Photo: Carrot-Ginger Soup with Tofu Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1-pound bag frozen chopped carrots, thawed
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 2-to-3-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 star anise pod or 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
- 2 cups carrot juice
- 1 pound extra-firm tofu
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- Torn fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)
Directions
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion and ginger and cook until the vegetables are just soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the star anise, carrot juice and 3 cups water, then cover and boil until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes. Mix the cornstarch and curry powder on a shallow plate and season with salt. Pat the tofu dry and roll it in the cornstarch mixture. Heat the remaining 6 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the tofu and fry, turning, until golden and crisp on all sides, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.
Discard the star anise. Transfer the soup to a blender and puree in batches, or puree directly in the pot with an immersion blender. Thin with water, if needed, and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with the fried tofu. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.
Photograph by Antonis Achilleos
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By Schmitty21
on March 27, 2012
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Nice, easy recipe. Used the other reviewers' tip of frying the tofu in only 2 T. oil, 6 T seems way too much. I also like to press a block of tofu with something heavy for 10 min to squeeze out some water before frying. The tofu turned out great, cornstarch is a perfect coating, will use that again when I fry tofu. I am a spice wimp, so I only used half of the curry powder. Soup would be fine without the tofu, but I wanted to make a heartier meal and get some protein. I couldn't find carrot juice in the store, but I happened to have one of those aseptic containers of butternut squash soup, which was a nice substitution. I subbed vegeteble broth instead of the 3 C. water. Yum!
By Lee26
East Bay, CA
on March 01, 2012
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Pretty easy to make and tasty. I thought the soup was good, but I thought the tofu cubes were great! I have tried so many ways to cook tofu and I usually don't love it, but these curried cubes were really tasty and even good on their own, outside of the soup. I also used a lot less oil - 2 T. instead - and it turned out perfect.
By lynnapples
Zephyrhills, FL
on February 20, 2012
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When I saw how much oil it called for to fry the tofu I almost decided not to make this recipe. I used 2 tablespoons and the tofu still came out crisp and delicious. We loved this quick and easy soup and will make it again and again.
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