Lucky Chicken-Fried Tofu

I owe my friend Margie for this one. A few months ago she loaned me her copy of Miriam Ungererer's Good Cheap Food (sadly out of print, but definitely worth nabbing a copy if you can find one used), and I finally got around to reading it. Most of the recipes center around meat, which doesn't do me much good practically speaking, but I'm curious and Ms. Ungerer is an engaging writer and maybe someday I'll need to know how to cook veal kidneys, though I doubt it.

When I arrived at the recipe for "South Carolina Fried Chicken," I found a four-leaf clover that had been pressed between the pages. Taking it as a sign, I stopped and thought about fried chicken for a bit. I thought about how good it is, and what makes it so good, and about how I wished I could share how good it is with my husband, and how sad I felt about never eating fried chicken with him. Then I spent a good two or three minutes chafing at the bonds of my partner's unyielding vegetarianism. Then I thought some more. I thought, what really makes fried chicken so tasty? Is it really the chicken? Or is it the salty, crispy, fried crust that covers the chicken? I think you can guess the answer I came up with. (The crust.)

So I put the fried chicken crust on some "tofu fingers" and they were pretty awesome. The trick is to make the crust nice and salty, so you get an initial salty jolt, which contrasts nicely with the more bland tofu inside. We enjoyed them with stir-fried greens and roasted potato slices. Thanks, Margie, for the four-leaf clover. It really was lucky. (Readers, go check out Margie's blog, Fun Simple Food. You'll be glad you did.)

The only hard part about making this is planning ahead to put your block of tofu in the freezer overnight. Freezing and then thawing the tofu makes it a bit chewier, and also seems to significantly decrease the amount of water it exudes while cooking. I just put my whole unopened package of tofu in the freezer, and it was fine. The package expanded a bit, but did not burst its seams. The next morning, I took the frozen tofu out, and let it thaw on my countertop for several hours.

Chicken-Fried Tofu
1 package of extra-firm tofu (frozen, then thawed)
All-purpose flour
Salt
Pepper
Oil (for frying)

Remove thawed tofu from its package and squeeze it a bit to remove excess water. Slice the tofu into 12 rectangular "fingers" of equal size. Heat about a half inch of canola oil in a non-stick skillet. While the oil is heating, place about a half cup of flour in a small bowl, then add a very generous amount of salt and black pepper to it and mix it together. When the oil is hot, dip a tofu piece in the flour mixture and roll it around until it is coated, then place it in the skillet. Repeat for the other tofu pieces until you run out of room in your skillet. You will have to do this in batches. Fry the tofu until it is golden brown on the bottom, then flip the pieces over using tongs and fry the other side. Drain on paper towels, add more salt if you wish, and serve immediately. Use barbecue sauce, ketchup, Sriracha, or whatever condiment you think would work.