Chilled Spicy Tofu

For 2 days in a row, I've been craving for something simple, a little bit spicy but yet refreshing for lunch. And I knew exactly what I needed to make; a chilled tofu dish! Again, this was something I've never had before until about 2-3 weeks ago when my friend made this for dinner. I like the simplicity  of the dish and decided to mimic it with my own twist.

In a typical Asian (Chinese) household, no cooking is required when preparing this dish as we always have some fried garlic oil and fried shallots in the pantry. As I just used my last batch of garlic oil yesterday, I had to make some for this dish. Using the microwave to make the garlic oil is probably the easiest way to make it; you don't have to stand over the stove top to stir and prevent the garlic from burning!

Anyway, the chilled tofu dish my friend made was slightly simpler without the use of the black vinegar and chili crisp, but I was in a mood of a little bit of kick in the dish!  If you don't want the dish to be spicy or do not have black vinegar and/or the chili crisp in your pantry, feel free to omit it. However, you'll probably need to increase the amount of the soy sauce and oyster sauce to 1-1/2 Tbsp to make up for the sauce. Here's the recipe:

CHILLED SPICY TOFU RECIPE
*Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• 1 Package Soft Tofu
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
• 1 Tbsp (Chin Kiang) Black Vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp (Lao Gan Ma) Chili Crisp Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 2-3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Stalk Green Onion, Chopped
• 1 Handful Cilantro, Chopped
• 1 Tbsp Fried Shallots (Optional)

Method

Combine minced garlic and oil in a microwavable bowl and ensure that the garlic is submerged in the oil. Microwave this mixture for 1 minute, stir and continue for another 30 second to 1 minute until the garlic are golden brown. Carefully remove the (warm) bowl from the microwave and stir in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, black vinegar and chili crisp sauce. Set the sauce aside.

Drain all the water from the soft tofu, and invert the tofu onto a shallow bowl. Slice the tofu into 10-12 pieces if you prefer. Drizzle the sauce, sprinkle the green onion, cilantro and fried shallots. Serve immediately with some steam rice. Enjoy! 

June's notes: If you do not want it to be too cold, microwave the tofu for about 1 minute after you have inverted it onto a (microwavable) bowl. If you like a little more spiciness, add up to 1 tbsp of the Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp Sauce; but do be very careful......it can get too spicy!! 

Simply June