Air Fried Panko Curry Tofu

 

This experiment turned out great!  I remember doing some tofu cooking experiments years ago.  One of them involved freezing the tofu to dry it out.  This was supposed to help it get a texture closer to meat.  I don't remember if I liked that recipe or not.  But I remember the first step was to press the tofu down to get out as much liquid as possible.  I did that for this recipe.  I wasn't necessarily trying to get a meat texture, but I wanted to make the tofu firmer to withstand what I was about to put it through.

Tofu is pretty bland and will take on any kind of flavor you add to it.  The curry powder added just a light curry flavor.  In retrospect, I would've preferred the curry flavor as a sauce added after air frying.  Regardless, this was still delicious.  So that idea is another experiment that I'll try next time.

If you want to try this, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 block tofu
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• sprinkle of dried parsley
• Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• Avocado oil spray

Instructions:

1. Open and drain tofu.
2. Cut block of tofu evenly into four rectangles.
3. Lay paper towels on a baking pan.
4. Spread tofu rectangles onto paper towels.
5. Cover tofu with another layer of paper towels.
6. Add another pan onto the paper towel-covered tofu.
7. Add something on top to weigh it down and help the liquid get squeezed out of the tofu. (I used a bottle of olive oil and left it for about ten minutes)
8. Remove weight and paper towels.
9. Beat eggs.
10. Add curry powder and dried parsley to eggs and beat again to combine.
11. Pour panko into a separate bowl.
12. Dip pieces of tofu into egg mix, then panko, and repeat, coating all sides.
13. Spray all sides of panko-coated tofu with avocado oil.
14. Air fry for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
15. Enjoy!

IG: @abundanceofvegetables
IG post of this video: Air Fried Panko Curry Tofu (sped up for IG)
YouTube post of this video: Air Fried Panko Curry Tofu (regular speed, full video)