Happy Lunar New Year everyone! I always told myself due to us observing both Western and Lunar calendars, we have twice as many opportunities to start the year off right! Ever since we moved from Taiwan to Texas, the Lunar New Year celebration has not been the same, I remember the school children normally take Winter break at this time, working Mom and Dads would get around a week off also. This was a time I got to hang out with relatives, visit certain folks from out of town and enjoy the festivities together, also collect red envelopes, the most exciting time indeed. Now a days I try to have some traditions around my own home, so little girl can learn about the culture and hopefully pass the fun to her children. On Lunar New Year’s eve I would clean the whole house, since no cleaning is allowed during the New Year celebration, I would make sure to have oranges and flowers in the kitchen, they represent good fortune and make me happy. Most importantly there’s the cooking, my Mama made this wonderful New Year’s cake, I cut them into rectangular shapes, dip in egg then pan fried golden, oh they were so good! There were also boiled and pan fried dumplings, then some tea eggs to top everything off. You can see the photos on Weeknite Meals’ FaceBook page here>
Anywho, let’s talk about today’s recipe! Chinese people like to eat dishes that represent good fortune during the New Year’s celebration, for example, the dumplings look like the silver and gold ingots Chinese folks used as currency, the Tea Eggs symbolize golden nuggets. The Golden Tofu are made to represent gold bricks, and who doesn’t want some in their home to bring in prosperity and more good fortune in the new year! I had fun making this, the family had a great time eating ’em gold blocks, I hope you will give it a try also!
Ingredients:
1 box firm tofu
1 egg
1/2 T sesame seeds
3 T corn starch
1/3 cup panko
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T teriyaki sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2T oil for frying
Directions:
1. Slice the tofu and cut them into rectangle shape to represent gold bricks, set aside to drain
2. Mix panko with sesame seed on a plate, set aside
3. Beat the egg, add minced garlic, set aside
4. Put corn starch in 1 bowl, set aside
5. Coat the tofu in the following order: dip in egg, then corn starch, then panko mix
6. Heat up the oil with medium high heat, add the tofu pieces and pan fry until golden brown. (Optional: I served them on top of a bed of sauteed spinach), plate and sprinkle with salt/pepper to taste, then drizzle teriyaki sauce or soy sauce. Enjoy!
Weeknite Meals 
Looks yummy! I love deep fried tofu dish! I also try to teach kids our cultures and celebrations too although I sometimes feel that I don’t know enough to teach. Oh well, we do our best. Your mom is a good cook and you are lucky she live close enough! Thanks for sharing delicious recipe Cindy. Have a wonderful weekend!
Hi Nami! Thank you for the kind words! You are completely correct, it’s difficult to teach our children about culture when we are not immersed in it! We came to the US when I was 13, so truthfully my Mandarin is pretty bad, definitely not at a “teaching” level. I am in the process to teach Trinity how to read and write on the week days, she does get excited when she recognize words while we are in the Asian markets, but due to the lack of conversation practice, she shy away from speaking. I tell myself at least we are building a foundation, no matter how wobbly it is, haha!
Have a great weekend!
Jeno, please don’t tempt me with such a beautiful, appetising dish! I have had a bit too much of the pound cake recently and really should forget deep fried dishes. I love tofu though (especially the firm one) and I have lots of it now in the fridge. I’m not sure if I will be able to resist.
You are lucky to celebrate New Year twice, indeed! It means two occasions to eat excellent meals.
Hi Sissi! Oh but I must tempt you since you tempt me SO often with your wonderful recipes! Do you know whether pan frying is a little better than deep frying? I really only used 2 TBSP of oil for the whole batch, so maybe it really isn’t that bad for our waistline?
Have a great weekend!
Hi Jeno, thank you for these wonderful news! Pan frying sounds better! I add then your recipe to my to do list. (I think only shallow frying is worse than deep-frying). Have a great weekend too!
You are very welcome Sissi!
Happy Chinese New Year to you, Jeno! I love how all the Chinese traditions are surrounded by magical thought. Re-enchanting the world is what we currently need. 🙂
Re-enchanting is such a beautiful word, you are right Kath, we definitely need more of that around!
Hi, I found your blog because you have been tagged by With a Glass. What a delicious looking dish. I love tofu and use panko crumbs quite a bit. Looks like a great snack or starter.
Hello Hotly Spices! Welcome to Weeknite Meals! Just became a fan on your FB Page, can’t wait to see more posting! If you do make the golden tofu dish, please let me know your feedback. Have a good weekend!
What a beautiful dish! Wish you many gold nuggets this year! I can’t believe you did this with only 2tbsp of oil. Time for me to brushing up my frying skill 🙂
Thanks for sharing this recipe and have a good week!
Thank you so much Yi! I try to pan fry and not deep fry whenever possible, these tofu actually tuned out OK which was a relief, I really wanted to make sure they were golden to resemble the gold blocks for CNY. Hope you are enjoying festivities, anymore homemade almond tofu left to sent our way? 🙂
Yummy yummy!!:) I love these gold bars of tofu too!!:) Come to think of it, I haven’t really had an actual tofu this CNY, time to get some fix :p
Oh ya, Happy Chinese New Dragon Year to you and your family!;)
Hi Christy! Thank you! I bet you are enjoying all kinds of wonderful CNY food there, so jealous! The Pineapple cakes your friend made looked so yummy, I’ve not had home made ones, bet they are 10 times better than the store bought ones!
wow, that looks really amazing. I’ve never cooked tofu – but maybe I’ll try!
Thank you Jenny! It’s hard to mess tofu up, this is why I cook them so often. I know many people think they are tasteless, but with the right sauce/seasoning, they really are healthy and delicious. Hope you will give it a try!
Jeno, I am so happy to have visited your site today and discovered this beautiful golden tofu dish! I love tofu – cooked in pretty much any way. And I can imagine how yummy this crispy pan fried tofu would taste with some sesame and teriyaki sauce! And since I have all of the ingredients for this recipe on hand, I’m going to make this dish tonight! =)
Sharon, thank you so much for visiting and for the compliments! I LOVE LOVE tofu also, it always baffled me when people tell me they won’t give tofu a chance, there’s a misconception that tofu are tasteless, when in fact they are the perfect medium for any taste we wish! I hope you will like this recipe, please let me know!
I think it really depends on how you make tofu. I’ve tried it a couple of times (before I learned that soy protein isn’t my friend), and found it very bland at first, but when you marinate it or spice it up nicely, you can make it taste really good. I think one advantage of tofu is that it is so very versatile and happily absorbs the flavors you add to it.
Well said Kath!