Tofu Crumbles -- Asian Style

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dry crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 lbs extra firm tofu, pressed to drain water and dried

Recipe

• 1 note: it is very important to press and dry the tofu well, otherwise, this will be a big sloppy mess instead of crumbles.
• 2 combine all ingredients except tofu in a pan and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes, just until the sauce becomes slightly thick.
• 3 set aside the sauce to cool a bit.
• 4 while the sauce is cooling, crumble the pressed and dried tofu into a bowl.
• 5 toss the tofu with a bit of the cooled sauce, adding sauce in small increments until the tofu is uniformly colored, but with no liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
• 6 you will have some leftover sauce that you can refrigerate and use later.
• 7 preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• 8 put parchment down on a sheet pan and carefully spread the sauced tofu on it.
• 9 bake until the tofu looks dry and a bit crumbly, but be careful not to overcook or burn it.
• 10 as the tofu bakes, turn it over occasionally with a spatula to help the "drying" process.
• 11 baking should take at least 20 minutes, but may take much longer depending on how well you were able to press out the water.
• 12 when the tofu crumbles appear sufficiently dry, take them out of the oven and add them to sauteed peppers, bean sprouts, celery, mushrooms, spinach, eggs, or whatever!
• 13 enjoy!