One of the first foods I attempted to master as a vegan was tofu. As a vegetarian, I had several unsuccessful encounters with the bean curd, but I finally set myself upon conquering it. After several attempts (including trying to press silken tofu...ugh), I finally stumbled upon freezing my tofu before I cook it. This is my favorite method for baked tofu because the process squeezes out so much water that the tofu soaks up any marinade like a sponge. Here are my steps:1) Freeze the tofu. Duh, right? If it is in a vacuum sealed pack, chuck it straight in the freezer, but if it's packed in water, take it out, give it a squeeze and wrap it in plastic wrap.
2) Thaw and press the tofu. The night before I want the tofu, I wrap it in a tea towel and place it between two plates with something heavy on top (I'm sure you have a giant can of beans hanging around). I then set the whole shebang in my kitchen sink. This is important because the method squeezes out so much water that I've found my entire kitchen counter soaked with tofu water. Gross. Don't let that happen. Put it in the sink.
3) Slice and marinate. From here on out, baking is the exact same. I slice up my tofu and let it sit for about 15 minutes on each side. The marinade pictured is a mixture of soy sauce, white cooking wine, garlic and nutritional yeast. It's really fun to watch the tofu soak up the marinade. Whee!
4) Bake and eat. I choose to broil my tofu for 10 minutes on one side, six on the other. Easy peasy!
Obviously you don't have to bake the tofu like I described above. It also works great in things like faux chicken/tuna salad for sandwiches. Just don't use it to make quiche or pie or anything. That would not work.
That one was for you, mom. Love you!
Take the water out before you freeze? Oh, that's why it turned out weird.
ReplyDeleteWhat? It's just super hard to get out of the package if you don't do that. I had to use a giant knife.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, my tofu turned out weird. I froze it with the water inside then thawed it out when I was ready to use it. It was very sponge like, I'll take the water out next time.
ReplyDeleteUm, like... tea towels and bean cans are so 2009. I'm totally going to try your tofu recipe, I'm usually not a huge fan of frozen tofu, but your mom is right that your tofu is always f'ing fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for you to buy me a tofu express for my half birthday, mmmmmmmmmmkay? Also, I usually use a jar of sauerkraut.
ReplyDeleteLauren, have you ever tried Helen's Kitchen Chicken Tofusteaks? They're so good and also pretty expensive. I'm wondering if your technique would be a close approximation.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've tried those, unless it was unwittingly at a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteMy tofu sure wasn't as good as yours but your instructions were a big help! You are right, soaks up the marinate like a sponge! Thanks Hon!
ReplyDeleteThanks mom.
ReplyDelete