Thursday, September 4, 2008
Trouble with Tofu
While I realize that there are more important topics to discuss right now, I'm asking for some quick help with preparing tofu for a family that thus far has been tofu-phobic :) Actually, I have had tofu before and am pretty ambivalent towards it, but my hubby and son want nothing to do with the stuff. The thing is that a couple of days ago, turned off by an unappealing and over-priced meat selection, I decided to buy a package of tofu and some beans instead of chicken and beef. Only $1.49 for a package? A third of the price of a pound of chicken sitting in cloudy pink liquid?Sounds good to me! So now, I have a package of Firm tofu (and another of extra firm) sitting in my fridge, and I've got to use the firm tofu by today (says the package). Help, please!!
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17 comments:
Try sauteeing it in different oils to give it some flavor...like sautee in sesame oil and add frozen stir-fry veggies for a quick dinner.
You can also crumble it and add it to chili in place of ground meat.
Great reminder of other options for protein. I also put it in as a casserole of rice and veggies. Mixed all together with small pieces of tofu, they all taste the same. Soy sauce definitely flavors tofu quickly and easily before you mix it with the veggies.
Texas Mommy may claim to know how to prepare tofu, but I can assure you that the 4 men of her family have no interest whatsoever in making that white styrofoam substance a regular part of our meals.
Disgusting. We'll be tofu-phobic around this house until the day we die. I accidentally ate it one too many times off the salad bar mistaking it for fresh mozzarella.
From Wikipedia: "tofu is made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks."
Plus soy makes boys grow breasts.
In my defense...I have given Rob a.k.a Texas Daddy tofu without his knowledge at least once.
JM,
We are going to fact-check your statements like the media is doing to our girl Palin, you better watch it.
Everyone,
Listen to any and all culinary advice from Texas Mommy. I feed my seven-month-old food fit for a gourmet restaurant out of a kid cookbook she advised me to buy.
Well, what's the cookbook?
I am extremely food-conscious and I stopped feeding my family any form of soybeans. Soy is a monocrop and not so great for the environment, but beyond that, I think there are more health risks than benefits, for both boys and girls. The studies that have shown it to be beneficial for Asian populations have never been replicated in Westerners. Tofu, soy protein isolate, and soy milk are three highly processed foods - just because they come from a bean doesn't make them healthy.
This is a short summary of about three years of research. I would be very interested in hearing other perspectives, however.
I marinate it in soy sauce, garlic, ginger and a little bit of sesame oil and then stir fry it with veggies or fry it without. It also tastes good "raw" in salads with garlic ginger Japanese dressing. Don't bake it, it tastes gross. Look at Asian recipes, they usually have tasty options.
Soy freaks me out a bit too!
Kat, I'm sorry we've turned your innocent request for recipes into soy-bashing. How was dinner tonight?
Okay, so my attempt at cooking with firm tofu was not very successful, in large part because the "firm" variety is not very firm at all! In any case, I marinated it in soy and plum sauces, then sauteed for a little while, but I don't think anyone else would have eaten it, at least willingly. So, I ate it for dinner and served left-over Mexican casserole to the boys :)
I'm pretty soy skeptical as well, but...
If you puree some tomato sauce and tofu together it makes a nice pink sauce and you can't taste it at all. I usually do that with peas, and some small curly pasta like orchiette.
I don't think that soy in moderation (as with all things) will harm you. Where you need to be careful is all the hidden soy you eat--mostly in processed foods. Anyway, with the extrafirm, you can slice it into about 1/2 think pieces, dip in egg and then in a bread crumb mixture and fry it up. Serve it with a veggie stir fry (here's the recipe I use:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=224601)
Tofu can be yummy, if prepared correctly :)
My friend's mother used to make these awesome tofu meatballs and serve with spaghetti sauce and pasta, I don't have a recipe but we could probably google one, if I would eat it at 12 then I am sure that Rob would not tell the difference. I am in the process of converting most of my ground beef recipes to turkey without telling my husband, so maybe I will experiment with this.
kate,
It is _Superfoods for Babies and Children_ by Annabel Karmel and I cannot say enough good things about it. I am a library girl all the way, but I actually sprang the cash to buy my own copy of this one.
First Foods also by Annabel Karmel is awesome too! The pictures in it really enlighten the first-time, food-making parent.
Tofu will pick up the flavor of whatever it is cooked with -- so the stronger the flavor, the more flavorful the tofu will be -- for example, baking it into a lasagna. But if it is saturated with water, it won't pick up the flavors so well. My brother gave me this tip: slice the block of tofu into a few long strips and then put a paper towel (or cloth) between the layers and either press down or, better, put a heavy cookbook on top of the pile. That squeezes out the extra moisture so it holds together better while cooking and takes up more flavor.
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