Spicy cold tofu may very well be the quickest recipe I know.
Suffice to say, I was fully suspicious to see a claim of 10 minutes.
What is spicy cold tofu?
From there, the variations begin.
How do you make spicy cold tofu?
Although you could use firm tofu, silken offers an unparalleled experience.
Get yourself a block of silken tofu for this.
Finely chop scallions into thin rounds.
Roughly chop a sprig of cilantro.
The hard part is done.
Add the sauce ingredients to a small pot over medium-low heat.
Stir to mix the ingredients, for one to two minutes, until hot and simmering.
Turn off the heat.
About five strenuous minutes have passed at this point.
Slice widthwise into planks.
No need to be perfect, theyre going to be covered in sauce and broken later.
Pour the sweet, umami-heavy, salty, spicy sauce over the tofu.
Use all of it even if it seems like a lot.
Sprinkle the chopped cilantro and scallion over the sauce.
Serve with rice or alongside any meal.
I had soy sauce and sesame oil, but I couldnt find any spicy bean paste.
All I could find was Kikkoman black bean sauce with garlic, so I grabbed that.
However, that sauce wasnt spicy, so I added a dose of the ground chili and garlic sambal.
It was a great choice.
The fun part, as usual, is the eating.
Silken tofu is so delicate that as soon as you start tossing, everything starts breaking into bite-sized pieces.
Each bite is perfectly balanced.
The tofu is cold and slippery in a way that feels like soft noodles.
After the feeling of cold dissipates, the heat arrives.
This is the recipe I ended up making, and I wouldnt change a thing.
Stir, and cook until simmering.
Add the garlic and sliced scallion whites, stir, and turn off the heat immediately.
Place the silken tofu on a serving plate, and cut it widthwise into short planks.
