Tofu - something besides stir fries?

Question

I've been eating a good amount more of tofu lately but can only throw together so many stir fries or simple soups.

What do you fine folks suggest? Any favorites?

Answer

deborah madison has a good book, cheezy title: "this can't be tofu"-- 

here is a good website for the best of punk-rock vegan cooking:

http://www.theppk.com/

Answer

With silken tofu, I do smoothies (a classic) and a really good chocolate "mousse" - it's delicious, easy (in the blender) and no one ever guesses that it is tofu. (I don't tell them in fear they won't eat it again)

Answer

I liked this Baked tofu
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/263/Baked_Tofu8347.shtml

Answer

Tofu salads, fried tofu, patties, mabo tofu, buta dofu(pork and tofu with a miso sauce, cold tofu with grated daikon, ginger, shaved bonito flakes, green onions and shoyu is my favorite-(hiya-yakko sp?), plain tofu plopped on hot ramen noodles. Sukiyaki uses a lot of different ingredients but the tofu marinating in the sauce is so good.

Answer

There's this place near my office that makes the most incredible tofu "meatballs" and I've been trying to replicate the recipe...but have yet to give my ideas a run through. The menu says that they are "tofu balls with miso, soy, scallions and red peppers" and the resultant mix (which is smooth and not at all chunky, and no distinct chunks of the veggies) is rolled into small balls, like palm-sized in a small palm (maybe one inch diameter), tossed in rice flour and flash fried. They are served on top of hand torn iceberg lettuce (yes, iceberg), with crispy shallots on top, and liberally squirted with straight sriricha sauce. I like these with brown rice.

My guess is they use a medium firm tofu, maybe even soft, and process it in a Cuisinart with the other ingredients until a kind of dough is formed. I don't think they add a lot of miso or soy, because the little guys don't have a distinct flavor of either and are still quite white and fluffy on the inside. I do see little red/pink specks, that must have once been red peppers. You could definitely throw in some power packed little chile, since more than likely you have one or 20 in your fridge already!

Answer

I replace 1/2 (or more) of the ricotta for soft tofu in lasagna, stuffed shells, etc...i swear -- no one can tell -- especially if you use a lot of garlic and basil in the tofu/ricotta mixture

Answer

At one point I was using it to expand scrambled eggs, eg, one egg and a bunch of soft tofu.

Answer

We've always had fresh, cold tofu with a bit of shoyu on top, served with quickly blanched and then iced spinach with shoyu, sesame seeds, and lime juice on top. Both with hot rice.

Answer

I have used powdered tofu in a dessert yum cha style. Prepare powdered tofu according to directions. Make a sweet sauce of block palm sugar, water and spices (I used star anise, cinammon and corriander seeds, or honey and rose water is another good one) reduce to syrup and discard spices. Skim "slices" of tofu using an egg slide into a bowl and top with syrup. 

Yummers.

Answer

ok, my ancestors may disown me, but a secret family recipe is as follows

1 block soft or silken tofu.
1 peeled, pitted, sliced avocado.
salt or soy sauce, and
sesame oil to taste.

mix/chop together in a bowl, and you got yourself a quick tasty cool yet satisfying dish.

we normally eat this with rice, but i've used it as a guac alternative too. ok, so maybe i'm disowned already.

Answer

Firm tofu, 1x1x2" blocks, grilled, then brushed with sauce (sweet miso my fave, but BBQ sauce will surprise you in this setting)

Creamy salad dressings: sub 1/2 of your oil or mayo with smashed or blended silken tofu

Answer

I have a recipe around somewhere, where you cube firm tofu, and marinate it in the fridge in lime juice for about an hour or so. In the meantime, make up a vegetarian chili of some kind, simple with tomotoes, black beans, etc. dish out the chili and spoon chilled tofu over it. it's really refreshing and good.

Answer

Similar to FoodFuser's grill suggestion: tofu dengaku
drain firm tofu and cut into slices (1"x2"x.5" tall? I just cut slices off the "short" end). brush both sides lightly with oil and put in the toaster oven to broil until browned. Then top each slice with a slathering of dengaku miso (1 part sake, 1 part mirin, approx 4-5 parts miso and sugar to taste, mixed well and cooked for about 15-20 mins until thickened) Pop back under the broiler for a couple mins until the miso starts getting nice and browned/bubbly.

If the weather's still not warm enough to want cold tofu salad where you are, you can also have it hot: carefully put a block of soft tofu into a pan of hot water, and let sit a couple mins to get heated through. Remove, and serve slices drizzled with shoyu and sesame oil, top with scallions and bonito flakes, or some other favorite topping. (My personal favorite is a bit of finely chopped kimchi)

Along similar lines, a homey dish from CA japanese places is "tofu steak". One version of it involves eggs: saute squares of tofu in butter on both sides until brown, then pour egg (beaten with salt, and a little sake and mirin aded). Add the egg around the tofu (don't pour it on top, just tilt the pan and let it run all between the tofu) Cook until set, and sprinkle the top with green onions and katsuoboshi.

