Chinese Recipe : Fried Tofu

Ingredients:

• 4 large, thick pieces of tofu (about 3 or 4 inches  (8 or 10 cm) square
• Vegetable oil
• 5-6 Chinese mushrooms, soaked overnight (these look more like the button mushrooms)
• 6-8 Dried red dates, soaked overnight, then shredded
• 4-5 Dried scallops, soaked overnight
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• small piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• Salt
• Note: May add
• pinch of sugar
• sesame oil
• finely shopped spring onion

Directions:

1. Slice the tofu in half through the middle so that you have eight thinner pieces of tofu of the same dimensions (4 inches / 10 cm square). Pour a little oil in the large wok and shallow fry the tofu on each side, 2-3 pieces at a time to a light golden brown. Remove to an oven-proof dish. 
2. When all the pieces have been fried make the sauce by removing a little of the oil and leaving 2-3 tablespoons oil in the wok. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté gently.
3. Drain the scallops, dates, and mushrooms, reserving the liquid of each. Add the drained scallops, dates and mushrooms to the garlic and ginger. Cook gently for a few minutes then add the liquids from the drained scallops, dates and mushrooms. Add a little oyster sauce if you wish, add a little salt and thicken the sauce with a chicken-flavored gravy thickener. If you do not have a flavored gravy thickener, use a chicken bouillon (cube) cornstarch. Chop up the chicken bouillon and add it to about 2 tsp cornstarch, adding enough water to make a medium paste.
4. Remove the wok from the heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture, place back on the heat and cook and stir until gravy is thickened. It should not be too thick. Pour the sauce over the tofu and set aside keeping hot.