Thursday, October 8, 2009

Ma Po Tofu


For dinner a few nights ago, I had a craving for Ma Po Tofu. I love to get it at PF Changs, but it's fried and not exactly healthy. I decided to try to recreate it at home without frying it. To get my tofu crisp and firm, I knew I'd have to bake it at a really high temperature for a while. I also made up the sauce recipe based on what I can taste in Ma Po Tofu - lots of garlic and heat. I served with this steamed broccoli and brown rice and it was so close in taste to PF Changs!


Baked Ma Po Tofu


1 block of extra firm tofu, drained and cubed in 1/2"
Nonstick cooking spray
1 tbsp. EVOO
1 tsp. seasame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
5 scallion stalks, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. corn starch


Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, add tofu.
Bake for 20 minutes, flip and bake for another 10 minutes. (I used a thin metal spatula to first slide across the bottom and loosen the tofu, then i flipped them over).
Prep remaining ingredients while tofu cooks.
Add stock, soy sauce, honey and corn starch to a small bowl, whisk with a fork to dissolve corn starch.
Heat a wok over medium-high heat.
Remove tofu from the oven, set aside.
Add oils to wok, swirl around, add garlic, crushed red pepper and scallions.
Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
Add tofu and liquid, gently toss and heat through, sauce will thicken quickly, don't burn!
Remove from the heat, plate and serve immediately.

5 comments:

Kelly said...

I've actually never had Ma Po Tofu, but I do love tofu baked in an oven on high heat. I've also found that freezing the tofu and squeezing out excess water does wonders.

Anonymous said...

by any chance would you have the nutrional facts for the harvest granola? if so, could you post them? thanks!

Ashlee said...

i put the granola recipe into sparkpeople's calculator, and for 1/2 c. (about 1/12 of the recipe) the calories are 236, fat is 10g, carbs is 33g, and protein is 5g.
hope this helps!

Joanne said...

Congrats for mimicking this! It looks amazing. I've always wondered how to bake tofu to get it to taste like it's fried. Thanks for the advice.

Karine said...

Your tofu sounds delicious! thanks for sharing :_