Crispy Tofu Bites

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks for watching my crispy tofu recipe! If you enjoyed this I have a playlist of my favorite plant-based dishes you can check out here: kzbin.info/aero/PLP3Ew88wjvg9MBWLxiBvJGnxK-QCc3qXf

[@junebee9143]

Please give a pot size and oil measurement next time. Mine went over and flamed up. I had baking soda on hand so it was OK but like please

[@NoRecipes]

@@junebee9143 Hi Sebbie, I'm glad to hear you're okay. Recipes don't usually specify pot-size and oil amount because most people aren't going to have the exact same-sized pot as the person writing the recipe. The more important thing is to make sure you don't overfill the pot with oil (never fill the pot past half way). This isn't just for this recipe but for anything you are deep frying. Also, if your oil was the correct temperature and you dried the tofu sufficiently it should not have bubbled up so much as to overflow (the bubbling is caused by water turning to steam, so it's very important to make sure you get rid of any excess water by salting and drying it before you fry it).

[@WishingStarflakes]

I made it today! It was a huge hit with my family that they want me to make more tomorrow. Thank you so much. I'll be making this often in the future!

[@Fidodo]

I never thought to salt the tofu to get it to release more water. I'm going to do that every time I need to dry tofu from now on!

[@NoRecipes]

Glad to hear the tip was helpful! Osmosis works whenever you want to get liquid out of a solid (fish, meat, and vegetables are other examples).

[@214_suryamajumder4]

Sir you are God. The god of cooking. Seriously everyone whom I shared the video also loved it. It is so beautifully done!!

[@214_suryamajumder4]

Plus Sir you lend us energy with your energetic beginning. Thank you Sir

[@NoRecipes]

Thank you for the kind words and for spreading the word😊

[@Mooyinoluwa]

Your channel is so underrated. Great videos and recipes! Helps me a lot.

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks Moyin, I'm glad to hear my videos are helpful for you!

[@deanasauceda3197]

Soo glad i found your channel!! 😍😍😍 thank you for the amazing recipes!!!

[@NoRecipes]

Welcome to the channel Deana! I'm glad you found it as well 😄

[@kathcares]

I was really surprised that you didn't add a starch to the outside of the tofu cubes. When I make fried tofu, I always sprinkle on some cornstarch; I have never had a problem with the tofu sticking on the bottom of the pan. The tofu also comes out extra crispy and the coating helps the sauce to adhere. Your method certainly works! And that sauce looks delicious!

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Kathy, for this particular application I prefer going starch less. Starch will get it to crisp faster, but you're crisping the starch not the tofu. When it gets dipped in the sauce, the starch granules will absorb the sauce and swell up which helps it hold onto it, but it also causes the coating to not be crisp anymore. It works for dishes like agedashi tofu, but for this I want the tofu to stay crisp even after soaking in the liquid. Crisping the tofu itself takes longer, but you're getting the protein to crisp. This creates a microscopic mesh (leaving pores where the water turned to vapor) . The pores will retain the sauce, but the protein won't rehydrate as readily which means this will stay nice and crispy.

[@kathcares]

@@NoRecipes Thanks for explaining the science, Marc! I have fried tofu without starch and found the texture a bit hard for my tastes. Now I know why. When I do it I don't really put much on, so it doesn't really become a coating, kind of like what you did with the Yaki Onigiri. I suppose that if you were planning this as something that needs to sit for a time, this would be a better method. We always gobble up the fried tofu right away, so it doesn't have time to get soggy. Frying tofu absolutely transforms it into a dish anyone can love -my husband used to hate tofu! Now he loves it.

[@NoRecipes]

@@kathcares Glad you were able to find a way to get your husband into tofu! I think if someone can't get into this dish, they may be a tofu hater for life😆 As for the texture, I wonder if it was the amount of time you fried it for. When I was testing this, if I took it too far it did get a little tough and crunchy around the outside. About 10-minutes was the perfect time for my tofu, but this might vary depending on the moisture content of your tofu. Either way, as long as your method works for you, I'd say stick with it.

[@andreaalvarado6259]

thank you for this recipe 😁😁😁gonna be making this so much! i usually don’t enjoy tofu much but yummmmm. i didn’t have everything so i just used ginger ,garlic, soy sauce, and black pepper and it’s so good

[@NoRecipes]

You're welcome Andrea! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! Tofu's just a blank canvas, so there are a lot of delicious ways to prepare it. I hope you have a chance to try out some of my other tofu recipes as well.

[@Emiliapocalypse]

Mmm I can smell the garlic and ginger through my screen. This looks so good, can’t wait to try it. Salting the tofu is also a brilliant idea, thanks :)

[@NoRecipes]

😆 Thanks! I hope you enjoy it! If you enjoy this I think you'll also like my tofu steak.

