Three-Pepper Tofu

We eat lots of tofu, but most of the times it’s just too everyday to blog about. This marinade was one of the best we’ve ever tried, and it worked well on three days in a row – by the first meal, the tofu had marinated for only two hours, but the flavor was already very nice. The second meal was a lunch on the next day, and by then the marinade had permeated the tofu slices thoroughly. But after two days in the marinade, we baked the last two slices in the oven, and they turned out just exquisite!

Breading with soy yoghurt was very easy and quite fool proof, and resulted in a lovely crispy topping with a hint of yoghurty sourness. The baked version was definitely lighter, and baking also resulted in a more developed, round flavor.

The Marinade:

• 1 dl red wine
• 1/2 dl soy sauce
• 5 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 teaspoons agave syrup
• 1 teaspoon pink peppercorns, ground
• 1 teaspoon green peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, ground

I first pressed my 500 gram block of tofu for one hour – sliced it 1 cm thick, wrapped in cheesecloth, arranged as a uniformly thick layer, and placed a cutting board and a pile of plates on top. Then I just mixed all the marinade ingredients and placed in an airtight container along with the tofu. I flipped the tofu slices and shook the container every once in a while to ensure even absorption of the marinade.

As we found out, the marinating time can be anything between 2 hours and two days.

The Breading for Fried Tofu:

• 1 dl dry bread crumbs
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 3/4 dl plain soy yoghurt
• a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar

I mixed the bread crumbs and the salt and pepper on one plate and the soy yoghurt and the salt and sugar on another. Then I patted the marinated tofu slices dry with some kitchen towels and dipped them first in the yoghurt dish, then rolled them carefully in the bread crumbs.

Then Heikki shallow fried the tofu slices in canola oil until nicely browned on both sides.

We enjoyed our breaded tofu with lemon wedges and a side of stir-fried morning glory – so good!