Waffling Leftovers: Agadashi Tofu

Another day, another adventure waffling my leftovers.

This one started with an item I can imagine most people have never considered putting into their waffle irons: leftover agadashi tofu.  Yup, really.

Transforming Agadashi Tofu.

The burning question: leftover agadashi tofu: Will it Waffle? Absolutely.

Waffled fried tofu needs to become a thing.

The Original: Agadashi Tofu.

The original was agadashi tofu, assemble-your-own style.

Fried cubes of silken tofu, coated in potato starch.  Perfectly crispy exterior, soft pudding-like interior.  Excellent stuff, and really, I don't like tofu, but this I not only tolerate, I genuinely love.

The broth was a flavorful, salty mix of mirin, sake, tamari, kombu, and shiitake, delightful and comforting.

I enjoyed the tofu both just as fried nuggets, and assembled with the broth and green onions.

Leftover Cold Agadashi Tofu.

We had tons leftover, so I saved some, with one thing in mind: my waffle iron.

I did try a piece cold from the fridge, just curious, but it wasn't good at all.  The perfectly crispy crust from the night before was now soggy, and it lost all its luster.

I could have just roasted it in the oven to crisp it back up, but of course I had other plans.

Waffling, step 1.

Since it was already crusted, this was easy to throw into the waffle iron without modification.

I knew I wanted a good sear on it, so I put it in at 400 degrees, a bit higher than my standard 350.

Getting Crispy.

It waffled like a charm, crisping up quite nicely.  It also extracted easily, always a bonus, since it had the nice shell on the outside already.  Super easy.

I loved the results.  It was super crispy on the outside but still soft inside.  A perfect appetizer of crispy fried tofu to dunk into various sauces.  Or, when I did it the next day, crispy fried tofu bits to throw on top of a salad, like croutons-ish!

Absolutely a success.