Tofu With Garlic Mirin Sauce

Submitted by Tyson Hurt

"I came up with this recipe as a result of becoming vegan, and no longer being able to eat mirin chicken with my Japanese friends. The glaze takes on a dark brown color, and coats the fried tofu very nicely. You may want to make extra sauce to serve over rice."

 

• Ready In: 12mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 2-4

ingredients

• 1 lb extra firm tofu, pressed and drained
• 2 teaspoons cooking oil

• Sauce

• 1⁄8 cup mirin
• 1⁄8 cup soy sauce or 1/8 cup tamari
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 garlic clove, minced, to taste

directions

1. Slice tofu into 1/4 inch strips.
2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, and add cooking oil.
3. Fry tofu until light golden, making sure both sides are browned.
4. Remove tofu to paper-towel lined plate.
5. Stir all sauce ingredients in a small bowl, adding the sesame oil last.
6. Pour mixture into skillet, and cook over medium-high heat until thickened.
7. Return tofu to skillet, and toss to coat.
8. Serve with steamed jasmine rice, or cooked soba noodles if desired.

Reviews

[Maggie]

Quick and easy and delicious, too. The sauce really is good, so I see why some comments suggest doubling the sauce and maybe even adding a few veggies. Thanks so much for sharing this!

 

[Valeria]

I love mirin, but this recipe doesn't do enough with it to make it really good. The only tofu I had was extra firm silken, which doesn't hold together very well in the fry pan. But on the bright side I kept looking for mirin tofu recipes until I found a really quick and delicious one with steamed vegetables, brown rice and homemade peanut sauce to top off the mirin-fried tofu.

 

[leendah]

Excellent! This was my first attempt at making my own marinade, and it was wonderful. I doubled the sauce (for pouring over rice/veggies) and used frozen (and then thawed) tofu that I squeezed all the water out of. I also added some crushed red pepper flakes in addition to some toasted sesame seeds. Turned out very well. Thanks!

 

[vusandra]

This sauce has good potential and I think the recipe can be expanded to include more ingredients (mushrooms, broccoli, bean sprouts, etc). I used peanut oil because I didn't have sesame oil. It tasted fine, but I think it would taste better with sesame oil. Also added some crushed red pepper for a kick. Remember to add the oil last when making the sauce!

 

[Bridget C]

THis was a really good sauce. We just used it to cook broccoli for our lunch, as a side dish to fillet steaks with the Quick Steak Marinade (Recipe #39145) for lunch. We made it easier by using garlic sesame oil, which you can find in Chinese supermarkets and no added sugar, as we thought the mirin was sweet enough, and no added water or cornstarch. So really quick and easy - just cooked the broccoli in the saucepan until done and then added the soy, mirin and garlic sesame oil to heat through. I agree with Chef Nick that a bit of chili would be a nice addition as well - think I'll add that the next time.