Acar Tofu

I have made an acar (pickled dish) with fish for my 2019 calendar. It is called an acar ikan. You can find the recipe here.

Today I want to try the same recipe but I substituted my fish with tofu. I fry the tofu, just like the fish. The rest of the recipe is the same.

Below I’ve adjusted the recipe to my acar tofu version. So you do not have to click to my acar ikan, but just read on ;-).

This acar tofu is enough for 3 – 4 people and is ready in 45 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 blocks of tofu (or 500 grams)
• 200 grams of red onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 5 cm of fresh ginger
• 2 cm fresh kencur (or 1/2 teaspoon kencur powder)
• 4-5 leaves of jeruk purut (kaffir lime leaves)
• 4 candlenuts
• 1 teaspoon of kunjit (turmeric)
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 1/2 cucumber
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 chili peppers
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 10 grams of asem (tamarind) from a jar
• frying oil

Preparation

1. Cut the tofu in 1-centimeter slices and rub them with some salt, garlic, and (asem) tamarind.
2. Leave to marinate for an hour
3. Roll optional through flour or rice flour for an extra crispy layer (but is not necessary)
4. Fry the tofu until golden brown and leave to drain on kitchen paper
5. Rub half of the onions, garlic, ginger, kaffir, kunjit, salt, candle nuts and sugar together (bumbu)
6. Remove oil from the pan and leave a layer of 2 tablespoons
7. Fry the jeruk purut (lemon leaves) in the oil briefly
8. Now sauté the rubbed bumbu as well
9. Cut cucumber into strips (with skin), onions in coarse slices, chili peppers in circles and tomatoes in four pieces each.
10. Add onions, cucumber, peppers and tomatoes
11. Beat lemongrass stalk, cut into three pieces and add to the pan
12. Stir well and add 100 ml of water too
13. Let this come to a boil
14. Now let it simmer for 2 minutes until the tomatoes and cucumber are a bit tender, but not too much.
15. Place the tofu on a plate and spoon and pour the acar over it.

Season tofu well

For this dish it’s important to season the tofu very well. Tofu is not full flavored, maybe a bit dull even. Tofu needs to be this way because you can use it in many ways and dishes. I love to fry my tofu and season it with lots of garlic and enough salt.

Asem (tamarind)

I chop my garlic and mix it with asem (tamarind). I buy asem in a jar. That is already filtered so easy to use. I also add 2 tablespoons of water and some salt (about half a teaspoon). I let this marinate for about an hour.

Now I heat up my oil and fry per piece (otherwise the oil cools down too much) my tof until golden brown.

Then I prepare the vegetables and scoop and pour it over the fried tofu before serving. Enak sekali and 100% vegan too! ;-). Selamat Makan!