General Tso's Tofu Take-Out Style

Today we’re making one of my all time favorite Chinese take-out dishes but we’re making it vegetarian, General Tso’s Tofu. It’s super easy and super fast to make. If you have the ingredients for the sauce, you can save yourself a lot of money in take-out costs. Let’s stay at home and make our own take-out!

Hot Tip #1

You can use regular (light) soy sauce in place of the dark soy sauce!

Hot Tip #2

You can use frozen broccoli florets instead of fresh. Just thaw them out before using them in this recipe.

Episode

Ingredients

Steps

1. Make the Tofu
   1. Take the tofu out of the package and drain off all of the water. Wrap it in a towel or paper towels and carefully squeeze it to make it release as much water as you can from it.
   2. Slice the tofu in half lengthwise then slice the halves into 1-2 inch cubes. It’s better if they are a little large because it will keep them from falling apart as easily.
   3. Place the tofu in a bowl and pour the honey, hot sauce, and white pepper over the top.
   4. Add the 2.5 tablespoons of cornstarch to the tofu. Mix it all up carefully to get the cornstarch to coat as much of the tofu as you can.
   5. Put a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the 1/3 cup of vegetable oil to it.
   6. When the oil is hot (about 350F) add as many pieces of tofu that you can fit. You might have to fry them in batches. Fry the tofu for 2-3 minutes then flip them over. Continue frying for another 2-3 minutes until they are pretty brown all over. Remove them to small paper towel lined plate and take the pan off the heat.
2. Prep Sauce and Stir Fry Ingredients
   1. Mince the garlic cloves and ginger.
   2. In a small bowl add the dark soy sauce (if using), light soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
   3. Cut up the broccoli into smaller bite sized pieces.
   4. In another small bowl, mix together the 1.5 Tablespoons of cornstarch and 3 tablespoons of water.
3. Stir Fry Time
   1. Get out a large frying pan or wok and place it over medium medium-high heat. Pour a few tablespoons of the oil we fried our tofu in earlier into this pan/wok.
   2. When the oil is really hot add the garlic and ginger to the pan. Cook for maybe 1-2 minutes max. If you see the garlic starting to brown it’s done cooking, continue to the next step.
   3. Add the dried chiles if using and fry for about 30 seconds.
   4. Add the 1 cup of water to the pan. Be careful, it might pop.
   5. Once the water is boiling, add the broccoli and the shaoxing rice wine (if using) to the pan and cover it with a lid. Cook the broccoli for 3-5 minutes.
   6. Now remove the lid and pour our sauce in along with the cornstarch water slurry we made. Cook for another minute, the sauce should thicken up pretty nicely at this point.
   7. Once the sauce is thickened, remove the pan from the heat and mix the tofu in until it’s well coated in the sauce.
   8. Plate it up along with some rice, and enjoy!