Braised Tofu in Caramel Sauce Recipe (2024)

Do not use 1 cup of sugar. In my Vietnamese family, we use 2 tbsps of sugar and 1/4 cup of water to make the caramel sauce for the ca kho. When the caramel starts crystallizing, we add 1/2 cup of water. Add the marinated fish steaks or tofu, in this case. Cover and simmer until the sauce lessens, about 20-30 minutes. The dish is meant to be only slightly sweet.

Would recommend adding vinegar instead of water to the caramel and making it a gastrique. It needed that to cut the sweetness.

I took note of the 'too sweet' comments and made some adjustments. Whilst the tofu was pressing/drying, I fried the shallots, ginger and garlic until fragrant (but not crispy), before adding the caramel. Then a generous swig of fish sauce, lemon juice and sliced fresh chilli (all three in varying proportions to your own taste). Add tofu and cook. Finish with fresh spring onions and coriander. It was lovely, and will go straight into my weeknight repertoire.

Great flavors. Tastes far more complex than the recipe would suggest. Mind Mr. Sifton's warning on the violent sputtering when you add water to the caramelized sugar, he's not kidding! I would pair this with a side dish with some heat or a spicy beer (Ballast Point's Habanero Sculpin) to balance out the sweetness.

A cool trick for step 2, adding 1/2 cup water to the caramel. Place a large metal fine-mesh sieve over saucepan. Pour in water through the sieve. The sieve contains the violent sputtering, keeps you and your stovetop safe. Careful of the hot steam, though. Saw a pastry chef do this when making caramel sauce for a flan!

I used raw cane sugar...Extra firm tofu
and 2 regular yellow onions; Then followed recipe
to the letter.
It was delicious; the tofu had a wonderfully fishlike texture.
The side dishes I had were plain roasted sliced delicata squash and brown rice

To prevent all the sputtering, I would use the special Indonesian Soya sauce called Ketjap Manis. This soya sauce has all ready the caramel incorporated, I think they use molasses to get it thickened. In import Chines food stores you can get in under ABC Medium Sweet Soy sauce (Kecap Manis Sedang) It is a product from Indonesia.

I cooked this with a sweet onion instead of shallots. I followed another user's suggestion to use 2 tbsp of sugar because I can't fathom a whole cup of sugar for a meal. It was just slightly sweet, perfect. I would make this again.

I wasn't having any luck with the sugar water on medium low but things started going great once I started over and switched to medium high! Loved how it turned out!

Way too sweet. Half as much caramel is probably enough. I was also missing some spiciness. Next time I'll add some chilis to the sauce.

Liked this very much and will make again. Bright, flavorful, relatively easy.

Or try a marinade of 1 TB "sweet" soy sauce, 1 TB sesame oil, 1 tsp (real) Balamic and 1 TB orange (or mango) juice. Let the tofu rest in the marinade for at least 4 hours. Then brown the tofu (and the marinade, if desired) in peanut oil. Add to wok heated vegetables.

Caramel sauce is usually way too sweet. I've had some luck finishing the sauce with a large glug of fish sauce.

My family has been making this for ages. We equate 1 shallot with the one that is the same size as a garlic bulb. Ca Kho's prominent flavors are supposedly shallot and fish sauce. So lots of shallots and good quality fish sauce are important. Soy sauce is the most authentic. You have to use fish sauce.

Read the comments of the others. Cut the sugar in half and pan-fried the garlic/ginger/shallots before adding the caramel. Also added dried numbing peppers for some heat. Interesting flavors and not overly sweet.

I used the suggestion of 2 tbs sugar instead of one cup, as well as the suggested sieve to prevent sputtering. Both tips worked well. I used pureed ginger for the sauce and it worked well, though my 1 tbs did make ginger a very noticeable flavor (ok if you like ginger like I do).

Way too much sugar…. I pretty much use this app exclusively for recipes, and this was the first real miss by NYT cooking. It was basically a very sticky bad desert.

Huge fail. I just can't master caramel sauce. The family did get a nice laugh at my expense. Had to pry the caramel off my teeth. The rice came out good, though

Made according to directions, although per some notes I did pan fry the shallots, garlic and ginger for a few minutes in a bit of oil before adding the caramel sauce. This was a hit! Will try some of the variations in the future, eg, fish sauce, less sugar.

Loved the flavors, however, I followed recommendations for less sugar - used 3T sugar and 1/4 c water to make caramel. Despite 40 mins on low heat, no caramelization occurred. Water mostly evaporated then I added the 1/2 cup water later and proceeded with the recipe as instructed and added a splash of fish sauce. Flavor was great, but would have liked more volume of sauce. Next time, will try using higher heat level for caramelizing and/or additional water.

I made this following the recipe exactly as is and felt it was a success as the two international Chinese students who live at my house and have travelled and eaten worldwide remarked that it tasted just like it does at home! I'll make it again.

We loved this recipe with Mai Do's recommendation for 2 T sugar instead of 1 cup. Next time, however, I will use 3 T sugar and add a little chili sauce to give it a bit more oomph. Cie's suggestion of using a sieve when adding the 1/2 cup water was great.

You can advantageously replace the fresh garlic by crushed flakes of fried dry garlic, throw in a few seeds of crazy sechuan pepper and a few drops of rice vinegar.

One cup sugar? That is a crazy amount of sugar. I would use maybe 2-3 tablespoons (and preferably brown sugar), just melted in some oil added to a non-stick skillet, rather than making the darkened sugar mix if I was making real ca kho. Add other ingredients to skillet and saute. Then, add 1 cup coconut water with other ingredients and just let it simmer to a reduced, thick sauce, adding Tofu towards end, turning frequently to coat. Then serve as instructed with scallions and rice.

I think the fish sauce had been left out because this dish was advertised as vegetarian. Some veggie people would not mind but some are very religious about not using animal products.

Should have read others' notes first. This was good but very sweet. We topped it with white vinegar after it was plated to neutralize.

While I disliked the large amount of sugar required, since the rest of the ingredients are healthy, we simply cooked the tofu in the mixture 1 minute on each side and did NOT pour the sugar sauce over when serving with brown rice.

It's much easier if you use Chinese brown slab sugar which is stocked at Asian groceries. It doesn't burn like white sugar and in my opinion yields a superior flavor.

Cut the sugar in half and pan-fried the garlic/ginger/shallots before adding the caramel.

When make again, just use about 1/2 cup of sugar and it is really sweet