Help- how do you cook tofu?

[alamel]

Grateful for advice on how to cook tofu. Somebody said to fry it but, since I am the world's worst cook, I'd like a bit more detail - how long do you fry it for and with what? vegetable oil? Will frying take out the goodness? would it be better to boil it?! I was planning to use the tofu for the protein part of the meal for ds and then add potato or rice to it plus a couple of vegetables. Does that make sense? would you fry it all together? help! PS I'm still doing the icecube thing so could I freeze any meal that I made?

Grateful for all help. As you'll see, we're at first base here! Thanks

I have only ever used it in a stir-fry. I don't think it needs coooking, as such, so fry just long enough to heat through and sear on the outside. It's pretty tasteless, but absorbs the flavours it is cooked with / in - it's good to marinade it first - in anything you'd like to marinade it in, really! Lime juice, oil, soy, garlic etc. Don't think I'd boil it - I think it would fall apart, and be even more tasteless. have no idea about freezing it either.

You can fry it - vegetable oil, sunflower oil is fine. Frying does not remove goodness as far as I am aware. Fry until light brown on all sides.
If it is going in with potato/rice and vege then I would not fry it myself.
I put tofu in stews, cassaroles plain - as Blu says it soaks up the flavours - if it is the firm tofu it will not fall apart.

You can mash it up and stir fry like an egg - add onion, garlic to give it abit of taste.

Molasses can be used (just a littel) in a marinade with lemon and garlic. Very healthy too.

You did not mention how old your son is?

Thanks you two. Papillion, further idiot question - how would you cook tofu if potato and veg being added? ds has just turned one. And, can you talk me through how you use it in casseroles and stews please? (I did warn you my cooking is rather basic)!

and am I right in assuming from your two posts that tofu can be eaten raw ( it would just taste super bland and the cooking is to add flavour)?

Message withdrawn

If you freeze it first, the texture improves so it is more firm and "springy". Cube it and add to stir fries, curries or casseroles. Liquidize it with a bit of milk and spread on top of lentil loaf or similar. liquidize with breadcrumbs and chopped nuts and make rissoles you can deep fry or oven bake (let them dry out for a couple of hours before you deep fry or they will fall apart), or stuff peppers or aubergines with it after adding marjoram and Tyme for seasoning. Try smoked tofu for a lovely flavour that is delicious raw in salads. Also pre-marinaded variety (cauldron I think.) "Scramble" it with a bit of milk and tmato puree or soy sauce and bung it on some toast. MMMM Tofu, tofu, I eat it every day......

Well, what I do is....

cut it into cubes, shallow fry in oil, drain on kitchen paper, taste a cube, grimace, taste another, go "yuck!", throw in the bin, and have a veggie stir fry instead

You beat me to it mm! 'Chuck it in the bin' was my thought as well

Quorn is easier and my dd prefered it you coudl do stew or anything with it. I am biased as have never sucessfully cooked with tofu unless prepacked sausage

Moo!

Have been forever put off tofu after going to a non-alcoholic wedding were the only food on offer seemed to be cold cubes of slimy tofu.

Hate to say it but why would you cook tofu unless it was a medical necessity (and I used to cook for a living) I personally think it is best left to the experts in the Oriental restaurants.
I think Marthamoo is right.
And Quorn is more welcoming to home cooking techniques, like the casseroles and stews you are asking about.
Don't mean to be dismissive, but tofu cooked at home is best just heated through before the oriental style sauce and veg - not potato- are added and then it isn't any great shakes.

My husband keeps a jar of pickled fermented tofu in the fridge he gets it out and lifts of the lid and wafts it at me when I have been particularly peevish

this may help alamel. I cooked the baby food recipe from here which was OK. They do have a lot of ideas though and you could adapt some of the grown up recipes for your baby - I do.
Agree with the others that Quorn is a bit easier to cook with as it comes like mince or chunks and you can use it like mince! Hope that makes sense!

Crumbs! Thanks for all the messages. Tofu seems to bring out some strong emotions! Now I'm not sure whether to try or not. Just wanted to find some healthy, protein giving food for ds that wasn't fish or meat to make a change! What is Quorn exactly and would it provide the protein part of a baby's meal?

