Tofu....

[ThatBloodyWoman]

I had an amazing vegan dish the other day -thai noodles with tofu.It was heaven.

I've never cooked with tofu and just don't know where to start.

Any pointers/easy recipes (ideally vegan) gratefully recieved!

If you buy the tofu that comes in water then it will benefit from being pressed for about half an hour to get the excess water out. I usually marinate it for a couple of hours with a bit of black bean sauce and then oven bake it until it is firm and a bit crispy. It is nice served with rice and vegetables.

I also like the Ottolengi recipe for black pepper tofu although i seriously reduce the amount of chilli in it. You could make it vegan by omitting the butter.

Thanks lauren.
I may be being daft, but how do I press it?

Love the sound of it baked after marinating in black bean sauce....yum!

Make sure you buy a tofu that is labelled "firm" - you can also get much softer tofus for different kinds of dishes, but for a stir fry you want a firm one. A pressing as mentioned by Lauren will make it firmer.
I like the Cauldron one - it lasts for quite a while in the fridge

Put it on a chopping board with another on top - or you can use plates if the tofu is small enough. Then pop a large saucepan full of water on top, to weigh it down. Quite a lot of water should come out, so I leave the whole thing on the draining board to drain off :)

For a Thai curry, I cube the tofu, dry it in paper towel/tea towels then shallow fry. Don't have to do all the sides, 2 or 3 will do. Then simmer in a this sauce - I use coconut milk and tom yum sauce. Add veg of your choice :)
Frying it gives it a bit more texture.

Thanks Huevos.

I feel quite excited about trying it! I've often looked and walked on because its a mystery!

The thing with tofu is it has no flavour. So you need good flavoured sauces/other ingredients to complement it :)

I started a thread on tofu a few weeks ago and there were a load of ideas:

tofu thread

I can't say I entirely got on with it - a textural thing for me I think, so I ended up scrambling mine in place of one of the eggs in my omelettes for a few days to get through most of it. Still have a small chunk in the freezer though which I need to tackle.

spilt thank you for that

I have bought some tofu today (only one type available locally -the cauldron one in water.I can't see that it says firm, so I presume it isn't.
I intend to try it in the next day or so -pressed, marinated and baked for starters I think!

Watch this space...

If you are not keen on Cauldron (which wouldn't be unusual to be honest!) then don't give up- try a health food shop for Taifun tofu which is better (they sell the flavoured kind of this brand in Waitrose but that's no good for recipes that are marinadey)

Press it then slice and roll in a mixture of rice flour, corn flour, seasoned with salt and blsck pepper. Deep fry and drain on kitchen
Paper. Irresistible

I liked smoked tofu I think it was taifun, it's a hard food to love.

I'm on a head start it seems since I loved the texture of the tofu I had in my thai noodley thing (presumably not egg noodles as it was vegan)...

Is that pad thai?

If you want a really easy place to start, try the marinated Cauldron foods one in a stir fry - fried up a bit first alone to crisp it a little bit , then do the veg and put the tofu back in at the end.

Two having looked up pad thai (you can tell I'm no great foodie...!) I think it was!
It was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted!

My tofu is finishing marinating in Peking sticky sauce....
I tried a bit raw -it is completely devoid of taste isn't it?!! But I do like the texture.
Will report back....

The great thing about tofu is that it is a vessel for flavour. Mapo tofu is probably my favourite tofu dish. And many braised tofu too, but I can't cook any of them.

By the way, I love pad Thai and cook from a recipe by Bill granger.

I used a mapo tofu recipe by fuschia Dunlop. Found this by googling hopefully it's the same as in the book
www.eattravellive.com/recipe/ma-po-tofu-recipe/

I marinade in a little soya sauce with chilli, garlic and other bits if I have them then fry in a tiny bit of oil

I cube firm tofu.then marinade it for 24 hrs in soy sauce, minced garlic, chilli and ginger. Stir fry it then add veg and cooked rice noodles, then add the marinade back in the wok. Finish with lime juice and coriander.

I made this delicious matar paneer recipe today. You could easily substitute the paneer with tofu.

I just covered some in tikka paste and grilled it as a quick veggie alternative to chicken in one of Jamie Oliver's 15 min recipes. I normally use paneer but happened to have some tofu, it was quite nice - DH loved it.

Before I do anything with tofu I always freeze it first. It changes the texture radically (and for the better I think). It becomes chewier and the slightly slippery texture becomes 'sponge-like'. I then defrost and press it (wrapped in a teatowel with something heavy on it for about 20 mins). Finally marinade it in something like garlic, soy sauce and a bit of ketchup, and roast/fry it.

Bit late reporting back -sadly my first foray into tofu-dom wasn't a success.It seemed to be kind of soft and gelatinous in the middle -quite unpleasant really!
Never mind, onwards and upwards, I shall try one of your suggestions, and certainly go for firm tofu next time I go shopping!