Tangy Baked Tofu

Tangy Baked Tofu:

I have a few recipes (or variations) for making baked tofu. I'll list some others later. This one is not really best with Japanese food. It probably works better with Thai food, or added to pasta. (The flavor is a little heavy for Japanese, I think.) But this is an absolutely delicious way to prepare tofu, and you will probably want to eat all of it before dinner. Also good added to salad, eaten cold, by itself the next day...and if you slice it in wide, flat rectangles instead of cubes it is excellent inside a sandwich!!

Preheat oven to 175 C (375-400 F)

1 block extra firm tofu, squeezed for excess water then cut in medium-small cube-like shapes

In a mixing bowl, whisk: (adjust amounts to suit yourself)
3-4 tbsp. soy sauce
1-2 minced cloves of garlic
1 scant tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. sesame tahini
1-2 tsp. powedered ginger (not necessary, I didn't have any)
Another "thinner" you can use instead of some of the soy sauce or oil is a splash of O.J.

Add tofu cubes to bowl and mix

Put tofu and liquid into a baking pan (cookie sheet or a deeper dish)

Bake, stirring every 15 minutes or so (Add more soy sauce or oil if desired while cooking)
until the cubes get dark, the liquid is gone and the tofu is chewy. You can vary the time according to the texture you want. If you cook it a very long time (an hour?) the tofu gets small and crisp and delicious (especially on salads). But for a stir-fry I wanted the tofu to be fluffy so I only cooked it until just starting to get dark brown on some sides, and not shrunk too much from its original side. Still, this took about 40 minutes, I think.