Hot-Smoked Tofu In No Time: Vegetarian Egg-Fried Rice Recipe
By Nicola Lando
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10 minutes prep time
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40 minutes cook time
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Intermediate
Smoking is a great way add flavour to tofu. If you're pushed for time, just pat a piece of tofu dry, pop it in your stovetop hot smoker, and leave to smoke for 15 to 30 minutes. This is what we've done in our smoked tofu fried rice recipe below.
However, if you have time and can plan ahead, marinate the tofu the night before in a mixture of light soy sauce, sugar or maple syrup and a little water to dilute, for something even more richly flavoured! Again pat dry and simply smoke in the hot smoker. Then enjoy in Chinese dishes, in salads, or just as a snack.
The Cameron Gourmet Mini Smoker will easily fit a 200g block of firm tofu (see image below).
When ready to smoke you'll lift the stainless steel tray and grid with the tofu onto the wood chips (they sit in the base and gently smoulder), close the lid, and pop on the hob.
Once the tofu has been smoking for 15 minutes, you'll start to see an orange smoke-tint at the edges. Taste it, and see if you'd like to smoke it for longer...
... we carry on smoking for 30 minutes, which makes the whole piece of tofu a light chestnut colour (see below). If you prefer the smoke flavour even stronger, you can cut the tofu into pieces before placing it in the smoker.
Smoked tofu works very well in a simple egg-fried rice dish. And of course it looks great served on the beautiful Midori Round Sushi Plate. See recipe below.
Ingredients Serves: 2
- 200g firm tofu
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 eggs, beaten together with a pinch of salt
- Handful cooked peas or edamame beans
- 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 cups of cooked rice
- Salt & white pepper to season
- Spring onion greens, sliced, to garnish
- Hickory wood chips
Method
- First smoke the tofu. Place tofu in a Cameron stovetop smoker, and smoke on a low heat over hickory wood for 30 minutes. Cut into 1cm cubes.
- Fry the onion in sunflower oil over a low heat until translucent, but not brown. Add the eggs and move around until set and lightly scrambled. Add the edamame beans, soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix.
- Add the tofu and cooked rice to the mixture and stir together to warm through. Season with salt and white pepper. Serve garnished with spring onion greens.
About the author
After a stage as a chef at a London Michelin-starred restaurant Nicola became obsessed with seeking the best flavours from around the world. She started Sous Chef in 2012, and is always sharing her knowledge of ingredients and writing recipes to showcase those products. Learning from the products, Sous Chef's suppliers and her travels, Nicola has written the majority of the recipes on the Sous Chef website, all of which are big on flavour.
