I’ve made sesame tofu cubes quite a few times (see recipe here) and I really
love how it turned out with crispy outside and soft inside. Then this time I
would like to put on more efforts to make Sesame Tofu Katsu. Firstly I press my tofu
block, freeze, defrost, then press again. It does take longer time for the
process but I found this method made tofu chewier, more meat-like with bite
texture.
Ingredients
-Firm tofu from Cauldron Foods.
-White & black sesame seeds from Yutaka.
-Salt & white pepper.
-Plain flour and water to make a thin batter.
-Sunflower oil to fry.
To Make Sesame Tofu Katsu
1. Wrap tofu block in a few layers of
kitchen paper, place it in a large container, put something heavy on top to
press tofu for 1 hour to drain moisture.
2. Freeze pressed tofu overnight.
3. Thaw the frozen tofu in the fridge, squeeze
out as much as water you can to release the excess liquid.
4. Slice
tofu into half to get a thinner flat piece, cut 4 corners of tofu steak to have
a long octagon shape, season with salt and white pepper.
5. Make
the batter: mix flour with water little by little and whisk
until it is the consistency that will coat the back of a spoon.
6. Dip
tofu into the batter, coat each side of tofu with white & black sesame
seeds.
7. Heat
sunflower oil in a pan over high heat, stick the end of a wooden chopstick into
the oil, when you see many bubbles float up and form around the chopstick, it means
it's ready for frying.
8. Fry the tofu steak, turn over until each
side is golden crispy.
9. Drain fried tofu on kitchen paper for a
few minutes.
10. Slice tofu katsu, serve with rice and
curry of your choice. Mine is Japanese curry with carrots and
onions.
