Max’s is a famous Filipino restaurant chain and a lot of people including myself are a huge fan of their signature dishes that mostly caters to the Filipino palate. They serve a variety of Filipino recipe, their most well known and best-selling dish is their signature fried chicken.
I almost always order their fried chicken until I decided to venture out and try some other Filipino dishes in their expansive menu (almost every one of their dishes follows top-notch quality Filipino recipes). And that’s when I discovered their deliciously prepared sizzling tofu dish which was highly recommended by my friends.
Max’s sizzling tofu is practically the most perfect sizzling tofu I tried and it seems like its a close second public favorite right next to their best selling fried chicken. Their sizzling tofu is full of texture, creamy but not cloyingly so with just the right mix of ingredients that combine them in the best way possible. The tofu is masterfully prepared with the bell peppers, onion, and garlic cooked to a crunch keeps the mayonnaise that coats the dish from being overwhelming.
There’s also a hint of oyster sauce and dried parsley flakes for some added zest to the dish. Plus, some hot chili gives it that extra satisfying kick in its flavor. All in all the perfect healthy dish to serve to your everyday Filipino family.
It’s easily become the favorite dish on Max’s menu for everyone who tried it, along with their fried chicken, of course.
So naturally, I wanted to recreate this sleeper hit in my home myself. It’ll be a great dish to serve to your family and while it’s a relatively simple dish to prepare and cook, people who took a bite out of it will be heavily impressed.
I searched for some of Max’s style sizzling tofu recipes online, tried and recreate a few of them and the closest recipe to Max’s original sizzling tofu I found, taste-wise, is from a site called kusina101 which will be linked down below. Of course, I’ve tried and modified a few things in the recipe which I think would get it exactly to where Max’s sizzling tofu is taste-wise.
First, off to the market I go. I got myself 500-grams of Chinese tofu, chillis, garlic, white onion, bell pepper, mayonnaise, dried parsley flakes, and oyster sauce. I’m also gonna be using some sugar and grounded black pepper. Apart from the Chinese tofu, Max’s style sizzling tofu only needs simple ingredients that you can find in the pantry so I find this recipe relatively cheap to make as well which is always a bonus.
Now for the cooking!
I first heat some oil in a deep pan and while I’m waiting for the oil to heat, I cut up the tofu into symmetrical square pieces. Once the oil is hot enough, I put the tofu into the deep pan and fry it until it turned into a golden brown color. Turn the heat off, get the tofu out of the pan and drain the excess oil into paper towels.
Next, in a bowl, I combined ½ cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, ½ teaspoon of the dried parsley, and ½ teaspoon of grounded black pepper. I mixed these ingredients well then added some water until I’ve achieved just the right amount of thickness I wanted in the mixture, exactly like what we can find in Max’s sizzling tofu dish.
I heat the mayo mixture in a clean pan for two minutes in low heat, added 1 finely chopped bell pepper and continue to stir it with the mayo mixture for another one minute.
For the final and most exciting part of this process, on a sizzling plate, I added a little amount of vegetable oil and sauteed three minced cloves of garlic and 1 chopped white onion. Then I added the cooked tofu and mayo dressing on the plate and mixed them well. Finally, I sprinkled the dish with 2 sliced finger chillis and more onion.
Serve with fluffy white rice and I’ve achieved homemade Max’s style sizzling tofu.
Max's-Style Sizzling Tofu Recipe
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Ingredients
- 100 g firm tofu drained
- 1 tbsp red bell pepper chopped
- 1 tbsp green bell pepper chopped
- 1 pc small onion chopped
- 1/4 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp liquid seasoning Knorr
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp water
- cooking oil
Instructions
In a small mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, liquid seasoning, onion powder, and water. Mix well until smooth. Set aside this sauce.
Heat cooking oil in a deep pan or pot. Add the tofu. Deep-fry until golden brown. Remove from heat. Use a strainer to drain oil. Set aside.
Heat about 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a pan. Add the onion. Sauté until fragrant.
Add the green and red bell peppers, and the fried tofu. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
Add half amount of the prepared sauce. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn off heat.
Heat a sizzling plate on the stovetop. Melt butter onto it.
Transfer the cooked tofu on the sizzling plate. Add the remaining sauce.
Serve while hot and enjoy your sizzling tofu ala Max’s!
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