It's firm. It's silken. A flavour sponge that embraces its surroundings. A true team player. It's tofu.
You may typically remember tofu from the salads, stir-fries, curries and stews that come in and out of your life, but Adam Liaw's tofu doughnut is this week's MVP across our TV screens and just generally, the interwebs.
Yes, tofu doughnuts.
If you saw this week, then you would have seen a beautiful tofu scramble of ideas come to life. (). From Linda Marigliano's fried tofu with spring onion and chilli to Nina "Teddie" Huynh's silken tofu with orange and ginger syrup, there was some seriously good weeknight tofu inspo on the screen.
However, it's Adam Liaw's tofu doughnuts that have created quite a stir. Four ingredients and 15 minutes later and you could also have some silken tofu doughnuts rolling in cinnamon or icing sugar.
Full transparency, I am one of the lucky ones. Lucky because I not only ate them when Adam first made them on set, but I have made and eaten them three times since. I have also converted my family who almost never incorporate tofu into their diets and also love a good doughnut or three.
Some raised their eyebrows in excitement at the sheer sorcery that was behind such an easy recipe.
While others turned to Twitter to share their concerns about tofu's leading role.
Me? I'm just frying up another batch because I couldn't write this piece without eating them. #guilty
In Adam's recipe, silken tofu simply works. He presses it through a sieve to get a smooth consistency. Its soft texture forms the perfect 'wet' base to the 'dry' addition of flour and baking powder.
No tofu is created equal and each type will have its own liquid content that will direct just how much flour you should use. He also adds his plain flour in stages to get more of a batter rather than dough forming and while chilling time is included in the recipe, you can skip that part if you are on a time crunch. Or like me, are impatient because you needed the doughnuts to be eaten 30 minutes ago.
Fry them in batches for a few minutes and let them drain over a wire rack or on paper towel.
They're then finished in a dusting of cinnamon and icing sugar or a kinako, a sweetened soybean powder. You can experiment with your condiments here, a chilli sugar salt sprinkle, a dark chocolate dip or even some lemon curd or good ol' raspberry jam would all be stellar additions.
Get the recipe
Tofu doughnuts
If you happen to make these pops of joy or get creative with your own sweet finishes then please let us know and tag us @sbsfood.
from tofu with love
My favourite way of chilling with tofu
