Black Pepper Tofu

Makes 4 servings. Takes about 45 minutes to prepare, but is best if tofu drained in advance.

Equipment

  • Oven
  • Sheet pan
  • Bowl
  • Knife
  • Cutting board
  • Rice maker
  • Sauté pan (large)
  • Pepper grinder or spice mill

Ingredients

  • Tofu (extra-firm works best): 14 oz
  • Olive Oil
  • Cornstarch: 1 tbsp
  • Eggplant: 1 lb or 2 medium eggplants
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Butter: 4 tbsp
  • Onion (white or red): 1 medium
  • Green Onions: A bunch (5)
  • Garlic: 5 cloves
  • Ginger: 2 tbsp
  • Soy sauce: 0.5 cup
  • Sugar (brown or granulated): 1 tbsp
  • Pepper corns: 1 tbsp
  • Rice: 1 cup
  • Water: 2 cup

Instructions

Drain Tofu

  1. Drain off water
  2. Wrap in towel
  3. Let sit

Cook Rice

  1. Add rice to the rice maker
  2. Add water to the rice maker
  3. Start the rice maker, wait 45 minutes

Prep Oven

  1. Turn on oven to 425° F
  2. Drizzle oil on sheet pan
    • For easier cleanup, use a cooking mat
  3. Put sheet pan into oven to get hot

Prepare Tofu

  1. Cut tofu into 1 in cubes
  2. Sprinkle corn starch over the tofu in a bowl
  3. Sprinkle salt over tofu in the bowl
  4. Sprinkle black pepper over tofu in the bowl
  5. Transfer the tofu to the baking sheet
    • This should take up 1/3 of the baking sheet

Prepare Eggplant

  1. Cut eggplant into 1 in cubes
  2. Drizzle olive oil salt over eggplant in the bowl
  3. Sprinkle salt over eggplant in the bowl
  4. Transfer the eggplant to the baking sheet
    • This should take up 2/3 of the baking sheet

Prepare Other Ingredients

  1. Peel onion
  2. Chop onion into thin half moon slices
  3. Peel ginger
  4. Grate ginger
  5. Peel garlic
  6. Crush garlic or cut into small pieces
  7. Cut off tops (dark green ends) of green onions
  8. Chop green onion tops into small rings
  9. Cut off green onion bottoms (spikey hair end)
  10. Cut green onion bottoms into little match sticks, about 2 in long each
  11. Add pepper corns to grinder
  12. Run grinder until fine-ish (no big chunks)

Cook Tofu and Eggplant

  1. Put into oven
  2. Shuffle or flip after 20 minutes
  3. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until tofu is crisp and eggplant is tender

Make Sauce

  1. Put butter into sauté pan
  2. Put pan on stove at medium heat
  3. Melt butter
  4. Add green onion bottoms and ginger to pan
  5. Sauté them until tender, ~10 minutes
    • Stir occasionally, but doesn’t require much attention
  6. Add grounded pepper
  7. Add sugar
  8. Add soy sauce
  9. Stir added ingredients
  10. Cook for about 3 more minutes
    • Remember to check the tofu and eggplant if you haven’t already
  11. If sauce is finished before tofu and eggplant, take it off the heat

Combine Sauce and Tofu+Eggplant

  1. After tofu+eggplant is done, pull out of oven and stir into the sauce to coat
  2. Add rice to serving plate or bowl
  3. Add tofu+eggplant to service plate
  4. Devour

* Carli guided me through this based on another recipe, and I reduced the number of “threads”