That perfect crispy fried tofu absorbs all that spicy savoury sauce goodness! Binondo Style Tahu Goreng is the Filipino Chinese style version of the famous Indonesian Fried Tofu, served in a spicy sweet savoury sauce with sliced cucumbers, peanuts and sesame seeds.
If you had noticed a lot of my recent recipe posts are Binondo Style and if you don’t know what Binondo basically it’s the oldest Chinatown in the world which is located in Manila, Philippines. This place is well known for its amazing food culture, in fact one of the main reasons for visiting Binondo is for its food. There are many dishes that this place is popular for, dishes like the Masuki Noodles, Fresh Lumpia, Sincerity Fried Chicken, Dong Bei Dumplings, Ying Ying Soy Chicken and Quik Snack’s Deep-Fried Tofu.
This Deep-Fried Tofu dish apparently is not native to Binondo but more of a recipe inspired by the Indonesian Tauhu Goreng. So how did it reached Binondo? During 1964, Ama Pilar a Fujian Chinese opened Quick Snack after many years of living in Indonesia, one of the dishes she brought to Binondo was this fried tofu, a savory-sweet tofu dish which is basically a deep-fried tofu served on a sweet soy sauce, chili, cucumber, peanuts and then topped with cilantro and chilli sauce.
Today we will be recreating it at home and its quite easy to do so, the only important thing to note to get it right is frying the tofu the correct way becuase this is the most important element of this dish, its crispiness that absorbs that delicious sauce.
Binondo Style Tahu Goreng is the Filipino Chinese style version of the famous Indonesian Fried Tofu, served in a spicy sweet savoury sauce with sliced cucumbers, peanuts and sesame seeds.
Prepare a deep fryer or wok, fill it up with oil then heat to 180C.
While oil is heating up, fully drain the tofu and pat it dry with paper towels. Once tofu is dry, deep fry tofu until golden brown in colour and crispy on the outer layer. Remove from fryer then set it aside.
In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients apart from oil and garlic. Mix it well, set aside.
In a saucepan add oil then sauté garlic in low heat. Pour combined sauce, bring heat to medium and bring to a boil, simmer for 2 minutes.
Score fried tofu on top so it absorbs the sauce, place tofu on individual platters. Pour the sauce, garnish with toppings then serve.
That looks GREAT! Crispy skin with that saucy dressing…perfect!
Looks good! My girl would love this – she loves tofu!
This looks incredibly good, Raymund. We are huge to tofu fans, and I definitely want to try this.
That is the most PERFECT looking crispy tofu I’ve ever laid eyes on! Oh I can can practically hear the resounding crunch right now!