Today, we’re making one of the most addictive fried vegetarian dishes out there, Salt & Pepper Tofu, a vegetarian version of the famous salt & pepper style dishes in Cantonese cuisine. There’s a lot to love about this dish, from the nuanced spicy and salty seasonings to the crispy yet tender texture of the tofu in each bite. Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. More on them later, but first my dad will show you how to prep the vegetables like a Chinese chef. First, the green onions. We're going to use the white part. Dice them into small pieces. We’ll dice up just the white parts of 4 pieces of green onion here. These are sweet peppers. They make the dish look beautiful. We don't need too much, just 2 oz. To prepare these sweet peppers, we’ll slice them first in half length-wise. Then we’ll remove the core and any seeds with our hands. These aren't spicy, these are sweet peppers. Dice these too. We’ll then cut them into strips length-wise. Then turn 90 degrees to dice. We’re using 3 different colors of peppers here to give the dish some more visual appeal. That's enough. That's plenty. We don't need to cut more. We're using 2 cloves of garlic. We’ll peel, smash, and mince two cloves of garlic. Now, we’re ready to introduce the star of the show: the tofu. First, drain the water from the tofu. First, we’ll drain the water from the tofu. Usually, after I drain the tofu water, I'll rinse it with cold water. It's been sitting in this liquid that isn't very fresh, it's been sitting in it for a while. Whether or not there are preservatives, I'll still rinse it. That's how we eat it. My dad prefers to give the tofu a quick rinse with water before cutting it. Rinse it with water. First, we’ll turn our knife sideways and cut our tofu in half. Cut it into two pieces. From here, the middle. Then we’ll cut our tofu length-wise in half, then those two pieces each in half, ending up with four equal parts. Cut it again. Here. This way, we've cut it up so easily. We’ll then cut it horizontally the same way, into four equal parts. If you prefer slightly smaller pieces, you can cut the block into more parts, but my dad prefers this larger size which is about 1 inch by 1 inch. Smaller pieces will fry quicker, so adjust your cooking time accordingly. Now this next step is my dad’s special technique to get that perfect tofu texture and flavor. We'll use some salted, boiling water to cook some flavor into the tofu. Turn the heat on. 4 cups of water. We’ll add 1 tsp of salt to the water. 1 tsp is good. If you add too much, it'll be too salty. We’ll stir the water to make sure the salt is all dissolved. All right, let's add the tofu and boil it. After we add the tofu, we’ll make sure all the pieces are submerged, then we’ll cover our pot and with the heat on high, we’ll wait for it to boil. While the tofu is cooking, we'll crack the egg. Let's crack the egg. Now it's boiling. When the water boils, or after about 2-3 minutes, we’ll remove the lid and turn the heat to low and we’ll let it boil for 2 more minutes. What does boiling the tofu do? The boiled tofu will release the extra moisture quicker, and the tofu will be seasoned with salt. Tofu naturally doesn't have any flavor on its own. This seems counterintuitive, but, due to osmosis, boiling the tofu in water and adding salt will actually draw out the excess moisture in the tofu with the bonus of also seasoning it. Doing this will result in a firmer texture, a better flavor, and make it much easier to fry later since less water will come out when frying. It's good, so we just have to pour it out. Turn the heat off. Pour it out. Now, we’ll pour out our tofu into a strainer, letting the water drain from it. We’ll set it aside to let it drain and cool off a bit. Set it aside and let it cool down. In the West, tofu sometimes has this connotation that it’s a substitute or that it needs to be dressed up to taste good, but in Asian culture, tofu is often the star of the show. Also known as dau fu in Cantonese, it originates from China, dating back to at least the 10th century. If you’re wondering how it’s made, tofu starts off as soy milk coagulated to form curds and depending on the final product It's pressed to form tofu cakes. There are countless types of tofu, from silken to extra firm, pickled, fermented, pre-fried or mixed with egg. Tofu is celebrated in Chinese cuisine as a wildly adaptable source