Salt and Pepper Tofu

This is my attempt to copycat the Salt and Pepper Tofu snack from T4, one of my daughter's favorite bubble tea places. People commonly use egg to coat the Tofu pieces. I used buttermilk instead because of egg allergy. 

Ingredients

Firm Tofu - 1 pack

Milk - 1 cup

Fresh lemon juice - 1 TBSP

Panko bread crumb - 1/2 cup

Corn flour or all purpose flour - 1/4 cup

Salt - 1/2 TBSP or to taste

Pepper - 1/2 TBSP or to taste

Steps

1. Add lemon juice to milk and let it sit for 10+ minutes to become buttermilk.

2. Cut Tofu into small (about 1 inch) cubes, and soak in the buttermilk.

3. Mix the bread crumb, flour, salt and pepper in another bowl. 

4. Using medium low heat, heat up a frying pan with 1/2 inch deep or more oil. Roll each tofu cube in the flour mixture, and then deep fry in the oil until all sides are golden brown. Serve hot. 

If you run out of Panko bread crumb, you can replace with flour and corn flour mixture(2:1). The resulting Tofu will not be as crispy on the outside. 

Glutinous Rice Cake with Red Date (红枣切糕)

This snack is called "Cut Cake" in Chinese because it was sold at street vendor as slices before. When you slice it, there are clear layers. Traditionally, it was made with layers of glutinous rice and red dates only. You can add any other kind of dried fruit or sweet pastry fillings that you like. You can also make in more layers if your container is tall enough.

Ingredients

Glutinous rice - 4 cups

Dried red date - 1 cup

Red bean pastry filling - 2 cup

Yield an 8"x8"x3" cake

Steps

1. Soak glutinous rice and dried red date overnight.

2. Steam rice directly on steamer over high heat for 15 minutes. Steam the red date separately for 10 minutes. 

3. Transfer rice to containers. Add just enough boiling water to level with the rice. Steam the container in steamer for 30 minutes. 

4. Line a cake mode with parchment paper and grease the sides. Then start to press on a layer of cooked rice, a layer of red date, another layer of rice, and a layer of red bean paste. If you container is deep enough, you can build up more layers of rice, red date and red bean paste. 

5. Steam the packed cake mold in steamer for 1 hour. 

6. Cover the cake mold with shriek wrap, and put something heavy on top to press on. This help the cake integrate layers together. 

7. Cut and serve.

Unfinished pieces can be wrapped air tight and stored in freezer. Steam thoroughly before serve.