Sunday, January 22, 2012

Baked BBQ Beer Tofu made with Rebarbecue Sauce


Tofu marinated in BBQ and beer sounded delicious to me so you can understand why I had it stuck in my head for months. Why for months? Well I wanted to make the barbecue sauce from my favourite cookbook, and while the sauce is easy to make it just took me some time to get around to doing it. Sometimes I buy bottled sauces but I use them once or twice then forget about them (except ketchup and mustard mmm). So homemade BBQ sauce it was!

There's a step in the barbecue sauce making process where you boil spices in vinegar, and that was the most amazing step because it made my apartment smell like A&W, minus the grease, if that makes any sense. Okay maybe that sounds gross but it wasn't. The barbecue sauce was really good but too spicy for me to be able to fully taste everything. I've adjusted the chipotle puree in the recipe to reflect how I'll make it next time.

As for the tofu, I was sadly disappointed. It didn't taste strongly of beer or bbq sauce. Admittedly I did not press my tofu first (I never do). I love the idea of this tofu so I will have to try it again.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Apple-Miso Tofu
Honey-Mustard Marinated Tofu
Salt & Pepper Tofu
Cumin Lime Tofu

Baked BBQ Beer Tofu
Adapted from The Edible Perspective

1/2 bottle beer
1/3 cup Rebarbecue Sauce (see below)
1 block extra firm tofu, cut into cubes

Whisk together the beer and rebarbecue sauce. Marinate the tofu for at least 1 hour, but overnight is better. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400F. Drain the sauce from the tofu, and place tofu on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with extra barbecue sauce.

Rebarbecue Sauce
Adapted from Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook

Makes about 2 cups

Add more chipotle puree if you like it spicy.

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp whole cloves
4 allspice berries
4 cardamom pods
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp chipotle puree (from a pureed can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce)
5.5 oz can tomato paste
1 bottle dark beer

1. In a small pot, bring vinegar and whole spices to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, which will take about 15 minutes. Strain out the solids and cool to room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet to medium and saute the onion until golden, adding garlic halfway through. Sprinkle sugar into the pan and when it melts, add all of the remaining ingredients including the vinegar. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and glossy.

3. Puree the sauce until smooth, cool and refrigerate.

8 comments:

Joanne said...

I'm trying not to buy condiments anymore since they just end up taking up space in the fridge...thus this bbq sauce is a need to try! I love the spices in it!

Johanna GGG said...

wow I love the sound of it! - must try this bbq sauce which sounds great with its own beer - mmmm beer and beer marinade :-)

would changing the quantity of beer help with this marinade - I notice it says half a bottle and in australia traditionally we have long necks and stubbies - ie different sized bottles

eatme_delicious said...

Joanne: It might make a difference to change the amount of beer in the marinade. I hope that it would.

Gloria Baker said...

look really nice:))

grace said...

not only do i love the components of that sauce, but i also love its name! great way to flavor up some tofu!

Anonymous said...

Was the beer you bought maybe not flavorful enough? Either way, I've always wanted to try BBQ tofu, I might give this one a go with a few tweaks, it sounds delicious!

Jenn said...

I make BBQ tofu (and tempeh) pretty often but I never thought of adding beer. Sounds great. I think if you baked the tofu in a baking dish with the marinade instead of draining it the tofu would have more flavor. Just my two cents :)

eatme_delicious said...

Maggie Muggins: You know that might be it, maybe I should've used a stronger beer, good point! :)

Jenn: Thanks that's a great idea, I should try that. I tried pan frying tofu with the BBQ sauce and some water (to thin the sauce), and the tofu didn't pick up much of the BBQ flavour. But I like the sound of baking.