[@mixelle_0]

The glaze sounds so yummy 😋

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks Michelle! It's good on just about anything.

[@FeelinTangerine]

Wow. Your energy & enthusiasm are as wonderful as this great sounding dish!!

[@NoRecipes]

Thank you 😊 I hope you have a chance to give this a try.

[@iph0ne110]

omg this looks so good!! Thank you!! will definitely try it!! tofu lover!!

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks, I hope you enjoy it!

[@abhiroopdas3232]

Such a good channel with such a good, expressive chef... Great Job. Also, I want to cook Japanese for my family and friends, but most of them don't even eat chicken, forget beef or pork. So please continue with these amazing vegetarian/eggitarian recipes. Love from India.

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks Abhiroop! Many of our recipes are easily made vegetarian by switching out the protein. If it's possible, I usually include some information on on substitutions in the head notes of the accompanying blog post (links are in the description).

[@susuabc]

Great cooking show. Great personality !

[@NoRecipes]

Thank you! Welcome to the channel😀

[@luznepomucenosuarez]

made this the other day, and man!!! it is sooooo good!

[@NoRecipes]

Glad you enjoyed it Luz!

[@sqarsek]

Nice and easy. Will try it out! Thanks

[@NoRecipes]

I hope you enjoy it!

[@pumpeldi]

You always deliver! Thx alot for this nice recipe!

[@NoRecipes]

I aim to please 😄

[@PumpkinMozie]

Made this today and confirm that it’s delicious. I substituted the black pepper with Korean chili flakes and it was amazing

[@NoRecipes]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Great idea substituting gochugaru for the black pepper👍🏽

[@marylockwood4400]

Love you on Bento Expo. So glad I found you here!

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks for watching Bento Expo! Welcome to the channel!

[@coldstone01]

it looks tasty, I wonder as I mixed a Shichimi Togarashi spice, can I use that as substitute then just sesame seeds? as one of the recipes I followed have two sesame types in with several spices? And I might actually use up the spice rub so I can make more. either way yummy looking and I can't wait to try it.

[@NoRecipes]

That would be a great way to spice this up! You could just substitute it for the black pepper. (I'd probably still add the extra sesame seeds)

[@paigelauryn4328]

Yum, I going to try this now ! Using salt to reduce moisture is genius lol, also I like your energy

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks Paige!

[@timeforadram1427]

Nice mixing up on the editing style Marc - the unscripted taste section was a nice switch up from scripted, but more natural. Great balance across the vid.....you even made ME contemplate cooking tofu (an ingredient I widely avoid)

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks! Tofu is one of those things that can be amazing, but you have to start with good tofu and it needs to be prepared properly.

[@ButteredSideUp]

Gotta say I'm a tofu skeptic...but you made this look tempting!

[@NoRecipes]

As a tofu convert I can say that my dislike of tofu stemmed from bad tofu and bad preparation. Growing up in the US (40 years ago) there wasn't a good selection of tofu and I hated the beany smell and crumbly rubbery texture of it. These days there are some good brands available there that don't have a pronounced soybean taste and a texture that's more smooth and creamy (even for firm tofus). For this recipe I recommend House Foods' medium-firm tofu.

[@christianhansen3292]

yummy those are addicting.

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks Christian!

[@roadrunner123]

I made these and they were delicious. I have to try a lighter soy sauce. Mine was a bit too dark, but otherwise, it was delicious.

[@NoRecipes]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! I used Japanese Kikkoman soy sauce for this. As long as the soy sauce is Japanese (and not Tamari) it should work fine. Other Asian soy sauces can be much thicker and darker.

[@kayel4487]

Looks delicious!

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks Kaye!

[@kayeanne7935]

What was the first ingredient again?? We are trying to make it but don't understand what the first ingredient is... thanks!

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Kaye, please look at the video description. All ingredients and their quantities are listed there and you can also click through on the link to my website for an even more detailed explanation of each ingredient.

[@brentperez4700]

What was the first ingredient? Could you spell it. I’ve tried to google it? Looks like Mirin, doesn’t sound like what you are saying?

[@toekneeevans]

Yes it's mirin

[@NoRecipes]

Sorry about that, I said it with a Japanese pronunciation. It’s mirin. There’s always a full list of ingredients in the video description, and I give a much more detailed explanation of the ingredients on my website (the link is also in the description)

[@annielauron0930]

I loved tofu.

[@lutinab5265]

I cant wait to get this. Since covid I havent been able to go out as often to order. Attempts at home havent worked well. Is there a reason you use semi firm instead of firm?

