Marinated Oven Dehydrated Pressed Tofu & Garlic Green Lettuce Wrap

Repeated my Oven Dehydrated Pressed Tofu experiment this week and am happy to report the results. Will try not to bore you with details. Also remember this is just my opinion regarding texture and taste. What I like is not necessarily what you like, so use this as a guide to make changes to suit your individual taste. Also keep in mind different brands of tofu may produce different results.

I repeated the experiment with the same 4 varieties of tofu – firm, lite firm, extra firm and soft. Cut each block of tofu into 8 pieces. Marinated 4 pieces of each variety in 1 tablespoon of regular soy sauce overnight. Baked at 210°F (100°C)

Tasting after one hour: Liked the texture and taste of the lite firm (marinated and unmarinated). The firm, extra firm and soft (marinated and unmarinated) were still not the right texture (too soft)

Tasting after two hours: Liked the texture and taste of all 4 varieties (marinated and unmarinated). With the soft having a velvety texture, the lite firm having a denser texture, the firm and extra firm somewhere in between.

Tasting after three hours: The texture of all 4 varieties were a bit firmer overall than after 2 hours.

Tasting after four hours: Liked the texture and taste of the soft (marinated and unmarinated). Texture and taste of the others were OK.

Tasting after 5 hours: The texture of the lite firm and extra firm were quite dry. All the unmarinated had an unpleasant taste (a tad bitter).

Conclusions: Glad I repeated the experiment and made the hourly comparison. Now I know the texture and taste I like best are the marinated tofu baked for 2 or 3 hours. All 4 varieties slice/shred easily (did not fall apart) and also froze well (this is what I was really hoping for). The recipe below were made using frozen slices.

Ingredients
6 – 8 ounces oven dehydrated pressed tofu, shredded or thinly sliced
3 – 4 dried Chinese mushroom, soaked for at least ½ hour to soften, discard stems, thinly slice caps
4 – 5 garlic green, cleaned and slant cut both green and white parts
4 – 8 ounces snow peas, stringed and cut into smaller sections
1 carrot, peeled, shredded or thinly sliced
1 yellow squash, shredded or thinly sliced
½ – 1 red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
¼ – 1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce (optional)
2 – 3 tablespoons ginger wine
1 – 2 tablespoons regular or gluten free soy sauce or oyster sauce
1 – 2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 – 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
Boston lettuce or leaf lettuce of choice
1 teaspoon cornstarch combined with 1 tablespoon water

Preparations
1. Add oil to preheated wok or frying pan. Add mushroom and stir-fry until fragrant, 1 – 2 minutes. Add salt, garlic green, snow peas, carrots, yellow squash and onion. Stir-fry until snow peas turns bright green.
2. Add tofu, black pepper, ginger wine and soy sauce/oyster sauce. Stir-fry until vegetables reached desired doneness.
3. Stir in cornstarch mixture. Stir in sesame oil and sesame seeds. Adjust taste and serve.
To serve: Spoon desired amount of tofu mixture onto lettuce leaf, fold and enjoy.

NOTE: The garlic greens are from my garden. Substitute Chinese chives (garlic chives) or scallion. Also feel free to substitute seasonal vegetables for any of the vegetables.

VARIATION

Marinated Oven Dehydrated Pressed Tofu & Garlic Green Wrap
Substitute: Flour tortilla for the leaf lettuce
Add any of the following: Cilantro, fresh chili, fresh fruits (mango, pineapple, papaya), dried fruits (cherries, cranberries)

You may also like the following tofu dishes:
Click here for Marinated Tofu, Asparagus & Portabella Mushrooms Stir-fry
Click here for Hoisin Tofu with Nuts & 3 Peppers
Click here for Corn & Tofu Chowder
Click here for Frozen Tofu Fried Rice

Left photo: Chinese mushrooms – soaked (left) and dried (right)

Copyright © by Norma Chang

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