A Few Easy Tofu Recipes
From Scratch
These are simple recipes and all taste really good.
They Taste really good because you flavour them..
That is the first thing you must know about Tofu..it has no flavour until you give it one.
The second thing to differentiate between frozen tofu and non frozen.
The texture is totally different and so will be the flavour.
Frozen Tofu tends to be more chewy and of uneven consistency as there will be holes in it. Room temperature Tofu that has never been frozen will look like the image above.
You can use either in the recipes,
Secondly, outside of the first recipe for Stickies, Tofu needs to be marinaded before using so as to pick up the flavours you want.
Tofu puts the responsibility for taste in your hands.
Tofu Stickies
You can use either frozen or just bought tofu.
If it is frozen, put it into the micro until you can cut it into strips. You want nice thin strips. If it isn't frozen, you can start cutting it.
Once cut, put it into a deep dish with 1/3 orange juice, 1/3 barbecue sauce, 1/3 pancake syrup, and a spoon of jerk seasoning or any other kind of pepper.
(I didn't specify the 1/3rd of what as it depends on how much you are making, just know that however much it is those are the ratios)
Soak the strips for a short time. Put a little oil on a microwave safe dish. Cover the bottom with the stickie sauce, put down the tofu, striving not to let them touch, pour more of the sauce over it, and pop it into the micro at High for about 13 minutes.
Let sit in the off micro for about 5 minutes.
The Tofu should be a little crispy about the edges, if it isn't, put it back in for three minutes
Carnivores say it tastes like bacon.
It can be used it in various Chinese dishes, (often made into 'strings') or eatten as is. It is a great snack.
Usually I eat most of it before I figure out what I'm going to do with it.
All Purpose...depends on the Addition
Cut the Tofu into chunks. Marinate in:
Italian Dressing if you are using it in an Italian recipe, i.e. instead of veal.
If this is an Indian recipe use olive oil, a few drips of Italian dressing, a little chutney and a pinch of curry, and mix well, and let sit overnight in fridge.
If the Tofu is replacing fish use olive oil, a few drops of lemon, a sprinkle of thyme and garlic.
Think about your flavours, about what you want the Tofu to taste like.
You can use the seasoning pack from Ramen noodles, etc. Remember it is the Marinade which gives the Tofu the taste.
Roll in breadcrumbs, which should adhere due to the oil. Pop into a Micro wave at High for about five minutes. Let sit for five minutes. Taste. As all micros are different, you might have to put the tofu back in for three minutes or so. You might want to add other seasoning.
With Indian recipes, as you are probably going to put the tofu into a kind of curry stew, you don't need to do very much with it once you take it out. of the oven. It will absorb the flavours of the curry. If it tastes a bit bitter, add cut up tomato and back into the oven to have the tomato bits dissolve in the curry.
Now What?
Once you've gotten the preparation and cooking of Tofu down pat, and you know how to make it taste the way you want, think of substitutes you can make.
A 'Beef' stew?
A 'Chicken' Chow mein?
Whatever it is you prepare, you can use Tofu.
Many people have learned how to make it taste so fantastic they can use it in just about everything. The secret is how you cut it, how you marinate it, and how you 'dress' it.
It can go from being a 'veal' as in 'veal parmigian' to 'fried chicken breasts'.
It picks up pepper really well, so if you're thinking of anything with pepper, under add it. Unless you really like fire.
Making it crispy opens a whole new chapter, so that it can be used in salads
and vegetable dishes as a kind of 'bacon'.
Experiment and don't be afriad to go wild.