Tofu help! need some ideas please!

Hannah7783

Hi MFPers!

I have just bought tofu for the first time, but have no idea what to do with it! I love most kinds of foods, as long as its not extremely spicy! I'm not vegetarian, just though it's a good alternative to expensive meat, both economically and calorically speaking! So and tofu related culinary suggestions will be gratefully received!

Thanks all!

Hannah :flowerforyou:

WBB55

Is there a dish you like that's "saucy"? Like a stir fry or maybe spaghetti with marinara? Tofu can fairly easily go into dishes like that. Here's how:

Open the package, drain out the liquid. Slice the tofu into 4-5 equal slices. Cover/wrap in a clean cloth or 4-5 layers of paper towel. Put something flat with a little weight on top of it. Like a plate or a small cutting board with a plate on top of it. Basically, what you want to do is try to gently squeeze a bit of the water out.

After 10 minutes or so of drying, cut it into bite-sized pieces and add to any dish that has a sauce. Leave it in the hot sauce (whether it's spaghetti or Pad Thai or whatever sauce) for maybe 5-10 minutes or so before serving it. The sauce soaks into the tofu.

For advance users:
(1) freeze (and then fully thaw) the tofu before doing the above process
(2) do something like this http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/easy-baked-tofu or this http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-tofu-bites/

LaLouve_RK

My all time fav with Tofu is to include it in a stir-fry.
I usually only put some Tamari sauce and garlic for the taste.

You can also marinate tofu to give it a taste is you want it in pasta or salads.

Hannah7783

Thanks guys, I'll give both of these ideas a try this week!

LB2812

this is my favorite thing to do with tofu, I substitute it for scrambled eggs!

http://www.theppk.com/2009/10/tof-u-and-tof-me-scrambled-tofu-revisited/

I don't have nutritional yeast so I skip that part. And you can add whatever veggies you might normally add to scrambled eggs. It comes out so good everytime!

Stir-frying tofu is always good too (just dry it out as much as possible first by squeezing the water out).

Tofu is good for taking on and absorbing flavors. So you can do something like marinate it in bbq sauce and grill/bake it. Or break it up and add it to tomato sauce.

bevaroo117

I am a tofu fanatic, I love the texture. Here is my favorite way to prepare it, based off what WBB55 suggested. I call the technique "dry fry." When you cut the tofu block, cut so that you have 4-5 long, thin rectangle slices:

Step 1: drain / cut as WBB55 directed:

Open the package, drain out the liquid. Slice the tofu into 4-5 equal slices. Cover/wrap in a clean cloth or 4-5 layers of paper towel. Put something flat with a little weight on top of it. Like a plate or a small cutting board with a plate on top of it. Basically, what you want to do is try to gently squeeze a bit of the water out.

After 10 minutes or so of drying, cut it into bite-sized pieces

I like my "bite-sized pieces" to be like little triangles- so each of the 4 rectangles I'll cut into 8 mini-triangles.

Step 2 is the "and".... heat up some non-stick frying pans to about a medium heat. Place the tofu rectangles into the pan- don't use oil or cooking spray! and just let them cook until slightly browned. Flip them over and cook the other side, too.

When all is said and done, the tofu will be kind of like fried tofu, without any oil! They will be slightly browned and hard on the outside but softer on the inside.

Step 3 is optional: Let the dry-fry tofu triangles marinate in whatever sauce you like. the dry-fried triangles will actually soak up the flavor of the sauce but will mostly maintain its firm, "fried" consistency. I generally don't marinate and will eat these pieces plain. So delicious!

Step 4: Add the slices to whatever you want- pasta, stir fry, etc.

digitalchique

I agree with bevaroo about the dry frying. It took me forever to figure out why I loved tofu every time I ate it at a restaurant but I hated it when I tried making it at home. It turned out that dry frying not only gives tofu a more palatable texture, but it also gives it just a hint of toasted flavor. Dry frying is the step I was missing to make restaurant tasting tofu. I've tried dehydrating it a little bit too, which helps the texture a lot, but doesn't give it that toasty flavor. I usually dehydrate when I'm feeling lazy and I have to make a lot of it at once.

That being said, I like to marinate mine in BBQ sauce and use it on Sandwiches!

carrie3083

I made this the other day and it was really good: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/86313/recipebaked-tofu-bites