Rice-Crusted Peanut Sauce Coconut Tofu Cakes

Peanut sauce makes a nice marinade to grill tofu with, either storebought or homemade. I like 365 peanut sauce, a lot of my homemade attempts didn't go as well due to faulty blender. There's a Taste Spotting webpage that always showcases these mouth-watering fritters and I got the idea to make these from seeing a picture of these Thai banana fritters that were coated in rice then fried. I figured that would be delicious for both sweet and savory fritters, and why not tofu? You can make this sweet OR savory, or a little of both! To save on calories, oven-frying works. Prep/cook time does not account for initially drying out the tofu.

• Ready In: 1 hr 25 mins
• Serves: 16
• Yields: 16 bite-size tofu pieces

Ingredients

• 17  ounces extra firm tofu

• MARINADE

• 1⁄4 cup  thai  peanut sauce (your choice)
• 2  tablespoons soy sauce

• RICE COATING

• 1⁄3 cup  unsweetened  desiccated coconut (fine-flake)
• 1  teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄3 cup  uncooked brown rice (to yield 1 cup cooked)
• 1  teaspoon olive oil

Directions

1. Drain the tofu very well and dry it out using the method of your choice-- microwave, press, etc. then cut into 8 little rectangular slices. Cut them in half so you get a total of 16 squares and put them into a tossing bowl.
2. Mix the peanut and soy sauces together to make a marinade. Add to the tossing bowl, and toss well to coat all the tofu pieces.
3. Lay the coated tofu pieces out flat in a wide container, making sure none of the pieces are touching, then put in the freezer.
4. While the tofu is freezing cook your rice with the olive oil and 1 cup of water for 30-45 minutes depending on the length of the grains, or until soft and fluffy.
5. Drain the rice but don't rinse it. In a long shallow dish or container, lay out the rice and let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes to cool off and get sticky.
6. Mix the cinnamon and coconut with the rice.
7. Extract the tofu chunks from the freezer and dip each piece in the rice mixture, they should coating well by now.
8. Pan fry until golden brown in about 1/4 cup of canola or another neutral oil.
9. Or, pour 1 tablespoon of canola oil onto a baking sheet and disperse it with a pastry brush or paper towel and bake the tofu pieces on each side for 10 minutes at 425°F.