of protein, featured in a variety of dishes: from silken tofu with syrup as dessert, to the savory and saucy mapo tofu, to our deep-fried salt and pepper dish today. Now, my dad will show us his technique for getting that perfectly crispy outside. First, I'll put cornstarch onto the plate. About 4-5 tbsp. We’ll add 4-5 tbsp of cornstarch and spread it out on a plate. Beat the egg. We’ll beat our egg and set it aside. That's ready. Get a clean cloth. Pour the tofu onto it. We’ll pour our tofu cubes onto a plate covered with a clean kitchen or paper towel. Let it soak up more of the moisture. Boiled tofu will be firmer. It's better for frying. Use another paper towel and press the tofu even drier. The bottom piece can be paper towel, too. The clean cloth that I used is also for soaking up moisture. Is cloth better? It's more absorbent. We’ll also use some paper towels on the top to dry the tofu as much as we can. Put the tofu over here. Now it's dry, right? Now, we can transfer the tofu to a large bowl. Get the egg. We don't need the whole amount, just half the egg. We’ll pour in just half of the egg here. Mix it up. Now, we’ll gently mix the egg in with the tofu. After mixing it, bring it over here. Then, place the tofu onto the cornstarch we spread out on the plate earlier, making sure each piece is touching the cornstarch on the bottom. Sprinkle cornstarch over the top. With our hands, we’ll spread about another tbsp of cornstarch over the top of the tofu. "What's the best flour to dredge the tofu in resulting in an airy-type crunch?" Cornstarch is good. Are there other options? Sure! Anything other than wheat flour. Flour turns soft. Potato starch works. Mix the tofu with the cornstarch. Let the cornstarch soak into the tofu. "How do you get the tofu to stick to the batter?" Mix the cornstarch well, like this, on the bottom, have a layer underneath, put the tofu on top, and sprinkle more on top, instead of just dumping it on top. If you’re like me and love to learn and invest in your personal growth, today’s sponsor Skillshare is perfect. Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of inspiring classes for anyone who loves learning new skills and exploring their creativity. For me, I’ve been self-employed for almost 10 years now, and I’ve gained basically all of my skills by learning online from places like Skillshare. Even with a bit of YouTube experience under my belt, I still found MKBHD’s course on YouTube success really eye-opening, with a lot of takeaways on how to improve our videos and storytelling. Courses on Skillshare allow you and the teacher to go much deeper into topics than you otherwise would with other online resources. As a side note, I’ve also thought about releasing our own Chinese cooking course on Skillshare, so let me know in the comments if you’d be interested in that. Skillshare offers courses on everything from photography and design, to cooking and home gardening, to finding personal fulfillment and unlocking more productivity. Right now, the first 1,000 people who click the link in our description will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare. It’s a great opportunity, especially if you’re looking to pivot careers, launch a new business, or if you’re just hungry to learn, because Skillshare most likely has a course that’s perfect for you. Again, click the link in our description to join Skillshare and get a 1 month free trial. All right, it's all mixed. Let's start heating up the oil. Turn the heat on. Add the oil. We're using corn oil. With the heat on high, we’ll add 16 fl oz of oil to the pot. As the oil heats up, I'll measure out the garlic salt. Garlic salt isn't very salty. 1 tbsp of garlic salt. 1/4 tsp of white pepper. We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com along with step-by-step instructions and video clips to guide you as you make the recipe at home. As the oil heats up, we’ll prepare to drop in our tofu with our spider strainer. When the oil reaches around 400°F (or 200°C), we’ll drop in our tofu gently, being careful not to splash the oil. When you put the tofu in, don't move them around yet. Once the tofu is in, be careful not to mix it too much right away or the batter will fall off. But we’ll make sure to separate any pieces that are stuck to each other. Now, we can add the rest. Place them along the sides. We’ll add in the remaining pieces on the