Huli-Huli Tofu

Ingredients

• 2 blocks Extra-firm tofu, pressed, cut into thick slabs
• ½ Pineapple, half juiced, half cut into rings
• ⅜ cup Low-sodium soy sauce
• ¼ cup Brown sugar
• 3 tbsp Ketchup
• 2 tbsp Fresh ginger, grated
• 4 cloves Garlic, grated
• 2 tbsp Rice vinegar (unseasoned)
• 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil
• 1 ½ cups Short-grain sushi rice
• 4 cups Napa cabbage, shredded
• 4 Scallions (green onions), sliced

Method

1. Simmer the pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, ginger, garlic, vinegar and sesame oil for 8 minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Reserve half for serving before anything raw touches it.
2. Marinate the tofu slabs in the other half for 20 minutes.
3. Get the grill to medium — not high. This sauce is a quarter sugar and it will burn over a hot fire.
4. Grill the tofu 12-15 minutes total, turning and brushing with marinade every 3 minutes. That repetition is the technique and the name: layer after layer of glaze rather than one thick coat.
5. Grill the pineapple rings alongside, 2 minutes a side, until marked.
6. Serve over rice with shredded cabbage, the reserved sauce and scallions.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Reserve half the sauce before it touches raw food, and use it at the table. That is how you get that clean glossy finish.

🧒 For the kids

Sweet, sticky, pineapple-y. Cut the tofu into strips before grilling so there is more glazed surface.

🥡 Leftovers

Keeps 4 days and is good cold, sliced into rice bowls.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.