Answer

Lots of great ideas here... agree on adding it to soups (I do miso broth w/ garlic and collards, kale, mustard greens, bok choy, asparagus, and mixed wild mushrooms, Bragg's, balsamic, mustard, and lemon juice w/ tofu), using it to scramble instead of eggs; add it to fried rice; Whole Foods has a great recipe for Miso Baked Tofu.

I also sometimes use it instead of evaporated milk in my recipe for Chilean Seabass (or some new sturdy whitefish now that CB is gone) w/ Pumpkin-Sage sauce.

Answer

We make a "tofu swiss steak" from Friendly Foods by Fr Ron Pickarski. Basically, you saute drained firm tofu slices in sesame oil after brushing them with soy sauce. Then they are baked in a tomato sauce with green pepper, onions (I also add mushrooms), and miso. I use less liquid than he suggests and do some shortcuts as well. Despite the sesame oil and the miso, this is not really Asian in flavoring. Nice when you are looking for an alternative. He suggests serving them with mashed potatoes and a green veggie. Broccoli or green beans work well and if you sub mashed cauliflower for the potatoes, this is fairly low carb as well.

Answer

One of my favorite recipes is from Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu for tofu and sweet potato with peanut sauce. I absolutely adore the combination, although every time I make it I remember why I make it so infrequently - it's a bit labor intensive and probably not the healthiest way to eat tofu or sweet potatoes. But, I've served it to friends on numerous occasions and everybody loves it.

Answer

Grit Tofu (adapted from The Grit in Athens, GA):

Block of tofu, pressed and cubed
Canola oil or other neutral oil
Tamari
Nutritional yeast flakes

Saute tofu cubes in small amount of oil over med-high heat until light golden brown. Sprinkle with plenty o' tamari. Continue sauteing until deep golden brown. End with generous sprinkling of nutritional yeast.

It's the best over rice, veggies, and with cheese or gravy! I also use this method when sauteeing slabs of tofu for sandwiches.

Mmm!

Answer

Are you a vegetarian?
We've been eating more tofu and tempeh but we're not veggie (yet).
I've finally found a tempeh recipe that we LOVE (marinated and baked in soy/maple/ginger/garlic and then rolled in spiced cornmeal and panfried -- yummers!)
but in terms of tofu we either bake it in the same kind of soy marinade or make
Ma Po/Pa tofu, which is really good. If you do some searches on CH you will turn up some recipes. I've had to finagle them a bit and add A LOT less chili paste so that I don't burn my mouth off, but I really like it. We've had it with ground pork, trying it with ground beef tonight. I like to add mushroom and scallions to the basic recipe and serve over hulled barley (low glycemic index for my zoning hubby) and offer steamed brox as well. 

what else? tofu in place of ricotta (or in addition to) is good. I like the recipe from The Complete Soy Cookbook for Spinach-Mushroom-Tofu Lasagna for that. Also the recipe from Eating Well (www.eatingwell.com) for tofu in peanut sauce (with spinach) is really good.

If you are veggie, i think you could make it without the meat and it would still be delish.

I also found a bunch of recipes for tofu by checking the Nasoya website (www.nasoya.com) . One is for tofu pancakes. Sounds ridiculous, but my kids gobbled them up!

Have fun!

aa

Answer

soon dubu - spicy korean soft tofu stew

basically fry up some pork (any cut will do, ground, sliced, etc) with some soft tofu, add some gochugaru and water and then simmer. You can also add seafood instead of pork or add some old sour kimchi as well. Its good with a hot bowl of rice.

Answer

ha! this just in my mailbox today. some of the recipes look pretty good

http://www.eatingwell.com/news_views/food_news/learn_like_tofu.html

Answer

My Aunt's steamed fish paste custard (not an exact recipe, but a starting point).

Pureed fish (Chinese style)
Silken tofu
salt and white pepper
Mash everything together, put in a casserole dish and steam until hot. Top with additional white pepper and soy sauce, hot oil and scallions.

Answer

The Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers cookbook has a number of tofu recipes; the most useful are a set of variations on baked tofu. Basically, you toss your diced tofu with soy sauce and oil, then bake it at 400 degrees until nicely browned. The variations include barbecue and Old Bay; I am a fan of the chipotle version.

Answer

As a quick weeknight meal I make tofu curry. I cut up firm tofu and throw it in the oven for around 15 minutes to firm it up and evaporate off the water. I steam a broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot blend and add it and the tofu to a jar of Trader Joe's Yellow or Red Curry. It is quick, delicious, and healthy with TJ Naan and Cauliflower Rice or Jasmine Rice. I love a meal that comes together in just a few minutes and that we fight over the leftovers!

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Tofu - something besides stir fries?

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