Fresh sauce makes all the difference, Though. I suggest just taking the extra time to make it yourself.

[guinnesshero]

My wife made this the other night we thought it was great.

[greenrunner]

Has anyone made this with medium-firm tofu? I don't really like extra firm lately.

[Shamandura]

I imagine using medium-firm would be just as good. I really dont believe it matters, perhaps not silken tough :P. In the recipe it mentions you can freeze it for more firmness, but you don't have to. I think the sauce is what definately makes this dish anyway. I made extra sauce for any leftover rice.

[athansor]

If you freeze the tofu first, do you drain it before freezing, or just toss the unopened container in the freezer?

[LucidAnne]

you can drain, pressand cut the tofu first, before freezing, if you like...that way,it will thaw quicker...its easier to thaw smaller pieces, rather than thw whole block.
But throwing the whole container in the freezer is fine too...thats usually how i do it.