SESAME PANKO TOFU

 This dish is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  One of my children's favorite meals which they ask for again and again.  Even tofu-haters (haters, stop hating!) like this dish.  If you have a deep fryer, you can use that, but I use my cast iron skillet for almost everything, including frying.

Serve with vegetable fried rice.

Ingredients:

soy sauce

flour

3 eggs

panko bread crumbs

2 tablespoons white, black or mixture of sesame seeds (black sesame seeds look more dramatic).

2 tubs of extra firm organic tofu

2 - 4 cups canola oil or other oil for frying.

   In four salad or soup bowls, pour until about half-filled in each bowl and in order:  1) half soy sauce and half water; 2) whole wheat and/or all purpose flour mixture; 3) 3 eggs whisked; 4) panko crumbs mixed with a couple of heaping tablespoons of black and/or white sesame seeds (you can use all white, all black or a mixture).            

Before breading tofu, heat the oil in a cast-iron pan or a fryer.  I turn on my oven fan and heat my canola oil in my cast-iron pan on high until I see wisps of smoke.  While waiting for the oil to heat, quickly bread the tofu, instructions below.

 Slice tofu like a loaf of bread into 1 - 1 1/2 inch slices of tofu.  Soak a few tofu slices in the soy sauce mixture for about a minute.  Then in order, coat in flour, coat in egg, coat in panko.  Place on a cookie sheet, and repeat until all the tofu slices are coated.

With long chopsticks or metal tongs, carefully slip each tofu slice into the hot oil and fry until golden, about 30 seconds, and turn over for about 10 seconds more.  You may have to do 2 or more batches of frying to fit all the slices.

My 13 year old frying the tofu

When the tofu is cooked to golden brown, take them out and place them on some paper towels to soak up the excess oil.  Serve immediately topped with green onions with a side of soy sauce and sriracha.