Tofu is super absorbent and takes in flavours beautifully no matter what you cook with it or cook it in.
By Nagalakshmi Viswanathan
The moment I saw this gorgeous sesame tofu recipe, I wanted to try it. Some of the original ingredients are not always what I have in hand or use much so I substituted with my own variations and it still tasted great. 
Hot and Sweet Sesame Tofu
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
Tofu is super absorbent and takes in flavours beautifully no matter what you cook with it or cook it in.
Ingredients
- 1 block of firm tofu
- 1/4 cup of cornflour / corn starch
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp of white sesame seeds
- A small bunch of spring onions/green onions
For the sauce:
- 3 tbsp of honey
- 1 tsp of soya sauce
- 1 tsp of vinegar
- 2 tsp of red chilli flakes
- 1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
- 1 tsp of freshly grated garlic
- 2 tsp of sesame oil
- 1/2 cup of oil, more or less, for shallow frying
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan.
- Simmer on low heat until it starts to bubble up a bit. Continue to simmer for 2-3 mins and then turn off flame.
- Now we need to fry up the tofu. If your tofu came packed in water, drain completely and press between kitchen towels to extract extra moisture. Cut into bite-sized cubes and dredge in the corn flour until fully coated.
- Heat oil for shallow frying in a pan and add the tofu pieces in small batches making sure they don’t overlap at all. Fry until light golden brown, drain and continue until you are done with the entire lot. Drain on kitchen towels to absorb the extra oil.
- Add the fried tofu to a wide bowl and pour the sauce on top.
- Top off with the sesame seeds and chopped spring onions.
- Toss well to coat.
Notes
The original recipe called for tamari instead of soya sauce I used, rice wine vinegar instead of the regular white vinegar I used, and Chinese sesame oil whereas I used gingelly oil or Indian sesame oil. As mentioned, I still loved the end product although my sauce was thicker since I added lesser honey.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Side
I made this and will make it again. Husband lived it so it’s a keeper.
Wonderful Recipe!! A new tofu favorite in a family that loves tofu. Even the six year old loves it. Thank you!!
My sauce came out really thick…regardless, the dish was delicious!
love love love the agedashi tofu riff and small cube presentation :-)
this recipe is just PERFECT.
i’m in brazil and i write a vegetarian column in a food blog over here. my version of your recipe will be there by october 20th :) with credits, of course!
<3
what weight is a “block” of tofu – please ???
Will try
I LOVE this recipe, thanks for posting it Nagalakshmi!
I tried this recipe, and it tasted incredible.
I even wrote a blog post about my thoughts about this recipe on my blog series called “CopyCat Cooking”. I also took a picture of what my tofu dish looked like.
Here’s the link to my blog post: http://artandbeautyfreak.blogspot.dk/2014/04/copycat-cooking-ep-3-hot-and-sweet.html
Would love it if any of you guys would check it out. <3
//Aria
Yum! I just made this for dinner, and the sauce is just perfect!
i always search for tofu recipe finally i found one and it seems easier and tasty
Thanks for this recipe, I love tofu but never cook it at home much. I’ll try this though :)
This looks so good and healthy! I’m vegan so I’ll change the honey to agave. Thanks for sharing. :)
Dear Nagalakshmi,
this recipe is super simple and extremely delicious.
We just had it 2 minuites ago for dinner. Amazing!
We put remained rice into the pan, the sauce was made not to let a drop to go to waste :)
Thank you!
J