Miso-Sesame Baked Tofu

In this cookbook I have, there's this recipe on baked tofu that uses dark soy sauce, tamari, honey, ginger, garlic and toasted sesame oil as the marinade. Notice the little golden chunks of tofu below? Pretty, right?

Now, WHY DOESN'T MINE LOOK LIKE THAT?! :)

It's a three part recipe - potato rosti, baked tofu, and a tomato sauce. I decided to just tackle the tofu bit. I didn't have most of the ingredients. So I used silken tofu (B-I-G mistake - It doesn't lend itself to baking and crumbles apart), sesame seeds instead of the sesame oil, Korean miso paste instead of the dark soy sauce, liquid jaggery instead of honey, and to hell with tamari.

Kinda reminds me of a classic Simpson moment (Wait for it, towards the end):

Miso-Sesame Baked Tofu

Ingredients:

• About 100 grams extra firm tofu
• 1 tablespoon Korean miso
• 1 tablespoon liquid jaggery/honey
• 2 garlic cloves
• Small knob of ginger
• Handful of white sesame seeds

To make:

• Combine the miso, liquid jaggery, and sesame seeds in a bowl.
• Add a little water if needed to form a marinade.
• Chop your garlic and ginger finely, and your tofu into 1 inch chunks.
• Press the tofu and squeeze out any extra water in it.
• Drop the tofu into the marinade, mix well, and leave it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Preheat your oven at 250 degrees celcius.
• In a baking tray, transfer the tofu pieces along with the liquid.
• Bake for 20 minutes at 250 degrees celcius.
• Spoon over the remaining sauce over the baked tofu.

Verdict: It wasn't bad, but wasn't great either! The sauce was nice, but that stupid silken tofu (even the extra firm variety) is just really too tender to bake.

Life Lesson: Food porn, just like regular ol' porn, sets up unrealistic expectations (too pretty, too big, not big enough, not wet enough...) and you are bound to be disappointed in real life.