Glazed Tofu With Chile and Star Anise Recipe (2024)

You can dry tofu by cooking it in a microwave-safe dish for 3 minutes. Once it's cooled you can just use your had to push the last little bit of water out, and it creates no waste.

Shaoxing wine is a Chinese cooking wine that you might find in the same area as cooking sherry in the supermarket, or in the Asian foods section. It apparently comes in a drinkable version but I've never seen that. It is salty in the cooking version, and is typically used as a flavoring in small quantities, as here. You can sub dry sherry, the bonus being you can drink it while cooking! I think cooking sherry would work, but that is usually sweet so you might want to adjust the recipe.

At age 82 I'm forced to learn cooking. I made this without the wine or chile. Very good and I'm looking forward to the leftovers. If I were to make this again, I'd halve the tofu (more sauce to marinade the tofu) and add the white scallions earlier. But I won't: this makes a terrible mess of the gas cooktop.

Hi Mary, this recipe calls for firm tofu and when you press it to remove the moisture it will still remain as a block. It also calls for sautéing the tofu block on the wide flat sides. Personally I prefer to slice the block into “planks” (lengthwise, widthwise, your choice) and then do the sautéing. You’ll get more brown crispy areas, always a good thing. Hope this helps. Enjoy!

Having lived in China for many years, I'm often skeptical of Asian-inspired recipes. This one comes through with flavors that ring true to the original dishes that may have inspired this one. My one suggestion to heat the chicken stock before adding which will prevent the sugar from hardening and slowing down the cooking process.

Excellent - restaurant quality. Very minor changes. Mainly, added broccoli - deeply charred in the pan, before anything else. Also charred some of the scallion pieces. Charred broccoli, tofu, and scallions were set aside together on plate. I used half the amount of sugar noted. I would replicate all these changes again. Overall was easy and excellent; essentially a one dish meal. I forgot the doubanjiang - even though I have it! - and look forward to including it next time.

Made this after reading all comments. Doubled the star anise, halved the sugar but used maple syrup instead, quintupled the hot peppers and threw in broccoli which I charred before I started cooking. Best thing I’ve made in ages.

Yes. Searing the whole block gives you some texture and caramelization to contrast against the softer, more absorbent insides, and makes for less turning and flipping. I can see cutting the blocks in half if you want a firmer result, but searing smaller pieces risks ending up with hard pieces of tofu that don't absorb the sauce as well.

A tofu press is easy to use, inexpensive, and solves the moisture issue. Two blocks of tofu is way too much, for the mount of sauce and four people. Slicing a block into eight “steaks” and searing the two big flat sides of each allows absorbtion of sauce while also giving some crispness to the tofu.

We enjoyed this recipe a lot, even our 2 year old. The times to reduce the sauce were much longer for us (~15 min each), despite cooking at a medium-high temperature in a wide saucepan.

Very tasty given the simplicity of ingredients and prep. Added a couple dollops of fermented black bean, which definitely enhanced the flavor.

I used five spice powder instead of star anise and it turned out lovely with lots of complexity in flavor.

We notched up the spice quite a bit for our second and subsequent times making this dish: Two star anise and five dried chilis. Perfection.

This is really good. Frying the whole block of tofu was new to me, but it totally works to create crisp edges and a softer interior. I used Jesse's microwave method of drying out the tofu which has the additional benefit of heating up the block of tofu before frying.I added a tablespoon of Sichuan Pixian Douban, a broad bean chile paste used in Kung Pao chicken, but otherwise made the recipe as is. (Oh, I also cheated and added a little cornstarch at the end.)Glad to have a good tofu recipe.

Broil the tofu. I sliced it into planks so got more of that nice brown crispy surface. Then make the sauce separately in a sauce pan, not a skillet. Then marinate the tofu slices right in the pan you used for broiling. Then heat or grill.

Really good. Like others, I added roasted broccoli, cup the sugar in half and double the spice, which were good decisions. You don't need the 1/2 cup of water and if you add it, you'll spend a long time reducing it. Might like to add Sichuan pepper next time.

Delicious, I threw in some snow peas. The sauce was delicious.

The sauce is very good, but it definitely takes longer than a few minutes to cook down. I had just enough sauce to coat the tofu, so the dish is a little dry. Next time, I’d double the sauce.

Delicious! I used only 1 block of TJ extra firm tofu for the two of us but used the full sauce recipe. Based on reviews, I cut the sugar to 3 Tablespoons, added 1 more star anise and a spoonful of doenjang. We have it with steamed rice and roasted cauliflower (that needed to be used) but will have it with seared bok choy or broccoli next time.

It's well worth taking some extra time to cut the tofu into cubes, add some corn starch, salt, and white pepper, and fry two sides until browned. You're not likely to finish in 30 minutes or less but it makes the texture of the tofu much nicer.

Made it exactly as written, but with only 1 block of tofu, by mistake. This is absolutely one of the best NYT Cooking recipes we've ever made. The sauce is outstanding, with a deep umami flavor, reminiscent of Shanghainese kau fu. Will double the sauce next time, and use 2 blocks. Loved having the extra sauce. Will also do as Chuck suggested, and slice the block into “planks” to get more crispy surface area. I made steamed green beans to go with it, and that was perfect, no salt needed.

After reading the comments I reduced the sugar by half. Otherwise followed the recipe. It was plenty sweet for my taste as well as salty, spicy and aromatic. Tasty! I tried a bit of the crumbed tofu before adding to the sauce and really like the crispy exterior. After cooking with the sauce that crispiness converted to chewiness. Now I have to go clean my cooktop which is a big oily mess. I probably will not make again.

I have not cooked with dried chiles. I would like to try this with a relatively mild variety. What is recommended? Can I use hot sauce, chili garlic sauce or cayenne instead?

This was an exceptional dish….much different from my regular Chinese stir fry. I added bok Choi and upped the spices as others suggested but otherwise followed the recipe as printed

Very nice. Could eat it every day. Next time I'll increase the amount of sauce a bit to make as it was very slightly dry.

I’ve made this twice now, followed recipe exactly, and both times while the flavor was delicious, the sauce was too thin/liquidy. Any recommendations?

This was delicious! Used microwave to heat & dry tofu (3 mins) as Jesse suggested. Star Anise x2; scant 1/3 c sugar; no molasses added to soy to make dark; 1 tsp chili flakes as we don't have the luxury of many kinds of fresh peppers in Alaska. Served over sauteed cauliflower rice with onions and garlic, plus a simple salad. Enough for all four adults, plus 1 leftover lunch portion. It was a huge hit! Next time will add roasted broccoli on side.

This dish is full of flavor and easy to make. Do yourself a favor and remove the dried chili and star anise before adding the tofu, otherwise they’re impossible to locate. Served with pan sautéed bok choy and warmed-up leftover fried rice. There isn’t enough sauce to drizzle on the rice so you may want to reduce it less or do an already flavored rice. Will make this again.

Made all the sauce for half the tofu and it worked out fine. Subbed 3T kejap manis for the dark soy and added 1T cane vinegar and an extra star anise. Also reduced the sugar to 3T, and am inclined to go to 2T the next time.

1 pack of extra-firm tofu was sufficient relative to the amount of sauce that the recipe yields. It resulted in a perfectly-sized 2 servings. Additionally, I substituted 3/4 tbsp of Anise Seed, I could not find whole Star Anise; substituted a fresh red chili, thinly sliced; only had regular soy sauce instead of dark soy; and used a dry Sherry instead of Shaoxing wine. It was an absolute home-run and will definitely repeat.