General Tso's Tofu

By Michelle M Blackwood

This was one of my favorite dishes at the Vegetable Garden in Rockville, Maryland. This is my vegan version of General Tso's Chicken. The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-Tang, it is believed that he enjoyed this dish and even created it, even though there isn't any recorded evidence. The real origin of the dish lies in immigration of chefs from China after 1949, then later introduced to New York city in the early 1970's. It is done traditionally by deep frying cubed pieces of chicken breast, then cooking the pieces in a sweet and spicy sauce. This dish has now become the staple of several buffets. baked the tofu instead of deep frying, which I can't stand to do, my conscience wouldn't let me. Therefore I used sesame seed paste as the base for a batter, then I baked it in the over. It gave a nice deep fried finish at the end. It is sweetened with agave instead of sugar and I used molasses for brown coloring. Bragg's liquid aminos is an unfermented, soy sauce substitute, it is made from non-gmo soybeans and its lower in sodium content than regular soy sauce. Also regular table salt is highly processed to eliminate minerals and often contain additives to prevent clumping. Blue agave is a natural sweeter extracted from the core of the agave plant, it does not give the usually spike in blood sugar when ingested like table sugar, that means it has a low glycemic index. This is especially great for diabetics. It is great also for vegans, because unlike regular refine white sugar is usually processed by filtering through charred animal bones.
Batter
¼ cup tahini
2 Tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1Tbsp water
1 Tbsp coconut oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Squeeze out excess water in tofu by placing in between 2 paper towels, cut in cubes and set aside. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well into a smooth paste. Add tofu cubes, toss well to coat. Place battered tofu cubes on well greased baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown, turn after 20 minutes.
Sauce
1 cup water
2 Tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos
3 scallions, chopped
1 garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 Tbsp unsulphured molasses
1 Tbsp tapioca starch
2 Tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup agave nectar
2 tsp coconut oil, to sauté with
pinch of cayenne (opt)
Sauté chopped scallions, ginger, and garlic. Combine water, tapioca starch, lemon juice, agave nectar, molasses, and Bragg's liquid aminos in a bowl. Whisk well. Add the liquid mixture into saucepan stirring until it thickens, about 5 minutes.
Broccoli
2 cups broccoli florets
Steam broccoli, making sure it is still bright green and tender and set aside.
To Finish
Add broccoli and baked tofu to sauce. Combine well, enjoy!

Michelle Blackwood is passionate in sharing with others how they can achieve a better lifestyle, by avoiding the pain and suffering plaguing society through diseases. She gives health lectures and cooking classes for the public, in between homeschooling her children and keeping home for her hubby Devon. Her website is Healthiersteps there you can find great recipes using fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes, free of animal products. She also has an all natural line of bath and beauty products such as soaps, body butters, lip balms, and perfume oils.

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