Vietnamese Tofu Triangles

This CAN be gluten free, if you use GF soy sauce (sometimes hard to find) and make sure your other ingredients are GF (I mean, that's all obvious. I'm just sayin'.)

Keep an open mind here about the tofu. This is not a veggie-alternative to anything; this is the recipe for an actual (dare I say "authentic"?) Vietnamese dish. I first had it at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Salt Lake (Cafe Trang). I loved it so much I learned how to make it. We had it again for dinner tonight and Forrest commented that it is one of his favorite dishes that I make. Below are the complete instructions for the "real version." After the full recipe, I have included my extremely simplified, ketchup-based version. So quick and easy and it tastes Great! I suggest glancing through the full version, if only to get some perspective on how radically I tend to simplify things when I cook. I was recently told I think like an Australian: "Why do more work?" Dave, can you confirm or deny?

Vietnamese Tofu and Tomato Sauce (full version)

• Ingredients:
  • 1 pkg firm tofu
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 200g chopped tomato, preferably fresh (but tinned is ok)
  • a Tbs water
  • 4 Tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • White pepper, to taste
  • Spring onion
  • Groundnut / peanut oil, to deep fry

1. Press the tofu so you can get as much water out as possible. Cut the tofu into triangles, slices, or cubes no more than about two inches long. I usually make right triangles with about a third of in an inch thick.
   
2. To make the sauce, which you should probably do first, simply fry up the garlic in some oil, add the tomato, water, half of the lime juice, the soy sauce, the pepper, and the sugar. Leave to simmer over a medium-low heat while you prepare the tofu.
3. Heat a wok with a a few inches of oil to a medium temperature and deep fry the tofu pieces until lightly browned. An alternative is of course to lightly fry in oil on a skillet or even to bake, but deep-fried tofu is a treat!
4. Serve the deep-fried tofu with the tomato sauce on top (because, you know, that would have been a tricky concept for you to work out had I not given that particular instruction). Drizzle the remaining lime juice and some sliced spring onion over the dish, and go pig out.

Vietnamese Tofu Triangles (Quick and EASY)

• Ingredients:
  • 1 pkg firm tofu
  • some garlic, crushed
  • some ketchup
    
  • some water
  • some soy sauce
  • some olive oil
  • some powdered ginger or some pepper, or both

1. Slice the tofu into triangles about a centimeter thick.
   
2. Heat the oil in a pan and throw the tofu triangles and garlic in there. Let the triangles get brown on the bottom, flip them, brown the second side.
   
3. When they are brown, pour some soy sauce on them. Sprinkle them liberally with ginger.
   
4. Add a little water if it's all starting to dry up at any point.
   
5. After about five minutes of cooking them in the soy sauce, quit adding water and let things almost dry.
   
6. Squirt some ketchup on them, as though they were eggs (assuming you like ketchup on your eggs.) Use enough but not tons.
7. Let them cook another minute or two, then serve them (possibly over rice).
8. Yum.