I’m Obsessed With Air Fried Tofu
Many years ago, I took a break from studying chemistry in Gainesville, Florida to talk to my brother, who taught mathematics in Athens, Georgia. It was the late 2000s, Dottie Alexander was still living in Montreal , and Michael Steep’s vegetarian restaurant, The Grit, was very popular.
We went to The Grit one evening for dinner, and I don’t remember what I ordered, but I do remember getting Aaron with the utmost clarity because it was amazingly good: The Golden Bowl didn’t seem particularly tempting, but Aaron insisted. the combination of brown rice, tofu and vegan gravy was just that.
Tofu was outstanding, to say the least. It was crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. It was seasoned with soy sauce and coated with nutritional yeast. I tried nutritional yeast for the first time and was very impressed with the spicy yellow flakes. I’ve thought about this tofu a lot over the past decade, and last night I made it mine again.
Crunchy tofu is one of those things that are perfect for a deep fryer. Although I have a full sized oven with convection setting, I wait 15 minutes for it to heat up, but cooking about six ounces of tofu (maximum) seems like a waste of my time and energy (bill). My small countertop oven takes about four minutes to heat up, and then it takes another 10 minutes to turn the tofu into savory little cubes, which is the time I have for lunch during the week.
My seasoning is a little different from The Grit’s. Nooch is still there (obviously), but I added some sesame oil and sprinkled the small cubes with salt and MSG. The result was amazing. The cubes are of McNugget quality, crunchy but tender with a savory but not quite meaty flavor. (I know McNuggets are technically made with chicken, but you can’t tell me they actually taste like chicken.)
With preparation, you don’t have to do too much. I made these cubes from tofu soaked in hot salted water , tofu that was refrigerated overnight, and tofu straight out of the box, and there was no real difference between batches. I guess this is due to the size of the cube (which was quite small) and the hot, gusty wind of the deep fryer.
You don’t need to coat the tofu with nutritional yeast before air-frying. A little oil and salt will also work great, but I highly recommend you try nooch. Cut the tofu into approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes, add enough toasted sesame oil to make them shiny, then season with a few pinches of salt and MSG. The nearly two ounces of tofu you see in the photo above makes 1/2 teaspoon of oil, a meager 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt (use less if you’re working with iodized), and about five shakes. MSG from my MSG shaker. Toss, then toss in the nutritional yeast until it has a strong yellow coating (you’ll know you’re done when further yeast additions refuse to stick).
Toss it in a 400 ℉ deep fat fryer for 10-15 minutes, until the yeast turns into a crispy, almost breaded appearance. Eat with rice, beans, noodles, or straight from the fryer basket.