Vegetable Stuffed Fried Tofu

 

(My version of Tahu Isi)

Here’s another Indonesia’s favorite snack: stuffed tofu! The idea is quite simple: fill up tofu (cubed fried tofu, light and airy inside. Sold at Asian groceries.) with cooked vegetables, dip them in thin batter of flour and spices, brown in a little bit of oil, and eat them with chili peppers! One of Jeff’s aunts made these scrumptious snack for us when we visited the family in Indonesia a while back. Oh la la…so delicious. If only delivery across the ocean weren’t an issue, we’d shamelessly request these stuffed tofu from her all the time.

Driven by this taste memory, Jeff and I made the snack ourselves the other day. As always, my guy made his neatly. He does a better job in food presentation than I do. I have yet to master the skill of not rushing in the kitchen.

Here are the things that we will need:

• A bag of cubed fried tofu (sold at Asian groceries)

• Crunchy vegetable medley, do a combo of two from these options: carrots/ bean sprouts/ broccoli stalk/cabbage (thinly cut)

• 4 garlic (chopped)

• Salt and pepper

• Canola oil

• 1 cup of water

• 2 tablespoon of flour

• Cayenne pepper powder

• Thai chili peppers (sold at Asian groceries)

Steps:

• Heat up a small pan, add a tablespoon of canola oil, and garlic. Let it cook for two minutes and then add vegetables, salt, and pepper. Cook for 3—5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

• Prepare the dip in a medium bowl: whisk water and flour, add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper powder. Mix well until it thickens a bit.

• Make a small cut on one side of each tofu and stuff it with a little bit of vegetables. Dip it lightly in the batter and set aside. Repeat until all tofu and vegetables are used up.

• Heat up a large pan and add a bit of canola oil (enough to brown).

• Brown the stuffed tofu. (Since they are already cooked, all we want to do is just to cook them until they look golden.)

• Let them cool down on a cooling rack. Place a plate underneath to catch excess oil.

• Serve with chili peppers