black pepper tofu??

This is a real recipe from Sauveur magazine/website.  I like the idea of it (using lots of coarsely ground black pepper, lots of garlic, shallots, scallions, etc. plus little slices of red chiles and fresh ginger, BUT.....there is a LOT of oil (2 cups for frying the tofu plus 11 tablespoons of butter for frying the shallots, garlic, and ginger) and 2 Tablespoons of sugar--in addition to the sweet soy sauce (Indonesian variety).  Still--no meat!  Well, wish us luck!!

2 cups canola oil
1 ¾ lb. firm tofu, cut into 1″ cubes
½ cup cornstarch
11 tbsp. unsalted butter [one stick plus 3 more tbsp]
3 tbsp. finely chopped ginger
12 small shallots, thinly sliced
12 cloves garlic, crushed
8 red serrano chiles, stemmed and thinly sliced
5 tbsp. coarsely ground black pepper
3 tbsp. kecap manis (sweet soy sauce; available at onlinefoodgrocery.com) [also Amazon.com]*
3 tbsp. light soy sauce
4 tsp. dark soy sauce
2 tbsp. sugar
16 small scallions, cut into 1 ¼″ pieces
Cooked white rice, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Toss tofu and cornstarch in a bowl until evenly coated. Fry tofu until browned all over, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside; discard oil, and wipe skillet clean. Return skillet to medium heat with butter. Add ginger, shallots, garlic, and chiles; cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Stir in pepper, soy sauces, and sugar. Return tofu to skillet; cook, stirring, until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Stir in scallions; serve over rice.

*or make your own from light soy sauce and 1/4 c + 1/8 c of brown sugar boiled together.  There's all that sugar again.