What to make with tofu?

[spilttheteaagain]

I have never eaten tofu or cooked with it before, but impulse bought a block of the Cauldron stuff from the chiller cabinets.

Any suggestions as to how to prepare/cook it would be very welcome!

We like most things, but dairy free please.

I've got some too so I'm wTching with you if that's ok?
I'm on a low fat diet for gallstones.

You can whizz it up in smoothies or to make mousses or cheesecake etc. You can press it and cut it into chunks and use in place of meat (although the chunks are pretty fragile). You can thinly slice it and have it in a sandwich with avocado and black pepper....

Get googling

Cauldron tofu is quite good.

Slice and fry if you like the taste and texture. And lots of Chinese and Japanese straightforward recipes for them,

If you mash them you can mix in with minced pork/beef to make softer meatballs/burgers.

If you freeze them you get a different texture and somehow less fragile too.

Ok thanks, some good pointers there, I would never have thought of slicing for a sandwich! I didn't realise you could eat it raw.

So you can just cut and fry then? No marinading/pressing/coating cornflour etc necessary? I might try subbing it for chicken in my chicken & pepper in garlic and blackbean sauce.

It's good marinated in a stir-fry (soy, chilli oil, sichuan pepper is good). The Cauldron smoked tofu is amazing chopped up into a Mexican style soup. As amazing as tofu can be, anyhow.

I wouldn't eat it uncooked myself. It's tastier with a bit of marinating, but if no time for that, try cutting into slices then frying with a tiny bit of oil, or grilling. Or brush with oil and griddle.

V nice in a simple garlic, ginger, spring onion and pak choi stir fry, with a bit of sesame oil and soy.

Re pressing - it depends on the tofu. If it's the kind that comes in a packet with a lot of water, then yes, it does need pressing. Clean tea towel folded up, on a plate, a couple of folds under and over the tofu, a plate on top then something heavy. Leave for an hour - check it after a while, you may want to drain the plate or change the tea towel. Then marinate, if you're going to.

YY, Cauldron Smoked tofu is very nice, and no pressing needed.

Taifun tofu is great too, really firm, no pressing.

Don't try to press silken tofu by the way (usually comes in a juice style carton) it won't end well!

gado-gado or these tofu burgers

I love this Ottolenghi recipe. I use less pepper and fewer chillies though.

vegan mutter paneer

Tart au citron or cheesecakes

Ma po tofu

You could try marinading it in soy, lime juice, brown sugar and chopped red chilli. Then grill or fry it. Tis yummy.

Although it will better absorb flavours if marinated for a few hours, you can also do an instant marinade. For a breakfast sandwich, we slice tofu, squeeze out excess water, then dip in a mixture of vegetable oil, smoked paprika, soy sauce and a little tomato ketchup for sweetness. Then fry for a few minutes on each side before adding cooked tomatoes, mushrooms and relishes.

It's also nice cut into cubes (again squeezing out excess water), then marinated in veg/sesame oil, chopped ginger, garlic and soy sauce. Then braised in the oven.

We also use it minced up in spag bol. Or mashed with a fork to make scrambled tofu.

It was one of the hardest things to like when I became a vegan 3 years ago, I tried every which way to cook it and hated it all. Last week on my final attempt (vowed to stopped buying it if this didn't work) I followed a few tips I was given. Buy the correct tofu for the recipe you're using, firm for savoury as a rule and silken for sweeter dishes (I do like cheese cake & mousse made with tofu). Press it well, freezing it prior to opening improves the texture.

I pressed it for about 8 hours wrapped in several layers of kitchen roll & tea towels using a chopping board with weights on top. Slice and immerse in warm salty water, squeeze it out again but this time only for a few minutes. Marinade in a little soy sauce & onion salt. Then, wait for this - use a waffle maker and fry it up like a waffle! It was absolutely bloody amazing, it did take about 15 mins to really crisp up nicely and because of the pattern of the waffle plates there wasn't a huge amount of soft tofu in the middle, just what I wanted! I'm converted to tofu at long last :)

Thanks so much for all the ideas. The tofu burgers sound good.

We tried pressing, marinading and frying then adding a black bean & garlic paste. Tbh DH and I weren't keen on the texture, but flavour fine. I've been scrambling small amounts with fried veg for breakfast and that's fine.

But we're about to go away and I still have a bit left. Can you freeze it? And if so should I drain it's water off first?

Thank you!

I freeze tofu, I press it then cut into cubes, and open freeze then pop into a freezer bag.

Second the Ottolenghi recipe above.

thai green curry with tofu and other veg is good. Also an ottolenghi recipe from plenty with noodles and mango.