As regular readers of my blog know, sometimes I have massive cooking failures. Among the most recent such failures was my attempt at Three Cup Tofu, a modified version of a Taiwanese favorite (Three Cup Chicken).
My original attempt at Three Cup Tofu was a salty mess – probably due to my use of dark soy sauce, which was just too thick and overpowering for this delicate dish.
As a result, I thought Three Cup Tofu would probably be a dish I would only have at restaurants, prepared by veteran hands. A few months later though, I came across a 2015 New York Times article about Taiwanese cooking, which deconstructed some challenges about Three Cup Chicken and provided a more foolproof recipe.
Feeling emboldened by others' past failures which were then overcome by success, I decided to modify the NYT Three Cup Chicken recipe to attempt Three Cup Tofu again. While the result wasn't perfect, it definitely has gotten me a lot further than my original attempt.
I largely followed the recipe, though reduced the amount of sugar, rice vinegar, and soy sauce because I thought the proportions would be too much for the amount of tofu I prepared (one standard grocery store brick). I also used less basil because the (regular, not Thai) basil I purchased wasn't the best quality and was already browning.
The result was slightly too sweet, but still much closer to the version I've had at restaurants. I think next time, I'll reduce the amount of rice wine and see what happens. More to come in future posts!
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