Lemongrass fried tofu is a recipe I learnt from my cousin. She often makes this dish for daily meal, with salty, crispy fried tofu and the impressive aroma from fried chopped lemongrass. Lemongrass fried tofu recipe costs you only 30 minutes to make and you can either enjoy the dish as a side or main dish.
I always enjoy vegan and vegetarian dishes. I consider tofu my top 1 option to substitute meat 1-2 times a week. Therefore, I have numbers of tofu recipe on hands, from fermented tofu, tofu soup to tofu sauté in tomato sauce. However, these dishes take more time to prepare than fried tofu. I also love the crispiness, that’s why I’m into fried tofu. When my cousin introduced fried lemongrass to mix with fried tofu, it was even better!
So, let me walk you through the simple cooking process of lemongrass fried tofu.
Ingredients
As I said, this is a simple recipe that requires only 30 minutes to make, the ingredients are simple as well: lemongrass and tofu.
Tofu
Made from soybean and originated from China, nowadays it is not only a popular ingredient in Asia but also around the world. To make lemongrass fried tofu, I bought a box of tofu from nearby supermarket, around 375g (more than 13 oz). Indeed, I prefer to make homemade tofu because I can adjust the firmness of it, but it really takes time to make. I’ll introduce how to make homemade tofu later then; this time, I had to select store-bought tofu. You can use frozen tofu as well, but the texture will be affected a bit.
This amount of tofu is enough for 2 people. If you would like to prepare the dish for a bigger family, just increase to 2-3 pieces of it.
Lemongrass
For ones who haven’t known lemongrass, it is a type of aromatic herb commonly used in cooking in Southeast Asian dishes. It has a pleasant, citrus-like fragrance and a mild, lemony flavor. Lemongrass has long, slender green stalks, and it is primarily used for its stalks and leaves. I also really like lemongrass essential oil; it makes me feel relaxed like in a spa.
In cooking, lemongrass is often finely chopped or pounded to release its flavor, and it can be added to noodles and soup (such as beef vermicelli or bun bo), curries, stir-fries, marinades beefs, and teas. My family grew lemongrass in the garden so it’s always ready for many daily and special dishes.
When choosing lemongrass, opt for fresh and bright ones. If you see a dark and fry pack of lemongrass, it’s quite old already. You will have to remove 1-2 outer layers of it before chopping.
When you have these 2 ingredients ready, let’s start to make lemongrass fried tofu.
How to make lemongrass fried tofu
Step 1. Preparation
Slice the tofu into small cubes of 1 – 1.5 inch (2-3 cm). The tofu is soft, so for safety, you should place it on a flat cutting board to cut instead of handling it on your hand and cut. Except you are too familiar with tofu, like my mom, you can avoid washing cutting board by cutting it right on your hand.
For the lemongrass, pick 2-3 lemongrass. Observe the outer skin; if it’s dry and tough, remove it before chopping. Cut off the hard ends of the lemongrass, then start to chop them thinly by hand. If you have a blender, it’s even easier: cut the lemongrass into 3-4 small pieces and blend them until it’s chopped.
Step 2. Fry tofu and lemongrass separately
Before you chop lemongrass, add oil to a skillet or pan and turn on medium heat, to save your time waiting for the tofu to be fried. Once the oil starts to boil, add ½ tbsp of salt in, then tofu cubes, and fry all their 6 sides. The salt brings a savory taste to tofu, as well as helps to reduce oil splashing while frying. Note that don’t let the tofu pieces de dense in the pan or else they’ll stick together. Be patient until all the sides turn to a golden-brown color.
The total frying time is around 20-25 minutes. You can also deep-fry the tofu pieces and finish the dish way faster in only 10 minutes. However, it seems to waste a larger amount of oil. When the fried pieces of tofu are done, set them aside.
In the same pan, fry your chopped lemongrass until half-brown and the aroma spreads.
Now return the tofu to the pan. Stir well to coat fried lemongrass over tofu; meanwhile the lemongrass gradually turns brown fully.
Serve the lemongrass fried tofu with steamed rice, soup, and green vegetables such as cucumber, coriander, spring onions, etc. Some eat it with rice vermicelli or as a side dish. The dipping sauce for this dish can be sweet chili sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce or siracha sauce.
How to store leftover fried tofu
After enjoying hot lemongrass fried tofu, you may ask how long the leftover lasts, and how to store them well to keep its crispiness as long as possible. From my experience, the fried tofu at room temperature can be still crispy in 2-3 hours. After that, it may soften due to the air exposure.
To store in longer period, you must refrigerate it. Keep them in an air-tight container in fridge not more than 3 days. When eating, unfortunately, you need to re-fry it not only to reheat but also to recall the crispiness.
It’s also possible to freeze the fried tofu. To thaw frozen tofu, put them into microwave in 3-5 minutes. Then, if you would like to eat crispy one, again, you have to re-fry it.
Variations of fried tofu
Beside frying with lemongrass, you can try many more styles of fried tofu. You can add chopped chilies to make it a spicy dishes, spring onions and fish sauce to have Spring Onion Tofu, or tomato sauce in. Bare fried tofu is delicious as well, and it perfectly combines with rice vermicelli to become “tofu vermicelli” (in Vietnamese cuisine we call it “bún đậu”).
Be creative; try everything you like and share your experiences!
Lemongrass Fried Tofu
Lemongrass fried tofu recipe costs you only 30 minutes to make and you can either enjoy the dish as a side or main dish.
Ingredients
- 375g (13.2 oz) to 500g (17.6 oz) tofu
- 2-3 lemongrass
- 1/2 tbsp salt
Instructions
Step 1. Preparation
- Slice the tofu into small cubes of 1 – 1.5 inch (2-3 cm). The tofu is soft, so for safety, you should place it on a flat cutting board to cut instead of handling it on your hand and cut.
- Observe the outer skin of lemongrass; if it’s dry and tough, remove it before chopping. Cut off the hard ends of the lemongrass, then start to chop them thinly by hand. If you have a blender, cut the lemongrass into 3-4 small pieces and blend them until it’s nicely chopped.
Step 2. Fry tofu and lemongrass separately
- Before you chop lemongrass, add oil to a skillet or pan and turn on medium heat, to save your time waiting for the tofu to be fried. Once the oil starts to boil, add ½ tbsp of salt in, then tofu cubes, and fry all their 6 sides. Note that don’t let the tofu pieces de dense in the pan or else they’ll stick together.
- You can also deep-fry the tofu pieces. However, it seems to waste a larger amount of oil. When the fried pieces of tofu are done, set them aside.
- In the same pan, fry your chopped lemongrass until half-brown and the aroma spreads.
- Now return the tofu to the pan. Stir well to coat fried lemongrass over tofu; meanwhile the lemongrass gradually turns brown fully.
- Serve the lemongrass fried tofu with steamed rice, soup, and green vegetables such as cucumber, coriander, spring onions, etc. The dipping sauce for this dish can be sweet chili sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce or siracha sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 200gAmount Per Serving: Calories: 545Total Fat: 40gCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 35g