Quorn is based on protein and as vegies we eat a lot of it- I t is based on mushroom and egg proteins (tastes nice- honest) It is easy to cook can be used as a meat substitute in spag bol chilli you can buy fillets or even nuggets Dd loves these

Quorn is really nice, in fact you have given me the idea of trying to get it past my fussy 3yr old DS1, only if in golden crspy crumb, of course.

I would just like to say for the record that I love tofu and quite happily eat it raw even gave some raw to dd to try the other day - she ate it.

I never have recipes for anything alamel - but had a look on the web for you and found some that might appeal to you.

Quinoa and tofu casserole (quinoa if you don´t know is very good for you, as is tahini - do a google search)

this recipe looks easy and hides the tofu! here personally I would not bother with the Anise extract, use vegetable stock instead and if you don´t want to use bread crumbs, you could use abit of fine cornmeal (if rough grained would cook it abit first) - this site has lots of tofu recipes!

and hey here is a potato / tofu recipe!! Collard greens - just use spinach, silverbeet. They are quite heavy on the seasoning - again I would use a vegetable stock (paste) instead and lay off the garlic and herbs abit.

This recipe looks easy and also very healthy - friend of mine gave her child bulgur awhile ago... she loved it Bulgur, Lentil and Tofu Casserole

Her bulghar recipe was an adaption from a Peruvian dish with quinoa. Here goes my attempt at this recipe!

Bulghar or quinoa - 1.5 cups
potato - 2 large - chopped small
onion - chopped up
feta cheese - (a small packet of feta 250g - 500grams)
Water - to cover... about 2.5 to 3 cups I reckon

fry onion lighty in a saucepan. add potato and continue to fry for 5 - 10 minutes lightly. Add Bulgahr or quinoa and then cover with water.
you could also add tofu to that and abit of vege stock if you like!

Finally good luck and perhaps let us know how you got on!

sorry, just found this

yes quick sophable get ya recipe book out - I need some moral support on the tofu front!!

LOL the other thread... are you interesting sophable

sorry sophable. I accidently put this topic in two places. Well I'm going to have a go over the weekend. So far ds has eaten everything and anything (food and non-food). Will tofu/quorn be his Waterloo?!

Bad news... isn't Quorn scary? I can't remember who told me or why, which isn't very helpful, but I would stay AWAY and especially not feed it to a baby! Thanks for the tips on frozen tofu, I had to freeze some lately as it was nearly going off, now I have some ideas for using it up!

something to do with the mushroom base...

Sorry, this is a bit long... must figure out how to link properly!

Quorn linked to asthma attack

Quorn could have caused a severe allergic reaction, researchers suggest.
There have been concerns that the meat substitute could cause stomach upsets.

But Swiss and German doctors have detailed the case of an asthmatic who had a severe allergic reaction to the food.

The patient, a 41-year-old man with a long history of asthma, developed a severe skin reaction, including blistering, and suffered an asthma attack an hour after eating Quorn.

Intolerance to Quorn is much less frequent than to other foods such as soya and dairy products.

Food Standards Agency statement
Scientists carried out skin prick and food reaction tests and laboratory analysis to confirm what had provoked the allergic reaction.

Quorn was the only food to which he proved to be allergic.

The researchers suggest the attack was probably caused by a reaction between the "mycoprotein" in Quorn and a human allergen in the patient.

Protein

A spokeswoman for the Food Standard Agency told BBC News Online it would not be taking any immediate action, but added: "As with any new research that's published, we will be assessing this paper and any implications it may have for our advice on Quorn."

On its website, the FSA currently states: "There have been some reports of intolerance to Quorn, but this is not surprising, because it has a high protein content (allergens are usually proteins).

"Intolerance to Quorn is much less frequent than to other foods such as soya and dairy products."

Statistics show adverse reactions are reported for one in 146,000 people who ate Quorn, compared to one in 35 who ate shellfish and one in 350 who ate soya.

The US Centre for Science in the Public Interest campaigns for Quorn to be withdrawn because of the reported allergic reactions.

It claims to have received over 600 complaints from consumers who said they had suffered reactions including vomiting and diarrhoea after eating the product.

Michael Jacobsen, the CSPI's director, told a national newspaper he was shocked that the FSA had "nonchalantly allowed this product to remain on the market, given the ample evidence of the misery it causes.

"As the medical evidence mounts, one hopes that the FSA just doesn't wait for someone to die from Quorn."

AstraZeneca, the parent company of Marlow Foods which makes Quorn, refused to comment.