[@NoRecipes]

I like the center to be soft and juicy and the softer the tofu, the more liquid it contains. Soft/silken tofu is made using a different process and it contains too much liquid to crisp properly. Medium-firm is made using the same process as firm tofu, but it contains more water, which makes it more tender and juicy, but is still low enough in moisture content to crisp.

[@MrPSobala]

I burnt my tofu :) But I won't give up, it looks delicious. I have a question, 1/4 cup of mirin means: 71ml (us cup) or 44ml (rise cup) ?

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Paweł, yikes sorry to hear about that! As for volumetric measurements unless otherwise specified, they'll always be specified in US cups. 1 US cup = 240ml, so 1/4 cup would be 60 ml. I hope that helps!

[@suzanneward6184]

Please, what is “meating” as your first liquid?

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Suzanne, I'm guessing you mean "mirin"? All of the ingredients are explained in much more detail along with substitutions on my website (the link is in the video description).

[@suzanneward6184]

@@NoRecipes I didn’t misunderstand you it is in the transcript. Thanks you for answering back to me. Love your recipes, you make it all easy. Be well👍

[@NoRecipes]

@@suzanneward6184 Ahh sorry about that, these transcripts are AI generated by KZbin, so they're pretty bad. I'm going through and rewriting them, but it takes a long time and I haven't gotten to this one yet.

[@morgane1847]

Yummy! 🤗😄

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks!

[@melaniebong3959]

Is there a replacement for mirin if I do not have it?

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Melanie, you can substitute a mixture of sake (or shoaxing wine) and sugar, adjust the sweetness to taste, but a 50:50 mix (by volume) should be a good starting point. If you go by weight it's more like a 40:60 sugar:sake

[@melaniebong3959]

@@NoRecipes thanks Marc, sounds like a plan!

[@reno-koreanfoodlover6569]

You really know how to make pretty :)

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks! This dish was kind of challenging. It's not the prettiest looking thing, but it tastes a lot better than it looks.

[@jamorelos]

What is a meating?

[@NoRecipes]

Good question, where are you seeing/hearing meating?

[@Punkchic207]

@@NoRecipes he means mirin hehe

[@ogsxl]

I wonder why you dont have as much views

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks! I'm working on it😄

[@daniel.8589]

I made this and I just wanted more 😭

[@NoRecipes]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Maybe double the recipe next time 😆

[@fauzipanjihermawan576]

my square tofu became a circular tofu

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Fauzi, this usually happens when the tofu contains too much water as the tofu puffs as water turns to steam and escapes the tofu. The two possible causes are 1) the tofu didn't drain for long enough 2) the tofu itself contained too much water. If this was the case, try using a more firm tofu (softer tofu contains more water).

[@fauzipanjihermawan576]

@@NoRecipes ahh i see thanks for the information

[@jayetheridge5392]

Willn’t it be easier to use a tofu press?

[@NoRecipes]

I don’t own one so I can’t say for sure, but I don’t recommend weighting it as it will cause the internal structure of the tofu to crumble and it won’t hold its shape when you fry it.

[@lutinab5265]

@@NoRecipes well that explains why my fried tofu always falls apart!! Thx!😊

[@NoRecipes]

@@lutinab5265 Yea I made that mistake once too 😆 You're welcome!

[@shazg]

You should consider doing videos for kids

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Shaz, definitely something I'd like to do, but the videos for this channel take me about 4 days to make, so I just don't have the time to do any more.

[@flexcrazyfun5109]

This was sooooo good! I ended up using Gochujang also to give it a nice color and more kick

[@NoRecipes]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Great idea adding Gochujang for a bit of kick!

[@whyforcemetohaveachannel3228]

Great recipe, I tried it tonight and it was delicious. It’s a shame that you feel the need to put on such a fake, game show host demeanor, though. You’re clearly a talented, charismatic person. We don’t need the show. Just be yourself.

[@NoRecipes]

Thanks, but the last time I checked we haven't met in person so I'm not sure how you presume to know me. I get it, I'm not for everyone, but hopefully you find the recipes worth putting up with my personality😉

[@whyforcemetohaveachannel3228]

@@NoRecipes well I offered the compliments to take the sting out of the criticism and make it clear that I wasn’t trying to be mean. The thing with feedback is that you’re free to take it or leave it. Do as you please.

[@nichelledemille2856]

Talks alot....only came for the recipe....

[@NoRecipes]

Hi Nichelle, I try and provide background and an explanation of the technique as it helps most people avoid failure and add to their tool chest of cooking techniques. If that doesn't interest you, you can skip ahead to the cooking part using the chapter markers on my videos.