Lately I’ve been spending more quality time with tofu, having made it my business to find out how to give it the crispiest, most burnished skin. Broil or roast? Coat in cornstarch, potato starch or leave it naked? Press, poach or freeze to get rid of excess moisture? These are the questions that keep a food writer up at night. (Well, some of the questions.)
Of course, I could have saved myself from a lot of sleepless nights and just asked Yewande Komolafe — she knows all of the soy secrets. She sears slabs of tofu in ghee in her latest recipe for masala chickpeas with tofu and blistered tomatoes, letting their surfaces get deeply browned, then tears them into pieces and layers them with chickpeas and onions cooked with garam masala.
Tearing the tofu allows for a craggy surface area that better absorbs the flavors of the tomatoes and the spices. Yewande suggests rice or a poached egg with this, and I think it would also be terrific spooned into a bowl of baby spinach, some of which will wilt on contact. Half salad, half stew, 100 percent weeknight delight — it’s a food writer’s dream. Once she gets to sleep, that is.
Featured Recipe
Masala Chickpeas With Tofu and Blistered Tomatoes
More food for thought
Lemon turmeric chicken salad: Based on the earthy flavors of Afghan murgh kebab (chicken kebab), this sunshine-hued chicken salad is elegantly spiced with turmeric and garlic, and creamy from a dill-speckled dressing that’s equal parts mayonnaise and yogurt. Use it with pitas or other bread for a chicken salad sandwich with an herby edge.
Spaghetti Napolitan: Eric “Uses His Noodle” Kim adapted this quick-to-make recipe from Chiaki Ohara of Davelle, a Japanese cafe on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Spaghetti is fried yakisoba-style in a ketchupy sauce filled with bacon, onion and carrot, then topped with runny eggs. A classic Japanese yoshoku (“Western-style”) take on Italian tomato pasta, it’s a little sweet, deeply savory and universally adored, especially by kids.
Fish skewers with herbs and lime: One of the easiest and quickest ways to grill a fish is to cut meaty fillets like tuna or swordfish into chunks and sear them hot and fast so the edges singe while the inside stays juicy and soft. I love to soak the fish cubes in a quick marinade first, which imbues them with a garlicky flavor to mingle with the smoky char.
Chicken tikka: This recipe from the chef Chintan Pandya has a few extra steps, but each one of them brings you closer to a stunning tikka. Chintan marinates pieces of boneless chicken thigh meat in spices and yogurt, then skewers and roasts them in a conventional oven instead of the traditional tandoor. The liberal amount of butter used for basting adds richness and balances out the chile kick. Make it for anyone who savors complexity and a slow, deep burn.
Strawberry slab pie: Pie is the place to use up the surfeit of strawberries that are peaking right now, especially the ones going soft before you can eat them. This one from Nicole Taylor has grapefruit juice and zest in the filling and a touch of cracked black pepper in the crust, adding brightness and zip to the sweet fruit. It feeds a crowd, too, so party on, pie lovers!
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That’s all for now. I’ll see you on Wednesday.
Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting.
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