Crispy Tofu in
Miso-Peanut Sauce
Inspired by something my partner used to make when we were fist dating, with changes inspired by a tofu-and-broccoli dish my sister-in-law made that I really liked. No source - fully mine at this point. Just mix a bunch of high-umami ingredients and call it a sauce.
Active time
30 min
Serves
2–3
Effort / flavor
Excellent
Source
Original
Ingredients
What you need
Tofu
1 block
extra-firm tofu
good amount
flour or potato starch
— for shaking
enough to fry
neutral oil
Sauce — eyeball equal parts of the first three
1 part
miso
1 part
peanut butter
1 part
soy sauce
1/2 part
Lao Gan Ma chili crisp
1/4–1/3 part
fish sauce
splash
water
— if it seems too thick. total sauce ~3/4 cup
To finish
8 oz
spinach
— fresh or frozen both work
drizzle
sesame oil
to serve
rice
Method
How to make it
Press and cut the tofu. Press to dry it out, then cut into cubes.
Shake with starch. Put the tofu cubes in a bowl or bag with flour or potato starch and shake until all sides are coated.
Pan-fry until crispy on all sides. Hot pan, enough oil to coat. Fry the tofu, turning until each side has a good crust. Don't rush it.
Make the sauce. Eyeball equal parts miso, peanut butter, and soy sauce — then half that amount of Lao Gan Ma, and a quarter-to-third part fish sauce. Stir together. Add a little water if it's too thick. Should come out to a little under a cup of sauce and be pretty punchy on its own.
Sauce the tofu. Add the sauce to the pan and toss until all the tofu is coated.
Add spinach and cover. Add the 8 oz of spinach (fresh or frozen), cover the pan, and cook until the spinach melts down into the sauce.
Finish and serve. Drizzle with sesame oil. Serve over rice.
Notes
Potato starch vs flour. Potato starch gives a crispier, more shatteringly light crust, but can get gummy and sticky in the pan early on.
Either works, or a mix of both.
The sauce ratios. "1 part each" is the anchor — everything else calibrates off that. The fish sauce doesn't make it taste fishy.
Worcestershire sauce would work as well.
Frozen spinach is fine. Thaw and squeeze it out first if you have a minute, otherwise just dump it in and let the cover do the work.