I was brainstorming some
recipes for upcoming Lunar New Year, then after seeing Vernabanana’s viral
teriyaki tofu sticks wrapped with nori seaweed, I was so inspired and came up
with a similar idea to create these fortune-box-look-like tofu blocks. And here
it is!
Basically
I wrapped nori around tofu in a different way to make it symbolise ‘Fortune
Box’ (福袋/福箱) as we
all love ‘lucky food’ for Lunar New Year. I made tangy sticky soy glaze to smother
tofu in which absolutely hit the flavour and made it a knock-your-socks-off
dish. Meanwhile do you notice this is meatless? I know Lunar New Year table is
always like a massive meat feast, so we need something vegan between especially
for people who would stay vegetarian on Lunar New Year’s Day in tradition (初一吃素). I hope this vegetarian recipe gives you an idea to create Lunar New
Year food with symbolic meaning of blessing.
Ingredients
-Firm tofu, press for 1 hour to drain moisture, then cut into 7-8 pieces large
square cubes about 3 x 3 cm.
-Nori
seaweed, cut into stripes to wrap around.
-Plain
flour.
-Spring
onion curls and goji berries to garnish, ensue to soak dried goji berries in
hot water for a few minutes until soften.
To Make
Sauce Mixture
-8 tbsp soy
sauce.
-2 tbsp
rice wine.
-1 tsp
sugar.
-3 tbsp flour
slurry
Method
-Wet
fingertips, wrap 2 seaweed strips across a tofu cube so it looks like a box
tied up with ribbon.
-Dip wrapped
tofu cubes in plain flour, ensure each side is coated.
-Heat
oil in a pan over high heat, shallow fry tofu cubes until golden on all sides, drain
on kitchen paper.
-Heat sauce
mixture in a pan over medium low heat, gently stir and cook for 3 minutes until
gentle bubbling.
-Place
tofu cubes back in, coat each side with sauce evenly, reduce to the lowest heat
and simmer until sauce thicken.
-Transfer
tofu cubes and sauce to a plate, place some greens around (I used Tat Soi),
decorate spring onion curls and goji berries on top.
-Serve
immediately and enjoy with rice.
