Test Kitchen - Honey Sriracha Glazed Fried Tofu

The picture of the fried tofu with such a sweet and spicy glaze makes me want to jump back in time to when I had this dish freshly done, hot and ready. The Test Kitchen ingredient was some local eucalyptus wildflower honey from Bee Ladies which is herbaceous with slight hints of savoriness. You are obviously completely welcome to use other types of honey with this recipe though. I also didn't list it sriracha with a capital S because I ended up using an artisan variety from New York called Jojo's Sriracha (which is awesome by the way!) but feel free to use the signature green topped bottle. The glaze (or is it a sauce?) is quite easy to remember as it is a 2-2-2-2 mix. I can imagine this also being great with shrimp or chicken but fried tofu is also very, very satisfactory. It is a sweet and spicy touch to any dish.

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 2-3 servings)

• 2 Tbsps sriracha
• 2 Tbsps eucalyptus honey
• 2 Tbsps garlic, minced (approximately 3 large cloves)
• 2 Tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 stalks green onions, chopped and whites separated
• 14 oz firm tofu

Step 2: Prepping the sauce
Easy peasy - mix together sriracha, honey, minced garlic, and olive oil. Also mix in only the whites of the green onions. Stir well.


Step 2: Prepping the tofu
Tofu can be very absorbent so when it is in its package, it soaks up a lot of the water. Take the firm block out of its package and place on a cutting board. Place another cutting board on top of it and a heavy weight such as a pitcher of water. This should help push out excess water (do for about 5 minutes). Then slice into thick rectangles. Fry until golden brown and crispy in a skillet with enough oil. Once you remove the tofu to drain, heat up sauce in the skillet for a minute or two.


Step 3: Finishing
Drizzle glaze/sauce over fried tofu pieces and complete with the remaining green onion pieces (should be greens only). Enjoy alone or over some rice!



The next Test Kitchen ingredient: poblano chile pepper
"The poblano is a mild chili pepper originating in the state of Puebla, Mexico. Dried, it is called a chile ancho ("wide chile"). The ripened red poblano is significantly hotter and more flavorful than the less ripe, green poblano. While poblanos tend to have a mild flavor, occasionally and unpredictably, they can have significant heat. Different peppers from the same plant have been reported to vary substantially in heat intensity. A closely related variety is the mulato, which is darker in color, sweeter in flavor, and softer in texture." [Wikipedia]

You know the drill - what do you think we should do with the poblano for our next Test Kitchen recipe? We welcome suggestions here or on social media! By the way, watch out because some places mistakenly call poblano peppers "pasilla" which isn't right.


Photography by Duc Duong.