Fried Tofu with Lemongrass

It is a well-documented fact that I love tofu in all forms, from baked, braised to fried. Take away the soy wonder and I don’t know what to do when that time of the month hits. I mean the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, when many Buddhist Vietnamese observe their religion by eating vegetarian food. Ever since I moved overseas, I no longer keep track of that, so vegetarian days come as and when I feel like (not a good example to follow). Sometimes, conversations with my family in Vietnam are my reminder. Last week, in her usual call for random updates, my mom casually slipped in: “Have you cooked anything interesting lately? By the way, tomorrow is a vegetarian day.”  

Luckily, I had two packages of extra firm tofu in the fridge. Hence, the most common: đậu hủ muối sả (fried tofu with lemongrass.) I would have added some chili too if a certain individual had not been so averse to any sort of heat. Muối means salt in Vietnamese – a seasoning method that requires salting the food aggressively for a short period of time before frying it. The end result, while tasting salty on its own, is balanced out by plain rice and boiled or steamed vegetables. We also season fish and pork this way. Some say Vietnamese are after flavor harmony in our meals, but my parents say the saltier a piece of protein is, the lesser we’ll need it for a bowl of rice and the longer we can stretch our budget. I do think they’re right.  

I went through various rounds of experiment with salting the tofu. The most basic one was simply sprinkling a mixture of salt, minced lemongrass and cut chilies on top of the tofu and let it sit for at least 2 hours. I found the seasoning uneven and the lemongrass too salty. There was also the risk of burning the lemongrass and garlic before the tofu browned.  

For my next try, I brined the tofu in a simple solution with only water and salt, pat it dry and proceeded to fry it, adding the lemongrass only at the end to avoid burning. The seasoning was good, but aroma was lackluster because the lemongrass did not adhere to the tofu at all. 

I wanted properly-salted crispy tofu with a lemongrass-y fragrance and came across this recipe, where the marinade is turned into a paste with the addition of oil and soy sauce. That sounds about right! So I adapted it by omitting all other spices but kept my main ingredients. To assist the seasoning, I also scored the tofu on the bias.  

Finally, when it came to frying time, I scraped off the lemongrass paste, setting it aside and only fried the plain tofu. If you still have specks of lemongrass sticking to the tofu, it’s fine too. Just scoop out the burned pieces as you see them appear and continue working. Once all of the pieces were done, I added the marinade paste into the skillet and gave it a quick stir for 3 minutes or until it was golden and dried up.  

What I got in the end was crispy tofu with the right amount of saltiness and a lingering lemongrass fragrance. Pair this with hot rice and some steamed vegetables, sit by the window and watch the snow shower. Whether you need to stretch your budget or not, this is still a pretty damn good meal.   

Fried Tofu with Lemongrass

Crispy pan-fried tofu gets its savoriness from salt and soy sauce and fragrance from lemongrass.

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Resting time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Vietnamese

Ingredients

  

• 350 g extra firm tofu one package
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 segments of lemongrass about 7-cm each
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp oil
• Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

 

• Cut tofu into even slabs (I got 12 in total), score them on the bias and press them down between two layers of tea towels for 30 minutes to drain the excess liquid.
• In a food processor, pulse all of the ingredients for the marinade into a rough paste. 
• After one hour, brush the paste on both sides of the tofu slabs. Let rest for at least 30 minutes.
• In a frying pan or non-stick skillet, heat up 2 tbsp of oil. Scrape the lemongrass mixture off the tofu slabs before frying on high heat. Set aside the lemongrass.  
• Once the tofu is done, lower the heat to medium and add in the lemongrass marinade paste, give it a good stir until the color deepens. Turn off the heat and toss in the fried tofu slabs.  

Notes

• If you want some heat, roughly chop one bird’s eye chili and add it into the marinade.
• Fresh lemongrass where I live is incredibly expensive, so if you come across frozen minced lemongrass, get it. The fragrance is not that permeating but it works too. 

Keyword tofu, vegan, vegetarian