side, so they don’t stick to any other pieces. When do you know that it's done? Once they've turned golden brown, they're ready. It only takes a few minutes. See? Done! Jim from Patreon asked, "How do you make sure the tofu doesn't clump together?" If you're not used to frying them, take your time and give them space, and fry in smaller batches. You can put the tofu in one piece at a time. I'm used to it, though. Tofu starts out full of water, so you have to fry more of the moisture out. When you see bubbles, that's water and moisture coming out. We’ll gently mix the pieces around so they fry evenly. These will be so crispy! I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our wonderful Patreon supporters for helping bring this video to life. If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly, head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more! How do you get the crispy tofu in general? Boil the tofu and drain the water, make sure to dry it really well. Fry it on high heat, you can't fry it on low heat. Like me, fry it on high heat, keep an ear out for that sizzle, and that'll make the crust nice and tight. The tight crust keeps the moisture from escaping. If it takes too long to fry, the moisture from inside will seep out, the tofu inside will be dry, and it won't be tender when you bite into it. When you fry this, the outside must be crispy, and the inside must be soft. Then it's a success. Isn't it beautiful? Like it? After you take it out, it'll keep taking on some color. Turn off the heat. When the tofu is golden brown, or after about 5-6 minutes of frying at 360°-380°F, we’ll turn off the heat and scoop out our tofu. The tofu is all fried up. Now we’ll set the tofu aside, to let the excess oil drain and get our wok ready for our final cooking step. Turn the heat on to fry up our accompanying ingredients, and mix it all up. Add just a bit of oil, not too much. We’ll add about a tbsp of the oil we just used to the wok. If it's too hot, these little chili peppers will burn instantly. First, we’ll add some dried chilis. Dried chilis. Fry it and get it aromatic. Next, garlic. After just 10-15 seconds of stir-frying the chilis, we’ll add our garlic. Then we’ll remove the dried chilis. You don't keep the dried chilis? No, we take them out. We just used them for their flavor. After the garlic is slightly browned, or about 15-20 seconds, we’ll add the rest of our veggies. Add all of these in. After a quick 20-30 seconds of stir-frying, we’ll add in our tofu. All right! Add the tofu. After a quick toss, we’ll sprinkle on about half of our seasoning with our hands. We’ll be a bit conservative with how much to add here since we can always add more later. My dad likes to serve the remaining seasoning with the dish so each person can add more if they want. We’ll toss for another 30 seconds, making sure the seasoning is evenly mixed. All right. All set. Smells amazing! Okay! And we’re ready to plate. Heat off. Now for a brief summary of the cooking process: with the tofu all cut and coated, (1) we’ll heat oil in a pot up to 400° F (200° C) then (2) gently place the tofu pieces into the oil but don’t move them around too much initially or the batter will fall off. If you’re new to deep-frying, fry it in batches to make it easier. We’ll deep fry the tofu for 5-6 minutes at 360°-380°F or until they’re golden brown. Make sure to separate any pieces that are stuck together and to gently move the pieces around. (3) Then we’ll remove the tofu from the oil and let the oil drain. (4) Moving to our wok, we’ll add oil, then, we’ll add dried chilis, taking them out after 10-15 seconds. Then add garlic, followed by our veggies and stir-fry for 20-30 seconds. (5) Then we’ll add our tofu, followed by half our seasoning, toss for 30 seconds, then plate. Now let’s see if Cam Cam likes this salt and pepper dish. Hong Doy! Time to eat tofu! You like it, bud? You like it, Hong Doy? Tasty, huh? Do you want more? Yeah! What is your favorite salt and pepper food? Mine is squid. I think mine is tofu. This is your favorite? Yeah, I love salt and pepper tofu. Salt and pepper shrimp. Tofu? Shrimp? Squid? How about you? Squid. Cam Cam, how about you? We're friends. We both like squid. Our Salt and Pepper Tofu is complete! I hope you all enjoy it! Cheers! Bye-bye! Thank you for watching! YouTube thinks you’ll like this recipe next. Let's see if they're right.
