Tired and tested tofu successes

[Goingtobeawesome]

My DC has decided to be vegetarian. So far, out of all the veggie food I've bought, they like one thing. I bought tofu today and have no idea what to do with it. Helpfully the writing on the packet is minuscule and with my bad eyesight I'm struggling..

Tofu is very much an acquired taste.....even for some vegetarians however Jamie Oliver has a few good recipes on his website you might want to look at - I've done his tofu and cashew stirfry a few times and that's been quite nice ....

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/tofu-cashew-stir-fry/#OeGthL8mUaypHP3X.97

We love tofu. We'd eat it just cut into squares and pan fried. In fact we'd eat it just pan fried whole and then cut into pieces.

But stir-fried with Chinese mushrooms is the best - a bit of soya sauce and sugar and thicken the sauce with corn flour.

Tofu in miso soup is good too.

Or have them as cold salads - cut in pieces and pan fry. Let it cool down and dress in a bit of vinegar/soya sauce mix. And chilli oil.

this is a good recipe for tofu burgers.

There is a lot of difference in taste between various tofu brands. The best tasting tofu is fresh tofu from your Chinese supermarket (if you can find it).

Failing that Cauldron tofu from normal supermarkets is also quite good.

Tofu satay is delicious. Use regular tofu,, not the silken one.

TOFU SATAY (Serves 3/4 people)

500g tofu
1/2 tablespoons cornflour.

For the sauce:

3 tbsp peanut butter - try to use a good one, with no added sugar.
1 tbsp chilli bean paste - I use Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean sauce - widely available. (I got mine in Waitrose, ).
1 or 2 cloves finely grated/minced garlic
2 tsp peanut oil
2tbsp cider vinegar
2tbsp soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
2tbsp sugar syrup - dissolve 2 tsp sugar in 2 tbsp hot water.

Mix all these up - and add extra of any according to taste. You may want to add more warm water to thin it out. Taste as you go - you may want to add less chilli, specially if it's a new jar!

For the tofu - you want firm tofu - freeze it. Get it out the night before you want to use it. Open the tofu over the sink - squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands. On a chopping board squeeze out more water using kitchen towel as a blotter.

Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces. Gently mix these with 1 or 2 tbsp corn flour till all the pieces are coated.

In a frying pan, heat some oil ( not olive, peanut or sunflower best as they are tasteless)- fry the tofu until most sides are golden and crisp, put into a bowl and cover with about a third of the sauce (reserve some of the sauce for serving). Let it sit for at least 1 hour.

Then put tofu and sauce into a frying pan - cook for 5-10 mins until crispy - serve!

The sauce quantities are for 500g of tofu.

Black pepper tofu from Ottolenghi's book, Plenty, is also lovely.

Thank you very much

DD won't eat 99% of things mentioned but I'll try..

"DD won't eat 99% of things mentioned but I'll try.."

I understand perfectly.

My Other kids will eat 99% of anything...

LOL. Mine would eat most things but what they won't eat changes all the time ...

Just in case you get complacent.

Tofu is one of those things that requires good seasoning and careful cooking, in my opinion. I thought I didn't like it for years but just didn't know how to prepare it!

This recipe is one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. I'd put in a lot less sriracha unless she likes things very hot. And put the garlic in later than they say unless you want it burnt. Seriously though - crispy, spicy, caramelised and delicious.

But just FYI I'm vegetarian and almost never eat tofu or meat replacement stuff. Usually just get by on dairy, cheese, nuts and eggs in the protein stakes. Veg sausage and mash is a good option though if she's fussy!

She won't eat veg sausages. Or mash. Or pasta. Or rice. Or noodles.

Tofu skin in stir fry is my favourite. I don't really like soft tofu unless it's Mala tofu or with roe (which is obviously not veggie). Tofu skin is very firm and has a slightly different taste to other types.

The firmer spongy types work well in soups.

She may not like this but veggie ma po tofu is my favourite. I normally do it traditionally with minced pork as well but it's still delicious without
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017358-vegetarian-mapo-tofu

I had that recipe I posted with just broccoli so she might like that.

How old is she?

Jamie Oliver does tofu burgers which are pretty tasty - you squeeze out the water from a pack of plain tofu, stir in beaten eggs, marmite and breadcrumbs, then shape and fry. Sounds weird but is surprisingly tasty and lots of goodness in there. I can find a link to the actual recipe if you like, think he calls them 'mega burgers'.

Veggie burgers like this are easy and good for kids to assemble - you can melt cheese on top of the burger, chuck in tomato/cucumber/avocado/fried egg/relish/leaves/sauce etc. Always goes down well in our house.

I would always take the time to press the tofu before cooking. Just put a plate or pan on top of the block and add a heavy weight for maybe half an hour. In my opinion, this drastically improves the texture by squeezing out some of the water, and makes it much crisper when frying.

You can also freeze tofu to make it firmer, somehow the freezing and defrosting process changes the texture.

You can blend up silken tofu to make macaroni cheese sauce (with soya milk, salt, pepper, garlic, vegan Worcester sauce, nutritional yeast) or as the base for a 'cheesecake' (blend with cocoa powder from memory, plus maybe orange juice). Vegweb.com had good tofu recipes last time I looked.

You can also blend up silken tofu with cocoa powder, chia seeds, rum (might want to skip that for the teenagers) and lime to make a kind of chocolatey pudding. It's different to regular chocolate mousse but quite tasty.

Just going a bit outside the box from savoury food.

Oh - forgot - you definitely want maple syrup or something sweet in there too

Thank you everyone. She's 12. Has eaten okay for the last couple of days albeit the same lunch pretty much.

Tbh I would be reluctant to let a 12-year-old girl follow a vegetarian diet if it's already so restricted. And I say that as a vegetarian of 30 years with two DC aged 21 and 18 who have been vegetarian since birth.

Girls need iron at this age and unless she is eating soya products or lentils and pulses she's going to become iron-deficient, especially if and when her periods start.

Don't be fooled into thinking Quorn is ok either - it's high in protein but low in iron. Not a good meat substitute for a teenage girl.

I'd invest in Sam Stern's book Eat Vegetarian. I've got two veggies in the house aged 7 and 13, they can both be picky but they both enjoy most of the recipies in the book. There are some lovely ideas for salads and burgers which always work well. I've got a packet of Tofu in the fridge but I'm a bit reluctant to do anything with it as I feel a bit clueless. I find that lentil dhal and also chickpeas in many incarnations are my friends.