Top Tips to Make Tofu Tasty
Tofu can be an enigmatic ingredient to many people who have tried it only to be very disappointed. They hear that tofu is fantastic but their first experience is a soggy, greasy, tasteless mouthful of YUK! Tofu, just like any other ingredient, has wonderful possibilities and some limitations. With my tips you will be cooking tasty tofu in no time.
1. Pick the right type of tofu. Many people get confused about the different types of tofu but, in most Western supermarkets, there are just two main types. Silken tofu, which is often used for desserts. It has a creamy consistency and texture that makes it perfect for desserts. Silken tofu is a bright white colour so it takes on other colours well. For example, in our pink strawberry mousse. But the main type of tofu that is used for savoury dishes is firm tofu. The confusion starts when we see all of the different types of tofu, which you can find in East Asian supermarkets in the UK. Silken tofu can be labelled as either soft, firm or extra firm. Firm tofu can be labelled as firm or extra firm. If you are in the UK one easy way to tell the difference is that firm tofu is found in the chiller whereas silken tofu is found on the shelf in a little cardboard box.
Tofu Feta (use firm tofu for this recipe) This is from my Vegan Cooking Diploma
2. Prepare the tofu. When using firm tofu remember that it is like a sponge and therefore it is great at sucking up flavour. But first of all, we need to remove the water that is already in it. When you buy firm tofu you will find that it is already in water. The water will have permeated the tofu, it will be inside it. If you don't get rid of that it will end up in your recipe, diluting the other flavours. It will make the tofu not as strong a flavour as we want it to be. So first of all, we need to press the firm tofu. You can use a tofu press or you can do the DIY method. Wrap the tofu in a clean tea towel, put it between two chopping boards and then put two elastic bands around the boards so that the bands push them together. The chopping boards are gently pressing on the tofu, making the water come out of the tofu and into the tea towel. Some people prefer to put cans and heavy items on top of the chopping boards but that can be quite risky as they can easily tumble off.
3. Choose your brand carefully. There are some brands of firm tofu that do not contain much water and therefore do not need to be pressed. One such brand is Tofoo which is available in most UK supermarkets and is also organic, an added bonus! I like the Clearspring silken tofu as its texture is very, very close to the fresh tofu I used to buy in markets in Malaysia. In Petaling street market the best hot silken tofu is made fresh every day and served with brown rice syrup, yum! If you do not like the texture of one brand of tofu try another brand. They can be very different so you just need to find the one that suits you.
Chocolate Ice Cream with Hazelnuts and Cherries (using silken tofu)
Tofu Pomegranate Salad (using Firm Tofu)
4. Make sure you impart flavour. Some cultures enjoy the taste and texture of tofu that is fairly, if not completely, nude. However, for most newcomers to tofu, who did not grow up in a country where tofu is a staple, they prefer tofu to be heavily flavoured. Whether you are using silken tofu, or firm tofu, you should use a recipe which imparts a lot of flavour to the tofu. With most tofu recipes, this is really a key factor in recipe success. In this way tofu is used as a carrier for other flavours. Similarly, pasta doesn't have much of a flavour of its own but it has a great texture. We add a sauce to pasta which acts as a carrier that takes those lovely flavours from the plate to our mouth. And that's exactly what tofu does. It acts as a vehicle for other flavours to get into our mouths. My favourite way of adding flavour to tofu is to use a marinade which is simply tamari (or soya sauce), water and smoked paprika. This is a great go-to tofu marinade that is quick, easy and cheap to make. To marinade the tofu, as I mentioned earlier, you need to press it to get all of the water out and then add the marinade. The marinade needs to be thin enough to get into that sponge. It should be as thin as water, it should not be thick. If the marinade is thick, if it contains a lot of miso sauce or nut butter for example, it will sit on the outside of the tofu. It will not be able to go into the tofu. You can use ingredients like juices, stocks, spices, oils. Any ingredient that is strongly favoured and quite thin would be perfect for a tofu marinade. You don't necessarily have to marinade tofu for a very long time. If you cut the cubes small enough, then of course the marinade has less distance to travel to get inside the tofu. So if you're short on time, after you have pressed it, cut the tofu into small pieces, pop it into a Tupperware box. Add the marinade to the Tupperware box, put the lid on the Tupperware box and shake the box until the tofu is completely covered. Set it to one side for 10 to 20 minutes and then you are ready to cook it.
5. Cook your tofu properly. So many people had bad experiences with tofu because it hasn't been cooked properly. Tofu responds really, really well to a very, very high heat. As you know by now, tofu is a sponge. If it is put into oil that isn't hot enough it will soak up the oil. If this happens the tofu will be oily and possibly slimy. The texture will be very unpleasant. The great thing about tofu is the texture. So, with firm tofu, we want to create that lovely meaty texture as much as possible. When it comes to cooking firm tofu we have a couple of options. It can be fried, which is the more common way to cook it. But this method can trip a lot of people up as they don't fry it at a high enough temperature. The oil and the pan needs to be incredibly hot in order to sear the outside of the tofu. The edges won't be crisp and will be quite unpleasant. The oil needs to be almost at the smoking point and you need to use a good pan for this process. I also recommend that you drain the tofu on a clean tea towel after frying it. This removes excess oil. The other option (and my preferred method) is to bake it. This is quite an under used technique but it is far easier than frying tofu. And of course it's also healthier and safer. So you can just pop that tofu that's been soaked in a yummy marinade onto a wide baking tray and bake it at the top of the oven for about 15 minutes until the edges are crispy. If you want the edges to be even crispier add a little bit of oil to your marinade. Toasted sesame oil is perfect for the tamari-smoked paprika marinade. The longer you bake firm tofu the more chewy and meaty it gets. This gives the homecook more possibilities as you can lightly bake tofu for one recipe and long-bake tofu for a different recipe.
Asparagus Tart with Blood orange (using Silken Tofu)
This is from my Vegan Cooking Diploma
6. Shape it. Firm tofu can be cubed and this is often how it is used in recipes. However it can be crumbled or torn. This gives it a more natural uneven appearance. Use torn firm tofu for a vegan version of Chicken Tikka Masala and use crumbled tofu for scrambled tofu or tofu mince.
I hope these tips and recipes have inspired you to to make your tofu tasty
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