Vegan Adobo Tofu Adventure

The city promised higher-than-usual July 4th fireworks for better visibility from home this year. In a swirl of holiday excitement, I promised our guests tacos. Scalable, flexible, easy-to-prep tacos.

Being seriously rusty on the entertaining front, however, I made a bunch of silly mistakes. The adobo tofu wasn’t one of them.

Several years ago, in what now feels like a bygone era, we threw an epic taco party. Our friend Wyatt brought his adobo tofu and the meat-eaters among us had to be mindful about not polishing it off entirely. We came close, though.

“Adobo” comes from adobar, Spanish for the verb “to marinate,” I learned from several helpful articles, including this one from The Spruce Eats. Historically, spices combined with a brine kept meats from going bad. This excellent idea spread far and wide — in some regions it’s predominantly a dry rub, in others it’s more of a wet paste.

“In Mexico, adobo sauces are red, thick, and spicy,” Hector Rodriguez explained. “Mexican adobos are made with crushed chilies, spices, and vinegar.”

Wyatt featured a tofu version on his classic Being Vegan Is Too Hard Tumblr. I remembered that post and how tasty the tofu was when mulling over what to make for the July 4th celebration. The challenge was that his tofu hinged on other dishes: oil from pan-frying potatoes, broth from pressure-cooking dry black beans. And there were minimal ingredient amounts. Rather than bugging my friend on a holiday weekend, I decided to wing it.

His recipe calls for an entire can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Most adobo tofu recipes I found online use one pepper and a tablespoon or two of the sauce. Nope. Whole thing. Another common recommendation in online recipes is to bake the tofu. Wyatt’s version has the advantage of pan-frying. This is summer. Let’s keep that oven off.

My first rendition filled the house with a delicious smell. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure I put in a fraction of the liquid that Wyatt did, making for a thicker, headier taco filling. Reassuringly, he said later that he wasn’t even sure about the bean broth amount he’d used. Comparing photos, my sauce could have used more processing for smoother consistency. Some bites were mostly chipotle chunks.

Second go-around, I made smoother sauce and added a whole can of vegetable broth. Could have safely held back a few tablespoons of broth, though. Still extremely tasty. And spicy. On a grocery store salsa scale, this was definitely in the “hot” category. But that was only true for La Costeña brand chipotles in adobo.

Brands vary immensely. When I tried Embasa, there was much more liquid and the chipotles were whole rather than in pieces. The result was less smoky and significantly hotter. As Guillaume put it, the heat level ended up somewhere between “hot” salsa and Thai hot. Yeah. For me, it was painfully overwhelming.

Maybe omitting one of the whole chipotles would help, but I’m not eager to find out — or test all the other brands.

The tofu made with La Costeña was good in tacos and burritos, and worked nicely in a bowl with Spanish or Mexican rice, seared corn, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, plus a squeeze of fresh lime. Blue beer made from popsicles and celebratory fireworks: optional.

Adobo Tofu
Adapted from “Being Vegan Is Too Hard”

1 block extra-firm tofu, 14–16 oz.
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
7-oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, preferably La Costeña brand
½ a yellow onion
1 garlic clove
Juice from 1 lime, around 2 Tbsp.
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 can vegetable broth
Salt
Ground black pepper

Equipment: Food processor (mini is fine) or blender, nonstick skillet, and a medium-sized sauce pan.

Wrap the tofu in paper towels and press for 1 hour. Remove from paper towels and cut into nine rectangular slabs.

Peel, trim, and finely chop the onion. Peel and mince the garlic clove. Put 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet.

Set over medium heat and add the onion. Sauté until nearly translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the minced garlic and continue cooking until it smells fragrant, another minute or so. Scrape the mixture into the food processor or blender and clean the skillet.

Put 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the clean skillet over medium heat. Place the tofu slabs in the skillet, turning them over every 5 minutes, for about 20 minutes or until evenly browned and crispy on each side. Lower the heat slightly if they begin to brown too fast or your burner runs hot. Remove the tofu to a cutting board.

Add the chipotles and adobo sauce to a food processor or blender with the cooked onion and garlic. Add the lime juice, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and a sprinkle of salt. Process until it’s fairly smooth and no large chipotle chunks remain.

Scrape the pepper sauce into a medium-sized sauce pan. Mix in ½ to 1 cup of vegetable broth to start, depending on the sauce’s texture.

Chop the crisped tofu into bite-sized triangular pieces. Add them to the sauce pan. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue braising the tofu for about 1 hour, stirring at the halfway point and adding more broth as needed to keep the sauce at the desired consistency.

Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.