Zesty Sweet Chili Tofu

The cafeteria at work has a very limited selection of things I like.  But one of the few things I was really impressed with was their sweet chili tofu.  It was bright orange, sitting on a heating coil for the 3 hours that lunch was available, and had a slightly weird texture... but it was delicious.  I haven't seen it in a while though, so I decided I had to find a recipe that was like it; this recipe is just like work used to make!

I found this sauce recipe, but naturally I didn't have peppers or garlic in the apartment, so I substituted.  I also only made half the recipe; I find that gooey asian-style sauces like this that have cornstarch in them get gross if you put them in the fridge, so I didn't want too much left over.  My recipe looked something like this:

• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (probably plus a little extra)
• 1/2 tsp (very heaping -- probably closer to 3/4 tsp) red pepper flakes
• 1/8 c white vinegar
• 1/4 c sugar
• 3/8 c water
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp water

For the first boiling part, I left it on for way longer than 3 minutes -- it never really thickened up, but I did notice that I'd lost some liquid.  The cornstarch worked really quickly once I added it, and I ended up with this much sauce:

It all fit into the big spoon I had been stirring with, which was about how much I wanted anyway.  This ended up being very spicy; I'd probably use less red pepper if I made it again.

For the tofu, I just chopped up & pressed a block of tofu, oiled the pan & the tofu, then baked it for a little over 30 minutes at 350 then 375 (because the sauce was done and I was hungry), flipping every 10 minutes or so.  It stuck to the pan relentlessly; maybe parchment paper would've helped.  Then I tossed it with the sauce.  It was just the right amount of both, and turned out fantastic (albeit a bit spicier than I'd've hoped).  It would've been perfect with some rice, which I had meant to make while the tofu was cooking but totally forgot.  Will definitely be making this again!